Have 1 day, what should we see? (Kansas City, St. Louis: rent, hotels, home)

[breer23]

Originally Posted by gonefishingw2boys

Yes, we are driving through and thought it would be a good place to let the kids out of the car and expend energy.

That will make commuting from one sight to another a lot easier, though it can be done via public transit.

I'd also throw the Missouri Botanical Gardens into the mix, as well as City Museum & the Zoo - all wonderful finds.

Are you staying at a hotel in the city? Or in the burbs?

[sgresident]

How can you not go to the arch? kids would love it. and the museum down below is really nice too. also, all of the stuff in Forest park is great, and free. There is a hotel right downtown that has a restaurant on top that circles around. years ago, we had a great sunday brunch there. plus, the view was excellent. I just can't recall the name.

[aragx6]

The hotel is the Millennium. the restaurant is really nice; the hotel is less than praised on trip advisor (my bible): Millennium Hotel St. Louis (Saint Louis, MO) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor

[northbayeric]

Only one day? Would there be any way possible to extend your time in St. Louis to three days, or even two perhaps?

I'm not familiar with the City Museum, but there are enough positive testimonials about it here to get my attention. You could also easily spend an entire day at the Missouri Botanical Gardens; my wife and I never get tired of ooooohing and aaaahing at everything there is to see there.

If you think you'd like to take the elevator tram ride up in the Arch, I would go to the Arch as soon as it opens, make the tram ride reservations for mid-afternoon, go over to the outstanding St. Louis Zoo (at least half a day there), the City Museum or someplace else others have suggested here, then go back to the Arch and take the elevator to the top.

One caveat: the Arch elevator trams consist of eight very cozy capsules that each seat five people. When I rode it for the first time as a kid, I was petrified over it. It's almost like a late '50s-style space capsule on the inside, so keep that in mind if your children get frightened easily or get claustrophobic. But after the initial experience, it's a blast. 4 minutes to get to the top, and about 3 1/2 minutes coming back down. Each capsule begins to tilt, then level itself several times during the ride, and you can kind of make out the interior of the Arch's leg through the elevator's four vertical windows. Eero Saarinen's engineering of the Arch is just amazing.

Strive to spend more than a day in St. Louis, or begin making plans to re-visit St. Louis in September or early October. You'll be really glad you did!

[northbayeric]

Actually, since your children are so young, and the Arch tends to get very crowded, especially on weekends, you might decide to hold off on the Arch and, if you're able to spend an extra day in the area, get on I-44 west and drive 30 miles or so from downtown, go past Six Flags in Eureka, and visit Purina Farms in the little town of Gray Summit. The farm animals over there are just darling. They had a cow-milking demonstration and some dogs doing tricks out in an open corral when my wife and I visited it back in 2006. The drive along this part of I-44 between I-270 and Gray Summit is gorgeous too!

[JaySTLouis]

lol. I was at City Museum today. I hadn't been in almost 5 years but it is still fun and exciting. I'm 24 by the way.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Originally Posted by northbayeric

Actually, since your children are so young, and the Arch tends to get very crowded, especially on weekends, you might decide to hold off on the Arch and, if you're able to spend an extra day in the area, get on I-44 west and drive 30 miles or so from downtown, go past Six Flags in Eureka, and visit Purina Farms in the little town of Gray Summit. The farm animals over there are just darling. They had a cow-milking demonstration and some dogs doing tricks out in an open corral when my wife and I visited it back in 2006. The drive along this part of I-44 between I-270 and Gray Summit is gorgeous too!

Purina Farm is a lot of fun. They have a dog show sometimes as well. Is that the place that had the house of cats?

[northbayeric]

The house of cats--that I don't know. Wonder if anyone else would know?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

It basically was this building and it had stairs and this elaborate cat house. The cats were sleeping. They have certain times when you can pet the cats, but we couldn't because there were too many people there or something. There were dogs outside in their pen.

I think it was the same place. They also had the dog show (with the dogs doing tricks) and a little petting zoo.

[aragx6]

If your kids like animals you could also hit Grant's Farm, which is a little closer in. It's the historic land of Ulysses S. Grant and it's owned by Anheuser-Busch now. They have lots of animals and it was rated by Zagat as the 7th best attraction nationwide for families