What to do in St. Louis?

[OriginalWheelman]

So I'll be heading up to visit a friend this weekend. The Mrs. and I love to travel and St. Louis is only 4.5 hours away. We're going to be up there Friday Night through Sunday but unfortunately our friend has to work Saturday during the day, so we're going to spend the day doing touristy stuff. Our friend recommended we go to the Zoo. I will be indulging the redneck in me and visiting the Bigfoot 4x4 store / museum. I've also wanted to check out the arch, obviously. I'm having trouble finding the Jesda's Pant's Museum info online.

So what else do I need / want to do while I'm in St. Louis? To recap our plans are:

Zoo
Bigfoot
Arch

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Bubba1]

So I'll be heading up to visit a friend this weekend. The Mrs. and I love to travel and St. Louis is only 4.5 hours away. We're going to be up there Friday Night through Sunday but unfortunately our friend has to work Saturday during the day, so we're going to spend the day doing touristy stuff. Our friend recommended we go to the Zoo. I will be indulging the redneck in me and visiting the Bigfoot 4x4 store / museum. I've also wanted to check out the arch, obviously. I'm having trouble finding the Jesda's Pant's Museum info online.

So what else do I need / want to do while I'm in St. Louis? To recap our plans are:

Zoo
Bigfoot
Arch

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Buying Jesda drinks would be at the top of my list...

[Jesda]

Make a ten-gallon jug of iced tea, find a hammock to rest on, and wait for the heat and humidity to disappear (September)!

-----

Otherwise you MUST check out City Museum. It's an elaborate interactive jungle gym/art display/aquarium for kids and adults made out of recycled bits and pieces. I promise you will love it and by the time you're done you'll feel like a toddler. It's the most bizarre and unique thing you'll see anywhere outside of "Alice In Wonderland."

The St Louis Art Museum, located in the same park as the zoo, recently expanded and had a grand reopening. If you're into art, check it out. I can get lost there.

The arch is underwhelming but you may enjoy the cramped ride up in the egg-shaped elevators. Do it to say you did it, grab a souvenir, and get out. You can park right on the riverbank on the cobblestone area below. Usually it's free, not sure about weekends.

The Anheuser Busch tour is nice but be sure to check out Schlafly. I find their beers to be more appealing.

See the Cathedral Basilica, an incredible example of mosaic art. It's free to go in and walk around. You'll be stunned by the attention to detail.


If you like German and other European cars, go to the Kemp Auto Museum in Chesterfield. It's brief but the presentation and quality level are very high. A local architect owns it and uses it to show off his personal collection of cars. $5 is what I paid to enter a few years ago. There's another transportation museum that features trains but I've never been there; heard good things.

The wife will love the Missouri Botanical Garden in the city and the Butterfly House in Chesterfield.

Check out the Delmar Loop, one of the coolest streets in the country with shops, record stores, restaurants, and theaters.

Grant's Farm features clydesdales. I think it's free to visit?

Forest Park has a boathouse where you can rent paddle boats. The whole park is arguably one of the most beautiful in the country with decorative walking bridges, bike paths, architecture, and foliage.

For nightlife, don't bother with St Charles (a fake French Quarter populated by douchey college guys), don't bother with Laclede's Landing which is just a tourist trap with cobblestone streets, and don't bother with Clayton unless you're a rich d-bag with a double-popped-collar habit.

St Louis-style pizza is overrated. People only eat at Imo's out of nostalgia and tradition, and this town LOVES its stubborn traditions. If you ask for directions, people still refer to I-64 as US 40 despite being part of the interstate system for more than a quarter century.

Avoid north St Louis.

For food, check out Cardwell's, Demun (seafood), Five Bistro, Mai Lee (vietnamese), Half and Half (brunch), Annie Gunn's (pork!), and Pi (pizza). If you want to impress the wife with an awesome view and a great atmosphere, go to the 360 at the top of the Hilton downtown. You'll pay a lot for drinks but at night (and from afar) it turns the gritty city of St Louis into something spectacular. Good place to start or end a date.

Go to Sweetie Pie's for fried chicken and soul food and Pappy's for BBQ (if there's a long line dont bother and try Bogarts instead).

If you're into the goth and industrial scene, go to The Crack Fox -- check their events on Facebook. For karaoke 6 days a week, I hang out at Double Ds in Brentwood. They know me too well there. DD's pizza is surprisingly excellent.

Wineries -- we've got a ton of them. There's a few of my favorites along highway 94 out west.

Feel free to ring me at 314-472-3452. Unless I head out of town to fetch or sell a car I expect to be in town. I keep a weird and fluctuating sleep schedule so if I don't answer that's why.

[jbracy7]

Hey north saint louis has things too, like good weed,hoes,cheap liquor,ghettos, slums, and a huge a** water tower in the middle of the street,as a texan I found that to be cooler than the lame arch,the water tower is like 15 feet(not measured) shorter than the oval by the river,ha ha lol but yeah north stl is a dangerous place have fun here (do not use I phones near metrolinks).and remeber u got peaple in jennings

[OriginalWheelman]

I'm going to have to print Jesda's Guide to St. Louis. A lot of that sounds like fun. Now I'm wondering if I'll be able to do it all. I'm going to spend tomorrow planning our itinerary. The nice thing is if we don't get in everything we want, we're close enough to come back any time we want.

If the pizza in DD's is good I may have to stop there. I haven't had a decent slice since I left NY. In fact, when I went up last month for the funeral we ate out only twice, and I went to Duff's for wings and got pizza the other.

Jesda, I'd like to meet up while we're up there, we have to meet the legend. And I ok'd it with the Mrs if you'd like to drive / review the Mazda2. You'll do a far better job at it than I would. It's been hard to get a real feel for it as we've been very conservative about the engine break in, but it has over 600 miles on it now and we're revving it past 3k for the first time and man does that little thing scoot. It's got a surprisingly low engine note for such a small engine. It's going to be our first road trip in the Mazda as well, so we'll see how comfy it is on a long trip. I expect good things.

We'll be staying in what google maps calls the Affton area, off of Tesson ferry road. It doesn't seem like it will take us too long to get downtown form there. Google says 20 minutes, at least we won't have to deal with weekday traffic at all.

[Jesda]

Affton is a nice suburb. Lots of shopping, low crime, and it's not overpriced like the west. Cops can be aggressive on the south side though so watch your speed.

STL City police on the other hand don't care what you do as long as you aren't covered in blood with a knife in your hand. I think they hate the paperwork.

[BusyBadger]

Jes, all that talk about food and no mention of Fritz's or Ted Drewes?

[Jesda]

Oh yeah Ted Drewes. How did I forget! I still haven't made my way over there this summer. The Sheridan's across the street gets the job done... I'm such a west county butthole.



I haven't been to Fitz's since the last shooting at the loop. I love their grape soda -- made with real sugar, served in a frosty mug, and with unlimited refills. I can sit there all damn day on a hot evening and drink myself into a type II diabetic amputation.



Oh and there's Crown Candy for the world's most epic BLT:

[IBCoupe]

One would be forgiven for not noticing the LT.

[jbracy7]

Yeah crown candy has the best salads,sandwichs,the blt is like sex, its messy,juicy,sticky,and when your done, you feel dirty but you loved every second of it!!!! be ready for a food coma