Hello everyone! My friend and I have wanted to check out Cardinals Spring Training our whole lives and we're finally biting the price bullet and going March 8-11. We're flying Allegiant from Mid America Airport (Belleville, IL) to Ft. Lauderdale, renting a car, and driving up the coast to Jupiter/Palm Beach.

We got tickets on Stub Hub for two games:

- Cards vs. Astros Friday, March 9 at 5:05 PM in West Palm Beach (First row field box on Cardinals side)

- Cards vs. Marlins Saturday, March 10 at 1:05 PM in Jupiter (2nd row field box, section 102 by the Cardinals bullpen)

I was able to get good hotel deal through a friend who works for Hilton, so we're staying right next to the Palm Beach airport, which puts us about 16 miles south of Roger Dean and 7 miles south of The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches (Astros/Nats). I would have liked to be right in Jupiter, but the price was right and unfortunately I'll still have to pay my mortgage when I get home.

We're both in our early thirties and married (to women, not each other), so we're not looking to troll the beaches/clubs for ladies. We're huge Cardinals fans and will likely giggle like school girls if Waino makes eye contact.

So my questions to all of you who have been:

- What time should we get to the games and where should we head for the best chance at photos/autographs with players? There's a fan of that north side Chicago ball club in the office next to mine at work and I need some good decorations to compete!

- Any affordable must-eat restaurants in the area? Again, we're on a budget so places with "Market Price" on the menus are out. A beach bar with some decent cheap food would be awesome for Thursday.

- Best Cardinals-friendly bar(s) in the area? If the Cards are playing ball, I'm gonna want some beers. Once I get the beers in me, I'm gonna want to talk baseball with some people wearing red!

Thank you all for the advice! Hang in there... only 7 days until pitchers and catchers report!