Thanksgiving Travels

First off, just know if you have active children (ones who like to climb, crawl, run, and explore) you have to put this place on your "go to this place" list! A friend I work with told me about it. I had never heard of the place before. None of the pictures I have or the videos/pictures online do the place justice. It is phenomenal. It is probably the greatest man-made attraction we have been to. 

City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, is an old bread warehouse that has been transformed into an active playground using iron, metal, and concrete art! 

We were amazed as we were walking in. Creations were everywhere. And the best part-you could climb and play on everything! There were no "Do not touch" signs!

 Here they are--all geared and ready for the day's adventures.

 This was the bottom of the staircase. Behind the staircase, the wall is made out of loaf pans. Almost all of the museum is made from salvaged items. It is amazing what people can create out of junk!

Again, everything you see is made to be explored. There are holes in the wall--you can crawl in--it may lead to a maze or may lead you to climbing through the ceiling looking down at the people on the lower floor. You see that metal tube behind John? He had to crawl through that to get into the ball.

 And just in case you wonder--most places are big enough for the adults as well! But no worries, there are usually easy paths that lead to where things come out. However, it is a little tricky finding where some of the many, many slides lead!

You will just be walking and there will be hole, a slide, or some other structure inviting you to explore!

There is a huge tree house, complete with all kinds of hidden crevices and to explore. You see that hole in the frog? You can crawl in and see where it leads!

 There is also a large cave system built with concrete.

 This was one of the tunnels in which you could look down at the people on the lower floor.

There were people of all ages--tiny children with families, groups of teenagers and older couples all exploring the museum the day we attended.

 Again, one of the best parts--you can climb on and touch everything!

 There is a 5 story and a 10 story slide. This was one of our many trips up! Did I mention another positive about this place is the amount of calories you will burn while having all this fun?

 There is also a maker area. There were several projects areas set up--a card board maker area, painting station, make a turkey, a snowflake making and story telling room, and chalk art. They were also having a rag doll making class and a tin punching class the day we went.

 We even saw the world's largest pair of underwear!

 All of those painted metal things on the stair rails--they spin if you touch them while going down. The red thing is a slide; And you can see 2 of the wire tunnels. This is just one teeny tiny area of this place. It is massive!

 There is an outdoor area to explore. The boys favorite outside was the large ball pit. It was filled with large vinyl balls. There were a group of teens that stayed in this thing forever!

 Just like the inside, you can climb, crawl, and explore. There are things everywhere!

 There are paths that lead to the airplane. Do you see the bus hanging off the top the building? There is also a rooftop area. It is only open when weather permits and costs an additional $5. Admission is only $12/person. It was closed the day we went.

 Here is one way out of the plane. There were 2 other ways.

 You can't really tell, but this is very high in the air.

The red tube all the way in the back is the slide John was going down in the previous picture. You can also see 2 other large slides in this picture. There are also several small ones in that same area. Again, tons of places to climb and crawl.

Indoors, they had a circus performance at 12 and 2. We watched the one at 12 and it was a clown performance. They do trapeze, tight rope, unicycle, etc. 

 Human hamster wheel.

Inside the caves. It is a great idea to have at least one headlamp with you. Some of the places/tunnels are dark. My husband is always prepared with a light!

As we were leaving, John couldn't pass up this mask in the gift shop!

We stayed about a 15 min. drive out in Collinsville, IL at a Hampton Inn (it has an indoor pool). We got the room for $72 instead of the $110 it was going to cost to stay in town. Collinsville's claim to fame? The world's largest bottle of ketchup!

Did you know that St. Louis also has a ton of free things for families? I had no clue! The Science Center--admission is free; The zoo--admission is free; There are also several farm tours and a tour of the Budweiser brewery that are free. The next day, we went to visit the Science Center.

 We watched a really neat demonstration using nitrogen.

Like most science centers, there were lots of hands/on exhibits to explore and learn.

We have been to lots of science centers, but this is the first that had a brainwave game. Poor John, he lost to Jackson and to me. The person who was the most relaxed can move the ball the fastest.

They also had several stations that had live teachers. The boys loved this station. You had to match the sounds in the white jars to the objects you could see in the clear jars. Our boys had the highest score so far in the day-they got 10 of the 12 correct. This place was very heavy on space education. If you have a fan of face travel, you should check it out. Our boys loved controlling a Mars rover.

Again, this was a great little quick trip for our family! Notice, we all shed the coats. Actually that happened after the first 10 minutes!

Live a Meaningful Life!