6-Flags over Mid-America

About 30 minutes out of St. Louis is 6-Flags over Mid-America. Even if you're not a theme park fan you gotta love the landscaping.

If you're a roller coaster fan, there are several coasters at 6-Flags.

Soldier's Memorial Military Museum

In 1938, the Soldier's Memorial Military Museum opened in downtown St. Louis. This is another free gem.

Gateway Arch National Park


Downtown is where the Gateway Arch National Park is. The grounds around the Arch have great views of the city to the West and the Mississippi River to the East.

The memorial site includes a 91-acre park along the Mississippi River. Here is one of the many walkways within the park.

The Arch was built between 1963 and 1965 and stands 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at its base. Underneath the Arch is a visitor center, entered from a descending outdoor ramp starting at either base. Within the center is the Museum of Westward Expansion with exhibits on the history of the St. Louis riverfront.

There are even speakers in the museum.

  A unique tram ride takes visitors to the top of the Arch for an interesting view of the city. Wandering around the grounds and the museum are free, but the tram ride has a fee of $10/adult or $5/child and the theatre shows are $4 and $2 respectively.  But the tram is definately not for the claustrophobic!

The grounds around the Arch are beautiful, too.

 

 Another interesting way to view the city scape is by a replica steamboat cruise.

There is a road that runs along the Missouri River at the base of these Arch steps, but we frequently have periods of high flooding. Usually not as bad as shown here in the floods of 1993, but enough that there are flood walls that have to be closed often. Note the flags in the water--that's the other side of the road.  The pedestrians are standing about half way up the steps from the road.  That's quite a bit of flooding!

This is a view of the city from the windows in the top of the Arch before the old Busch stadium was torn down and the new Busch stadium was built. To the left of the stadium is Highway 40/64. The new stadium comes just to the north of the highway. At the bottom right of the picture is the old courthouse with Kenner plaza behind it. The new court house sits a few blocks west.

Kenner Plaza


Also downtown near the baseball stadium is Kenner Plaza.

During Cardinal season many rallies are held at Kenner Plaza.

They even color the fountain during special occasions, like our Cardinals' frequent trips to the post-season.

Another view of Kenner Plaza from farther west on the Plaza. (2018 update: unfortunately this cool waterfall feature has been removed and the ground has been leveled out)

The Plaza made for an interesting place to shoot wedding pictures, too.

Missouri Botanical Gardens

One of my favorite places to go during all seasons of the year is the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Founded in 1859, the 79-acre Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and an oasis in the city of St. Louis. Today, 153 years after opening, the Garden is a National Historic Landmark and a center for science, conservation, education and horticultural display. Parking is free and admission is only $4 for residents and $8 (I think) for non-residents.  I often buy a membership here and not only enjoy all the seasons here at our garden, but get to go to many of it's reciprocal gardens in other states free, too.

It has a very impressive and rather large Japanese Gardens complete with a large pond with large koi fish, zig-zag bridge as well as a couple other bridges, and lots of flora.

It's also known for it's Climatron which houses a tropical rainforest. Outside of the Climatron are some reflective pools with lillies and Chihuli glass ornaments floating in them.  Although the Gardens aren't usually open at night, they do make some exceptions.

Dinosaurs in the rain forest

 Fall in the gardens----

 Winter in the gardens----

A Japanese Festival is held here over Labor Day weekend and it's very hard to find parking then. It's a huge event with an extra fee, but well worth checking out if you can stand the crowds.

There are lots of other areas within the gardens beside the Japanese Gardens and the Climatron.

Here is the Venetian garden near the lighthouse overlook and hedge maze.

 There are also a couple very beautiful rose gardens,

 Temperate building,

childrens garden,

 Home test garden,

 boxwood garden,

 chinese garden,

 restaurant, gift shop, theatre room, as well as Shaws home with guided tours for an additional fee.


They even have several permanent Chahuli glass pieces throughout the garden.

There are even things to see here in winter,

such as the annual train show

and orchid show for a small extra fee.

During the summer, they have free concerts in the park every Wed. night.  It's quite popular.  People bring in tables and chairs as well as every type of food imaginable and park themselves all over the garden.  The speaker system throughout the gardens makes it possible to hear the music even if you can't see the performers.

There are even fun things in the gardens for kids.

Since 1996, the Garden has collaborated with the Chinese Culture Education and Services Foundation to produce an event to celebrate Chinese culture.  We especially enjoy the Lantern Festival during this celebration.

In 2013 they added another event to the gardens---Garden Glow.  It ran for 2 or 3 months around x-mas and was another very successful extra fee event.