Spring Break 2018: St Louis Pit Stop

I talked a bit about our itinerary for our Spring Break 2018 family adventures in a recent post.

As the hubs and I decided where are primary destination would be {Orange Beach, AL}, we then determined what our stops would be along the way in order to explore different states and attractions. The first stop he recommended was St Louis. I initially thought, “but we’ve done St Louis…” as we did it once with the two Olders and my family where we did Busch Gardens, The Magic House, and other fun. We did the Arch two years ago on the way back from Kentucky. But he recommended we hit up St Louis again in orders to get the kids to the highly-recommended City Museum.

Ohhhhhkay.

We headed out from Omaha on Friday around noon and we booked a hotel room from the road. Yes. Maybe a little bananas but this was a last minute adventure so we’re just going with the flow.

We picked a Drury Inn in St Pete’s for lodging because we know from previous experience that the kids really dig two things about The Drury: the happy hour. The breakfast.

We skidded into the parking lot just in time for a little happy hour, watched a little March Madness, and then, went for a swim.

We ordered IMO’s pizza to eat pre-bed {it’s my sis-in-law’s fave St Louis pie} and then settled down for the night.

We awoke in the morn to clouds and cool temps, had hotel breakfast, packed up our belongings, and headed to the City Museum.

We parked for $10 in the official museum garage. Often times, we will try to park for free or find a bargain but this allowed us to be in a garage, have easy access to the museum, and keep all of our belongings monitored. Win/win/win.

I had not done any research on the Museum except that someone had just told me that she was climbing around in all the tunnels the last time they went. In my mind, I pictured a large McDonalds germ tube. In reality… W H O A. The City Museum is unlike any other museum I’ve ever experienced.

The hubs paid for our wristbands {it’s $14 per person} and I got my first look around. We wrote our emergency phone number on the kids’ wristbands and we were set to explore.

I felt like I’d walked into the book Where the Wild Things Are as I looked at the ceiling to see shimmering feather-like objects. There were iron lizard-like creatures creeping along the wall. A million different cool things to see at every turn.

The museum is so unlike any of the children’s museums we’ve been to… no directions. No true maps. No disclaimers. And it all looked true to the era of the building.

So what do you do at the museum? How do you attack it? Just go. Let the kids lead the way. And adventure.

There are caves. Tunnels. And slides {including a 10-story and 5-story (for under 48 in) slides that can be found through the caves}.

There are ramps, warp-walls, Tarzan ropes, and outdoor adventures.

There seemed to be little surprises around every turn. Little escapes in every nook. Live music, floors to explore, and even a little room to take a break and get artsy {which was right up the Middlest’s alley}.

The coolest part was watching each of the kids get more confident throughout the adventure and trying new ways to climb, explore, and experience the museum.

Do I recommend it? 100%. We were there on a Saturday and it was populated but totally not overwhelming. If your kiddos love to be active, this is a must-do! Oh… and as for age range suggestions? I wouldn’t want a stroller-aged kid simply because I wouldn’t want to haul a stroller around but the Littlest {4-yo} jumped right in without issue. Also, The hubs and I climbed, slid, and swung right along {in fact, I have the bruises to prove it;)} so I highly recommend you not bring coats or bags in {there is a room to check them in} and you wear comfy pants/clothing, including close-toed shoes.

I give the City Museum 3 Brehm Boys’ thumbs up and call it a totally parent-approved.

We had a recommendation from one of the hub’s friends to hit up Crown Candy for lunch before we headed south and so, we went straight from the museum to check it out.

There was a talented dude out front jiving to a steel drum band Kokomo performance and I immediately loved the vibe.

We arrived around 1ish and the wait was still about 30-40 minutes to get a seat inside so we opted to go in and get takeout ice cream and call that our lunch {when on adventures, one must be adventurous}.

The ice cream was delicious {they make their own chocolate stuff in-store}, the boys were happy, and our St Louis pit stop for Spring Break 2018 was complete and we were Memphis-bound.

See ya again sometime, St Louey!