[toddhans]

The first thing I would recommend would be to know how to get around the Edward Jones Dome area, inside and out. Many places from the pits to the playing field are difficult to determine the quickest way possible. It can get easy to lose someone - have a contingency plan such as meeting at the pit or somewhere specific in the stands in case something like this comes up. Sometimes, a quick jaunt outside or using an elevator will save you time inside if you are trying to get to see a match from the stands as soon as possible. Unless you are with the robot, they really don't want you taking the robot way into the area.

Other fun things - the City Museum, as you can tell from these posts, is a popular one. The kids loved it. The Gateway Arch is a must at least one time when you're in St. Louis - bring a camera and a non-claustrophobic mentality as the cars that bring you up are quite tight in area. Some of us are going to the Cardinals/Pirates baseball game on Friday this time - last time our old team went (3747), we missed out on signing up early enough for that one.

Eating at the EJD can be expensive. You may have to walk a ways to get to an eatery - going toward the city's center you will find some restaurants, mainly slow food, so be aware of that. Go away from the city's center toward the casino or along the Arch's area did not have anything for eateries. I believe there is some pizza delivery that comes to the place as well. Our 3747 team actually had one vehicle park out in the parking lot and had a picnic from things we bought at Sam's Club the night before in coolers each day in order to save money - kind of like FRC tailgating at the big game!

Some other things I noticed in my two previous trips - 2011 we lost in the finals of Archimedes, so we were able to stay down on the field during Einstein as a replacement robot - 4 team alliances will pretty much take care of that idea - but it is an awesome feeling looking up in to the stands with tens of thousands looking down onto you. We won a national award, and due to us being down low, we did not get to hear the instructions of who should go up to get the award (we learned as we started to move that direction only two). If you feel you were not informed of something, ask someone who looks like they should know. Also, other FIRST championships take place there as well. It was fun to see them all. In 2011, they even had a college challenge with teams who created helipads competing. Definitely a lot to see all around.

In 2012 when we went (I missed last year, but the team we are currently on was able to go in 2013), it was interesting. We were able to see Team #1 (Juggernauts) in our division, so that was pretty cool to see. Get a bunch of kids together and walk around the pits of your division and others - there are a lot of awesome robots to see. We also had a tornado warning going off while Einstein was taking place, and some our vehicles did suffer some hail damage. We all stayed in our seats and watched the finals while the warning was issued - I am thinking there should be a better way of dealing with such an event in the future. Both years, there is an FIRST store that will sell FIRST stuff. You can get there early and have them add items to your clothing ordered (like names) if you are interested in that. Bring a good amount of cash for things like that and for food unless you have a credit or debit card.

Just some things I have noticed. St. Louis is a cool town during the day, and in some areas during the night, so enjoy it!