After our exciting trip to the Arch, Mike's second pick for the day was the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour (free beer, of course he's in).
On our walk across town to grab the free trolley (which would take us to the brewery) at the ballpark, we stopped by two beautiful fountains flowing with colors of the Cardinals (red) and Rams/Blues (blue). The boys really liked the colored water.
The ballpark looked very nice from the small section that we could see while searching for where the trolley would pick us up. The Cardinals won their last home game of the playoff series the previous night. We could see some of the celebrations from our hotel room. We found the trolley's pick-up location by the southeast corner of the ballpark block.
We had a 15 minute wait until the next trolley pick-up, so we sat out at the bar and had a snack (and drink). The weather continued to rain heavily and we were happy most of the bar area was covered.
Here we are toasting to 8 years of marriage with a Budwieser Select and a panaché (1/2 beer and 1/2 sprite or lemonade which we picked up on our honeymoon in Bora Bora). I am not much of a beer drinker, but this is delicious! If you haven't tried one, do it and let me know what you think.
The boys were very excited to ride the trolley to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (despite their faces in this shot).
After arriving at the Tour Center, we signed all four of us up for a walking tour of the brewery starting in an hour. This gave us a chance to try out the restaurant (located in the same building). Lunch was delicious!
There were interesting historical exhibits throughout the tour center to help pass the time before our tour.
Now that Anheuser-Busch is owned by a Belgium company, they offer more products. We also found out that full time workers get a free case every month!
The tour took us all around the plant to see the different phases of beer brewing.
This chandelier (crafted to resemble hops) was beautiful!
The boys' favorite part of the tour was visiting the stable! I have never seen a cleaner stable. The horses were in the process of being washed when we stopped by to visit.
The Dalmatian, Cylde, also surprised the boys with a quick run by.
Very impressive tack room.
We ended in the covered beer garden with the second of the two free drinks that are included with the tour. While Mike stood in line for his beer, I sat with the boys on a couch by a fire pit which appeared to be off (why am I including this silly detail, I bet you can guess).
While Vlad and I were taking pictures, Niko was bombing them with his finger (foreshadowing).
As Mike returned with his beer, Niko made the unfortunate decision to touch the metal part of the fire pit which happened to be lit by a pilot light and was burning hot.
Luckily we had daddy's cold beer and my first aid kit handy. When I asked a waitress for some honey from the kitchen, she alerted the manager, who in turn brought over security to file a report. All this while offering Mike and I more free drinks (the absolute last thing that I wanted while trying to comfort my injured child). Why not offer something to cheer him up?
A visit to the gift shop put that smile right back on Niko's face (why couldn't the manager have offered him a stuffed animal).
The waiting area for tours also had a ping pong table which Vlad was really excited to play. The people playing were kind enough to let him join in and smiled as he hit the ball around the whole room.
Here is Vlad in blurry action (via still shots).
On our way out, we snapped a picture for Pop Pop (who loves eagles and beer).
The kind trolley driver let Vlad sit in his seat until we were ready to depart.
Looking back, I feel very grateful that Niko's burns were minor and didn't require a trip to the ER.
Have you ever had to make an ER run while on a family vacation?
