Trip to the College World Series

I had most of this post completed when something happened and it disappeared.  Oh well, will start again.  This post will be about the game we went to, and the next two will be about the lodge where we stayed and the stop we made on the way home at the Laura Ingalls Wilder home in Mansfield, MO.

We took an impromptu trip to Omaha, NE, over the weekend.  Last year when USC won the CWS for the second year in a row, Mike said that if they made it this far we were going to go.  So after a couple of days of going back and forth about it, we packed the car and left last Thursday morning.  (The posts that appeared on here over the weekend were pre-entered as I don't like to post on the internet that we are gone somewhere.) 

The first night we went as far as Festus, MO.  In Marion, IL, we got off the interstate and traveled westward to the Old River Road and drove up it, crossing the Mississippi on a pretty bridge at Chester, IL.  The original plan was to get west of St. Louis, but by the time of getting gas in Festus, we had traveled eleven hours that day and the driver had had enough for one day.  

On Friday we had planned to briefly visit my cousin in Kansas City, but during Thursday night her husband got sick and so that plan was scratched.  So we just traveled to our destination of Nebraska City, NE, located 45 minutes south of Omaha.

The pictures are from our time at the game.  I am sitting here in seats from the old Rosenblatt Stadium, which is being torn down this month.  It was home to the CWS for something like 60 years.  While there, another USC family sat down next to me - turns out it was the family of one of the Gamecock freshman pitchers, and the girl with them is going to ML's college this fall.  Small world.

The fan was one of many given out by the Gamecock Club.  People were waving them all over the stadium.  The back side has a K and people especially waved them whenever there was a strikeout.

Mike holding both our fans outside the side entrance to the TD Ameritrade Park.

The next two are of Mike, and then yours truly, outside the front entrance of the park.  The bronze statue at the left is apparently very famous.

Just an example of the huge crowd milling around outside.  It was absolutely huge - 25,000 attendees at the game.

Our first view of the inside of TD Ameritrade Park.  Quite the sight, especially for first-timers like us.

This man (in the middle) was wearing a black cap that said WWII Veteran.  It took him and his wife (in orange) about 5-10 minutes just to maneuver into their seats with their walkers and with much help.  It was neat to see that veteran probably in his 90s have the opportunity to see this big game.

And the view after night fell.  It was a great night, made even better by the Gamecocks' 7-3 win over big rival Florida!