St Louis family vacation (Huntsville: house, theater, construction)

[JakeWilliams]

No questions for the forum, but wanted to post this for anyone in the future and for anybody who frequents this forum.

My family and I are in Huntsville, AL and decided to pick a city within a reasonable drive to visit for a summer vacation. We chose St Louis (6.5 hours away). I did some research on here and online, and talked to a friend who grew up in St Louis, and we spend last week there. We stayed at the Residence Inn Downtown and hit up most of the major tourist spots (zoo, art museum, science center, Grant's Farm, arch).

St Louis is an awesome city! We had such a blast, none of the places we went felt too crowded, it wasn't too hard to find our way around (other than downtown with the road closures) and the drivers didn't seem worse than anywhere else I've driven. We loved the CWE and wish we could have a downtown as nice as that area!

It did not feel like a big city at all, either in people or traffic. Granted, we tried to stay off the roads at rush hour, but we hit the CWE for dinner at around 5:30 on Thursday and Friday nights, and (other than the lack of parking) it wasn't an issue.

Jake

[jo_mama]

thanks, jake!

i have family in huntsville! that's a completely do-able drive. I've always said st. louis is a great easy vacation. we're not expensive and we're fairly slow-paced.

5:30 is a pretty safe eating time for dinner. 6:30 is when it starts getting crazy.

[motherhope]

Planning a vacation last week of July. Looking for must do's. Is Forest park area safer or the arch area for Drury Inn?

[jo_mama]

i don't think either of those areas has much to worry about for safety. the arch grounds are under construction, though, so you might want to avoid staying down there just for the mess.

must-dos depend heavily on who you have with you. little kids? the zoo is a must. magic house is good, too, if you want to go a bit out of town. older kids? city museum and the science center. if you don't mind a gaunt into illinois we have a drive-in theater in belleville that's both awesome and cheap ($10/adult for 2 movies, and for each adult 2 kids get in free, bring your own cooler/food).