The City Museum, St. Louis

On our drive from Tennessee to Iowa, we decided to break up the trip by doing something fun in St. Louis, about 8 hours into our drive.  Jen found out about this place called the City Museum.

 The City Museum in St. Louis is one of those places that is IMPOSSIBLE to catch on film.  It is a sprawling complex of old buildings and parts of old buildings, industrial scrap, paint, and glue that have been fashioned together into a free for all play space for young and old.

 The slogan they have printed on their t-shirts in "get lost" and to aid us in that endevour, we were told they didn't have a map when we arrived.  We discovered later that tye have one on the website and intend for visitors to find it on their smart phones if needed.. or to just get lost.... which is EASY to do.  This place is full of trap doors and secret passages that don't lead where you would expect.  Often you are sent through total darkness into a chute that then has to be climbed through as it gets more narrow, twists, turns, sends you through a cage, up a ladder and eventually down a slide.  A little scary when you have a toddler or when you are a bit larger in size from having that toddler (and all those cookies!)

This was one of our favorite areas.  Imagine the perfect skate park, only you slide around on your rear end.  This area was big and open, with few secret tunnels so it was easier to supervise the kids.  Our toddler and the tweens who were visiting with us all loved this part.  The grown ups could slide too, but we could also sit and watch.  Between the climbing, sliding, yelling, and the heat.... I was exhausted!

This was the first climbing structure that I was forced to go through.  I thought I was going down a slide and ended up in THIS thing.  I was NOT happy about it!

This place was full of crazy interesting, visually stimulating places to explore. They didn't try to preach to the kids about what scientific properties make this stuff possible.  It was all about exploring and experiencing.  That was cool, until you got stuck in some wire tube twisting up four stories!

The giant ball pit was another favorite.

It was full of kick ball sized soft balls and even adults could dive in!

Lydia loved it and so did I!

More climbing over obstacles, including water features.  At this point I noticed that the ticket strapped to my rist was also a sign of informed consent, stating that I would not hold the museum responsible for any injury or damage.  Nothing was regulated, so injury seemed imminent.  I suppose that was part of the fun and I didn't see anyone get hurt, but it made me nervous.

 It also made for lots of fun and some really tired kids for the last four hours of our drive.  Unfortunately, the drivers were also really tired by that point, but overall, I think it was worth it!

For my OTHER POST on all the visual stimulation, strange textures, and all around funky stuff at the City Museum in St. Louis, CLICK HERE.