My recent trip to St. Louis was much more fun than I anticipated, thanks to several businesses in the Show-Me State going beyond the normal call of duty. These examples of extra service deserve to be noticed and lauded.

This was the 13^th annual baseball trip with my friends. Due to a myriad of reasons, we needed to keep this one short, and therefore we chose St. Louis as our destination, mostly to keep alive the trip streak. Nothing against St. Louis, but we had all been there individually many times, and our hopes were not exceedingly high.

As is tradition, we picked a restaurant featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. JayHawk Evans picked Charlie Parker’s Diner in Springfield, Ill. The cool diner served standard fare, but it was fresh, tasty and plentiful. Pushing it over the top was owner Mike Murphy chatting with us (as he did with all customers). I love a “hands-on” personable owner.

We attended the Friday night game against the Atlanta Braves. I received press credentials, hoping to discuss travel with both teams. The media liaison for the Cardinals greeted us and offered his assistance in talking to players and coaches. This was followed by several other staffers helping us in various ways.

Saturday was our day for ziplining at Caveman Zipline at Meramec Caverns. Most of us were first-time zipliners, and the staff at Caveman really put us at ease. They calmed our jitters, which allowed us to fully enjoy the adventure.

Lombardo’s Trattoria was the setting for our big night out. Delicious Italian cuisine combined with outstanding service made this a wonderful night. Our server even made a special appetizer plate to meet our needs and give us a nice sampling. Putting this night way over the top was their cannoli, one of the top five I ever had!

On the surface, I described two meals, a baseball game and a day of fun. Each part would have been satisfactory as is, but each part was enhanced by staffers who went out of their way to make the experience better. The entire trip went from being a good time to being a great trip thanks to extra effort and attention from the businesses that served us.

— John Wroblewski, online contributor