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May. 29th, 2006 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lisamoeSo about that vacation...
The first night, Tuesday, all we did was drive to a small town near St. Louis and spend the night. We got in about 1:00 so we didn't really get enough sleep, but we got a little. In the morning, we drove on into St. Louis and went directly to the zoo. It's a great zoo. The highlights were the penguin and puffin exhibit. Much more awesome than Tulsa's. It was indoor and freezing cold and had a number of different kinds of Antarctic penguins. You could get right up close to them too, so close they splashed you. We rode the train all the way around, went through the great ape exhibits, and went through the River's Edge exhibit, which was a walking path that took you through a bunch of cool river animals. We also rode the carousel and the dinosaur simulator machine. After we left there, we went downtown to the arch. R and the kids had never been up in it, so that was very neat. Personally, I don't like the tight little elevator capsules to get up there, but I managed not to panic and once we were up the view was great.
After the arch, we went to the City Museum, which contained...geez, there's no way to really describe it. It was an interactive museum that was designed by artists instead of by pedantic children's museum curators. Outside, there was a massive several story play structure that consisted of welded wire tunnels, huge slides, two actual aircraft, a castle turret, walkways, ball pits, secret passages and more. It was truly a work of art. Art you could hurt yourself on, lol. I'm providing a link, http://www.citymuseum.org/home.asp and I'll post some pictures, because I just can't really describe how wondrous it was. I followed the kids through every one of those freaking tunnels and staircases and slides, btw, except a couple that weren't big enough for adults. Most of the adults were just watching, but I never said I was mature or had any kind of good judgement. When we entered the museum, the guy selling tickets told us "If your kids disappear in a hole anywahere in here that you can't fit in, they'll come out in the same room, but if it's big enough for you, you should follow them because they could come out anywhere else in the museum." That's the kind of place it was.
Upstairs in the city museum they had an art space where the kids could make all sorts of things, a shoelace factory, a small kids area, a slide that went down the three stories of the museum and a weird carnival/soda fountain/corndog art/robot nougat factory/sideshow. There was an aquarium too. And a ride on train for the little kids. And a "puking pig." AND...another mass of labrynthine tunnels, stairs, slides, and fantasy dinosaurs known as the enchanted caverns. It was in an old shoe warehouse many stories tall and the caves use 5 or 6 stories of it. There was a really long spiral slide starting near the top, which we all went down, even my dad. We all got an injury or two in the caverns cause they're made of metal and concrete. SO worth it though. And so enormous and twisting you can actually get lost in there. All the caves and the play structure outside (which is called Monstrocity) are made of recycled and scavanged pieces from other buildings in St Louis that had been torn down. Every surface in the museum is covered with mosaics, walk through sculptures and weirdness. There's a little log cabin with a bar in it right off the playground for grownups too. The employees are wacky artist types who urge your children to climb through unknown holes in the floor and stand under the puking pig. We all LOVED THIS PLACE. GO THERE NOW! HURT YOURSELF ON THE ART! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! Um, sorry, we just really enjoyed it...
On our way out of St. Louis we ate at a hippie coffeeshop nearby the museum that was recommended by a museum person. The food was good and it was a relaxing respite after the frantic four hours at the City Museum. When we left there, we drove straight through to Joliet, found a nice motel and took Jesse swimming, then went to bed.
The first night, Tuesday, all we did was drive to a small town near St. Louis and spend the night. We got in about 1:00 so we didn't really get enough sleep, but we got a little. In the morning, we drove on into St. Louis and went directly to the zoo. It's a great zoo. The highlights were the penguin and puffin exhibit. Much more awesome than Tulsa's. It was indoor and freezing cold and had a number of different kinds of Antarctic penguins. You could get right up close to them too, so close they splashed you. We rode the train all the way around, went through the great ape exhibits, and went through the River's Edge exhibit, which was a walking path that took you through a bunch of cool river animals. We also rode the carousel and the dinosaur simulator machine. After we left there, we went downtown to the arch. R and the kids had never been up in it, so that was very neat. Personally, I don't like the tight little elevator capsules to get up there, but I managed not to panic and once we were up the view was great.
After the arch, we went to the City Museum, which contained...geez, there's no way to really describe it. It was an interactive museum that was designed by artists instead of by pedantic children's museum curators. Outside, there was a massive several story play structure that consisted of welded wire tunnels, huge slides, two actual aircraft, a castle turret, walkways, ball pits, secret passages and more. It was truly a work of art. Art you could hurt yourself on, lol. I'm providing a link, http://www.citymuseum.org/home.asp and I'll post some pictures, because I just can't really describe how wondrous it was. I followed the kids through every one of those freaking tunnels and staircases and slides, btw, except a couple that weren't big enough for adults. Most of the adults were just watching, but I never said I was mature or had any kind of good judgement. When we entered the museum, the guy selling tickets told us "If your kids disappear in a hole anywahere in here that you can't fit in, they'll come out in the same room, but if it's big enough for you, you should follow them because they could come out anywhere else in the museum." That's the kind of place it was.
Upstairs in the city museum they had an art space where the kids could make all sorts of things, a shoelace factory, a small kids area, a slide that went down the three stories of the museum and a weird carnival/soda fountain/corndog art/robot nougat factory/sideshow. There was an aquarium too. And a ride on train for the little kids. And a "puking pig." AND...another mass of labrynthine tunnels, stairs, slides, and fantasy dinosaurs known as the enchanted caverns. It was in an old shoe warehouse many stories tall and the caves use 5 or 6 stories of it. There was a really long spiral slide starting near the top, which we all went down, even my dad. We all got an injury or two in the caverns cause they're made of metal and concrete. SO worth it though. And so enormous and twisting you can actually get lost in there. All the caves and the play structure outside (which is called Monstrocity) are made of recycled and scavanged pieces from other buildings in St Louis that had been torn down. Every surface in the museum is covered with mosaics, walk through sculptures and weirdness. There's a little log cabin with a bar in it right off the playground for grownups too. The employees are wacky artist types who urge your children to climb through unknown holes in the floor and stand under the puking pig. We all LOVED THIS PLACE. GO THERE NOW! HURT YOURSELF ON THE ART! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! Um, sorry, we just really enjoyed it...
On our way out of St. Louis we ate at a hippie coffeeshop nearby the museum that was recommended by a museum person. The food was good and it was a relaxing respite after the frantic four hours at the City Museum. When we left there, we drove straight through to Joliet, found a nice motel and took Jesse swimming, then went to bed.
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Date: 2006-05-29 06:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 01:55 am (UTC)Oh, and Jesse insisted on bringing Trip a souveneir from Chicago. It was very importannt to him. He didn't pick up anything for Jillian though, cause he's a typical guy and not thoughtful like that, so I told him we'd get her something here before he goes over so she won't be left out. :-)
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Date: 2006-05-30 03:34 am (UTC)I'm not usually one to cram a weekend trip in like that, but it just may be worth it!
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Date: 2006-05-29 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 01:57 am (UTC)What?
Date: 2006-05-29 11:44 pm (UTC)Re: What?
Date: 2006-05-30 02:02 am (UTC)