The City Museum

My dad is currently on tour with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and one of their stops was in St. Louis.  We were lucky enough to be able to meet him there and spend a little free time with him. 

We started out having dinner at Mike Shannon’s Steakhouse.  THE BEST STEAK and may I mention THE BEST SWEET POTATO FRIES EVER!!  Consequently it was THE MOST EXPENSIVE FOOD WE’VE HAD in a long time.  I would seriously go back just for the fries though.  Whoa. 

Now that I got that out of my system, ….

We then hopped over to the City Museum as they are open late on weekends and we got a discount for going after 5pm.  It is a little hard to describe what that experience is like.  My initial impression was this:

(Shall I take votes for Halloween costumes for this year?  Please tell me you know what movie this is from so I don’t feel like a geek)

The scoop on the museum from their website:

“Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike.”

“Cassilly and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions'. Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, CITY MUSEUM boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes!”

So here are a few things that we did while there.  *Notice that Aedan gets braver as the night progresses:

Clinging on for dear life

There are so many little passageways in this place it is ridiculous.  A nightmare sure for the claustrophobic but also for a pregnant lady with an energetic toddler (I was very grateful Neal was there).  There was so much to see though, I love the drill bit railings…

Just insane.  These corkscrew staircases lead up and up and up to the rooftop.  You can also see a bit of the pipe organ there.

Starting to make mom a little nervous

Long but not so slippery slide.  Neal actually had to pull/push/scoot his way down the whole 2 floors.

The outside was just amazing and even more fun once the sun set.  Notice the bus on the rooftop…

Aedan was getting pretty fearless by the end of the night (can you see them? Neal’s in his “Where’s Waldo?” striped shirt to help you out…)

Aedan’s dream perched precariously high above (this pic doesn’t do the height justice as I’m already at least 1 story up off the ground with my camera).  He apparently spent some time up in the pilots seat flying the airplane off into the sunset…

           Again, this is pretty high up but it doesn’t seem like it.  I don’t know,  this kid surpasses me in braveness that is for sure.  You know the baby in the above mentioned movie?  The kid who is going all over the place and you just feel so nervous when you see him up high?  Totally the same at this place.  Ya ya, I’m a worry wort…

There were entire sections we didn’t even get to (aquarium floor and the roof top w/rides) and so we definitely need to go back soon.

IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!!