The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 2 - Tuesday, August 4

We leave La Crosse,Wisconsin, heading for Saint Paul, Minnesota. But first, a couple of pictures of the river behind our motel:

Homes on French Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River.

Boats docked on the river.

 

After a few pix, we went to breakfast, crossing the river into La Crescent, Minnesota for a delicious meal at Kaddy's Kafe.

Random Observation From Randy: It's lucky we escaped that joint with our lives considering the number of police badges on that wall.

After that, we skipped back into Wisconsin to take the scenic river byway (Wisc 35) north to Saint Paul. On the way, we found Alma, Wisconsin. The Mississippi River Lock and Dam  #4 is there for your viewing pleasure. It also makes Alma the town of a thousand puns:

Alma: the best town by a dam site!

The Best Dam View Bar and Grill

Pun and Favorite sign qualifier: Mrs. Hippie Antiques

Mississippi Lock and Dam #4.

One more photo from the river:

Another island in the river.

But, on to Saint Paul. The Saints take on the Louisville Bats (AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) tonight at CHS Field. CHS stands for Cenex Harvest States (now officially known as CHS Inc.), a massive, farmer-owned global agribusiness and energy cooperative. In case you hadn't noticed, I googled that. It's AI.

The home team took a mighty blow in the first inning, thanks to a two-run-homer. But they also supplied the power in their half of the first with a three-run homer by Matt Wallner. The game was tied 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh when the Saints exploded for 6 runs, including a three-run-homer by Aaron Sabato. Ben Ross added a two-run dinger, and the Saints win running away, 15-5!

Some pix from CHS Field:

Players warming up in front of the left field berm.

Right field party zone.

Behind home plate/press boxes.

Center field batter's eye.

Videoboard in left-center.

View from the concourse behind the third base line.

Me with "Mudonna", the mascot of the Saint Paul Saints. Her full name is Mudonna T. Pig. The mascot is a pig because Saint Paul was founded by a fur trapper named Pierre "Pigs-eye" Parrant. She is famous for twerking atop the dugout. I'm not kidding, and I cannot un-see that.

Favorite Town Names: Saint Paul (in honor of my pub trivia teammates Good Paul and Bad Paul).

                                       Diamond Bluff

Favorite signs: Big River

                         Radio Drive

Things we cannot hang around for: Preston 'Daze' -  Preston, WI.

I think Randy was onto something: There are two police cars in front of our motel as we leave for the Saints game.

Next: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.