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See your town like a tourist

Pretend you’re seeing St. Louis for the first time and rediscover its many varied treasures

By Deborah Reinhardt
Managing Editor

Visitors taking photos of the inspiring Gateway Arch. /St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission photo

My family never piled into the station wagon to drive cross-country. Dad just didn’t regard that as a “vacation.” Now that I’m a parent, I can see his point.
Instead, we spent a week touring St. Louis, our hometown. The St. Louis Zoo, Grant’s Farm, the Missouri History Museum, the Arch were explored, as if for the first time, during our week of discovery.

If you can’t stand the “there’s nothing to do” mantra for one more day, pretend you’re a family seeing St. Louis for the first time. You might be surprised at the treasures this city holds for visitors–and residents alike.

For the last three years, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) has held an event in May to remind area residents about attractions, restaurants and hotels in town. Most people, said Donna Andrews, public relations manager for the CVC, are surprised at the scope of things to see and do.

“When you live someplace, you’re caught in everyday life," Andrews said. “Be A Tourist In Your Town is a chance for attractions to tell local people, ‘Hey, we’re here.’"

Web sites give locals special offers year-round. Discounts on admission, food or gift shop purchases for popular attractions are on www.beatourist.com. Just visit and click on the Tickets and Deals section.

“You don’t need to leave town to have a good time,” Andrews said.

Rejuvenated with a sense of exploration not felt since I was 9, I grabbed a St. Louis Visitors Guide and started my “vacation.”

They approach with heads tilted backward, their eyes looking skyward. Attempts to frame the entire structure with their cameras are made, but to make the shot, photographers must stand a block away. The Arch on the St. Louis riverfront is an impressive monument, not easily contained within a viewfinder or our limited imaginations.

What I remember as a child was the funny “cars” that shimmied up one of the Arch’s legs. My 7-year-old’s recent observation from 630 feet confirmed for me that cars still look like toys and people like tiny dolls.

Riding up the Arch remains an exciting experience, but I appreciate now what’s underneath the monument. As we observe the bicentennials of the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Louisiana Purchase, a visit to the Museum of Westward Expansion becomes timely. Exhibits chronicle the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Louisiana Purchase, the St. Louis levee, cowboys, Indians, railroads, farmers– every component to the westward movement. A movie, “Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West,” is showing on the museum’s giant screen.

Another perspective of the monument is from one of two Gateway Arch riverboats.

During the summer, the Arch is open daily from 8 a.m.–10 p.m. While the museum is free, a variety of ticket packages for movies, tram rides or boat rides are available. For information, call (314) 655-1700, or click on www.stlouisarch.com.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. /Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs

While standing atop Monk’s Mound, the largest earthen monument at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site just west of Collinsville, Ill., I could feel the power of this place. Power in the wind whipping around me, power in the sun shining warmly and the power of looking down on everything else. No wonder the great chief of the ancient city of Cahokia picked this spot. Here, he had to feel as if he were close to the gods.

The story of Cahokia Mounds is a fascinating one, and it is beautifully interpreted at this World Heritage Site, so designated by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). How the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico lived for 700 years is described in the site’s interpretive center. A re-created, life-like village is mesmerizing and informative.

Start your visit at the center, view the film, “Cahokia: City of the Sun” and then walk through the many exhibits. A free tape to help you with a self-guided tour of the grounds is useful to understand the significance of this site, although I found the directions to get from one mound to the next to be unclear at times.

Plan to spend about three hours to see everything, including a small but well-stocked gift shop. There’s also a snack bar on site, and for those who brought their own snack, a picnic site is just north of the center. Bring good walking shoes and plenty of water, an essential for a visit in summer.

The site is open Wednesday through Sunday. The center’s hours are from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., and the grounds are open from 8 a.m. until dusk. A donation of $2 for adults, $1 for children is suggested. For more details, call (618) 346-5160 or click on www.cahokiamounds.com.

It wouldn’t be summer without taking in a St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium. /Missouri Division of Tourism photo

Attending a baseball game is as much a part of my summer as watering a thirsty lawn. I’ve visited the local baseball shrine, the St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Fame in the Bowling Hall of Fame across the street from Busch Stadium, but I’d never taken a stadium tour.

In a steady rain on a 55-degree April afternoon, stadium tour guide Dick Richards walked a group of about 25 people past the statues of great Cardinal players outside the park. We were entering the Redbird’s roost on a day the team was in sunny Miami, preparing to play the Florida Marlins. The tour motors through the Family Pavilion, the Batter’s Eye Club and the press box. Richards, a resident of Florissant, Mo., has been a guide for three years and an usher at Busch for 13 seasons.

The group–largely comprised of students and chaperones from an elementary school in Waterloo, Ill.–made its way from the press box to the field. From the front lobby that’s adjoined to the ticket office, we made our way down a set of stairs to the lower lobby, past the posh Cardinal Club.

Richards signals and his charges follow him to a place not many fans get to see. As I walk down the dugout tunnel, I imagine the players who’ve gone before me: Stan “The Man” Musial, Ozzie Smith, Mark McGwire and today, Albert Pujols.

“Ewww. It smells like a cave in here,” one school-aged girl said. But the worn, green outdoor carpet that looks like Astroturf, the few cobwebs and ceiling that dripped a bit are beautiful to me.

Walking up the few wooden steps from the Cards’ dugout onto the warning track dirt, I see the field’s grass that’s greener than fine emeralds. Richards reminds us not to walk on the turf, and I battle the urge to simply stroke it. How many great players have stood on those steps waiting to go on the on-deck circle? I could almost see manager Tony La Russa in his usual place to the right of the steps, studying the action on the field, thinking about his next move.

The rain continued to fall while the youngsters piled into the dugout bench, posing for pictures. Richards explained a bit about caring for the grass, how the original natural field in the 1960s didn’t do well, which led to the installation of Astroturf. “But I’ve never seen it look better than it does now,” Richards said. I’ve got to agree.

“Whether or not we get a new stadium, this one will last for a long time. They take care of it and put a lot of money in it every year,” he said. “There are a lot of memories here.”

Basking in those memories is what a Busch Stadium tour is all about.

The St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum, located in the International Bowling Hall of Fame at 111 Stadium Plaza, is open through September from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily (open until 6:30 p.m. during Cardinal home evening games). From October–March, the museum is open 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesday– Saturday. Stadium tours are offered Tuesday–Saturday, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets for the museum/tour are $6 for adults, $4 for children. Call (314) 231-6340 or click on www.bowlingmuseum.com.

The Clydesdale stable at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. /St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission photo

Just as baseball is an integral part of summer, a hot dog and a frosty beer are usually an indispensable part of a baseball game at Busch Stadium. To see how that beer is brewed, a visit to the nearby Anheuser-Busch brewery is in order. The plant is the national headquarters for the brewery’s extensive operations, and it sprawls over 100 acres in a number of buildings. The tour offers a fascinating look at the painstaking brewing process.

The tour begins in the visitor center where exhibits and memorabilia trace the history of the company, which dates to 1852. As you walk from building to building on the tour, which involves about six blocks of outside walking, you get an intimate look at the brewing process that begins in stainless steel mash tanks where ground barley malt, water and milled rice are combined. You also see the massive brew kettles where the mixture is boiled.

The bottling process never ceases to amaze me as hundreds of bottles speed on a conveyor belt system down a seemingly never-ending line. In fact, the packaging lines are capable of filling up to 2.6 million cans or 1.4 million bottles a day.

Also on the tour is the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales stable, which was built in 1885 by Adolphus Busch and is now a National Historic Landmark. The tradition of the Budweiser Clydesdales began in 1933 when August Busch Jr. presented his father with the first Clydesdale hitch to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition.

The final stop is the Hospitality Room, where tour guests who are 21 or older can sample some of the beers. The free tours are offered daily. For details, call (314) 577-2626, or visit www.budweisertours.com.

A rockhopper, which will be on display at the St. Louis Zoo’s new Penguin and Puffin Coast. /Sea World photo

No summer would be complete without at least one visit to the St. Louis Zoo to see some of the world-class facility’s 6,000 animals. This summer, the park has unveiled Penguin and Puffin Coast, a new habitat that showcases penguins from the Southern Hemisphere and puffins from the Northern Hemisphere.

In the penguin area, the Jones Family Humboldt Haven, a 22-foot waterfall plunges into a misty tidal pool. Above the pool looms a craggy outcropping with penguin nesting chambers carved into the face of the rock. The area is home to about 20 Humboldt penguins, a threatened species native to the coasts of Peru and Chile.

From there, a path leads to the Lichtenstein Penguin Cove, believed to be the first walk-through subAntarctic penguin exhibit in North America. Visitors can watch penguins on both land and underwater. About 60 gentoos, rockhoppers and king penguins share this habitat. With a constant temperature of about 50 degrees, the cove is a comfortable escape for visitors during the summer.

Visitors finally arrive at Taylor Family Puffin Bay, home to the fast-swimming birds. Puffin Bay, complete with rocky cliffs and frigid water, houses both horned and tufted puffins, about 40 in all. Like their penguin counterparts, puffins are black-and-white birds skilled in diving and swimming. Unlike penguins, puffins have the ability to fly.

For more details about the zoo, which offers free admission, call (314) 781-0900, or visit www.stlzoo.org.

One of City Museum’s unusual sights. /St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission photo

There aren’t any live animals at the City Museum downtown, but it’s a wild experience nonetheless. The interactive, unusual, artsy and outrageous museum became even more wild last year with the opening of its MonstroCity, a five-story jungle gym in the sky made up of planes, cranes, a castle, a fire truck and slinky-like coils through which children can crawl. Part sculpture, part playground, the monstrosity of metal rises over the museum’s parking lot. Children scramble over, across, up and down the circuitous path of stairs, tunnels and enclosed walkways.

Inside the museum, the startling discoveries don’t stop. There are a variety of slides, mazes, a labyrinth of caves and tunnels, a giant aquarium and eclectic art everywhere made from recycled, salvaged and found materials. It would take an entire day to experience it all.

At different times you can see artists create their craft, and in the Everydaycir-cus area, magicians, clowns, acrobats and funny performers get the audience involved in the show. Plus, an architectural museum showcases historical artifacts, while the Museum of Mirth, Mystery and Mayhem displays decidedly odd items.

Admission to City Museum is $7.50, and the fee to explore MonstroCity is $2.50. For more details, call (314) 231-2489, or visit www.citymuseum.org.

As a parent, one of my favorite destinations is The Magic House, which offers a world of hands-on discoveries for children. The museum, located in Kirkwood, is the kind of place that makes you wish you were a kid again, and I do my best when I’m there to act like one, too. Though after I’ve crawled around a while, my knees remind me of my real age.

In the Children’s Village, youngsters can learn about daily life through a number of activities. They can work or shop in a grocery store, be a teller in a bank, make or serve pizza in the pizza parlor or work for a construction company. And in a television studio, children can forecast the weather and be a news anchor.

Another area is designed for toddlers under 2, and there’s a fitness adventure area for children age 7–14. Also, there’s a water play area and exhibits that teach visitors about math and science in a fun way.

This summer, The Magic House will tap into the magic of the shore for Sandcastle Beach through Aug. 3. With a lot of sand, the museum’s back yard will be transformed into a beachfront resort, complete with shells, water misters and a lifeguard stand. Visitors can hunt for shells, lounge on a beach chair under an umbrella and build sandcastles alongside a world champion sand sculptor as he creates a giant 75-ton sand sculpture.

Admission to The Magic House is $6. For more details, call (314) 822-8900, or visit www.magichouse.org online.

So this summer, you don’t have to drive far to find fun. Whether you live in St. Louis or any other town, rediscover the attractions that are close to home. And as an added bonus, you won’t look like a befuddled tourist because you already know your way around.

Some information for this story was contributed by Regional Editor Dennis R. Heinze.

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