Free St. Louis: Forest Park

St. Louis is full of great things to do everyday, many of them cost absolutely nothing to go enjoy. This is the first of many articles that will detail the free fun you can have in the city of St. Louis, this particular article will just focus on what can be done for free in Forest Park, located off of I-64 in St. Louis. They are perfect to go with your family, friends, or on a date.

The St. Louis Zoo is one of the most attended zoos in the nation, with an average of 3 million people attending a year. The zoo is massive in size and is the home to over 18 thousand animals and 700 different species, including many endangered animals. Entry is free for everyone, though there are a few attractions that do have a small fee. These attractions include the Zooline Railroad that rides throughout the park, the Children's Zoo with a petting zoo, and 3D movies. Though honestly you can spend the whole day in just the free parts of the zoo and still not see everything. The St. Louis Zoo encompasses 90 acres of Forest Park and seems to be growing every year.

There are many popular sections of the zoo and really are must see, one of which is Big Cat Country. As you near the area you will see painted cat prints leading towards the area that holds several of the large felines you can see, including lions, tigers, and leopards. Another popular area is the 1904 Flight Cage, it started as an exhibit at the World's Fair and is what inspired the St. Louis Zoo to be built. Now the Flight Cage is home to a cypress swamp that patrons can walk through. It is one of the most immersible parts of the whole zoo experience. Similarly immersible is the Penguin and Puffin Coast, which is a walk in area that has you stand feet away from penguins and puffins as they swim, play, and eat. The walls of the walkway are actually see through plastic that lets you watch as they swim. And even all those are just the tip of what can be seen with wild life from elephants and guerrillas to tortoises and prairie dogs and everything in between being found at the St. Louis Zoo. St. Louis Zoo is open 8 AM to 7 PM Friday-Saturday and 8 AM to 5 PM Sunday-Thursday. For more information visit the St. Louis Zoo website.

The Turtle Playground is an outdoor play area with several statues of turtles. The turtles are made of concrete and the larger ones can hold whole families on their shells. The three largest turtles are named after the children of Sonya Glassberg who came up with the concept and donated the statues to Forest Park. The statues themselves were sculpted by Robert Cassilly and he made sure they were modeled as close to the reptiles as possible. In total there are the three large turtles, four smaller ones, a coiled snake that works as a sitting area, a serpent (who appears to be taking a bite out of the highway 40 overpass), and seven eggs, three of which has baby turtles started to appear from. It's an ideal place to take children to climb or just to bring out your inner child at. The Turtle Playground is open from dawn until 10 PM every day. For more information visit the Turtle Plaground's website.

The Missouri History Museum is the city's history museum. The museum is housed in the Jefferson Memorial Building which was built in 1913 from profits made from the Louisiana Purchase. Some of the features include a look at the 1904 World Fair, Charles Lindberg, and Benjamin Franklin. The majority of the museum is free of course, but sometimes temporary exhibits often have a small fee. The Missouri History Museum and the museum in the Arch show the full history of the state of Missouri and the city of St. Louis. The Missouri History Museum is open 10 AM to 5 PM everyday but Tuesday when the hours are 10 AM to 8 PM. For more information visit the Missouri History Museum.

The St. Louis Art Museum uses the motto "dedicated to art and free for all". They very much live up to that phrase, founded in 1879, the museum relocated to Forest Park after the 1904 World Fair. The St. Louis Art Museum is the home to a variety of art. In addition to the normal exhibits there is rotating and special exhibits that come to the museum these limited time events are the only part of the museum that ever costs money, but on Fridays even the special exhibits are free. This makes Friday the ideal day to attend the St. Louis Art Museum but also leads to it being one of the most crowded days as well. The St. Louis Art Museum has fantastic art on display for all to see and it's immense size means you can spend a whole day walking around and never be bored. The museum is closed on Mondays and open from 10 AM to 5 PM everyday but Friday when it is open from 10 AM to 9 PM. For more information, including maps and list of calendar of special events and exhibits visit the St. Louis Art Museum's website.

The St. Louis Science Center spans two buildings including a walkway over highway 64, and fun elaborate out door areas. This place has it all, everything is built around explaining science and making it fun, which it succeeds at. Every exhibit is fully interactive, and most of them are fun. It's really like Mister Wizard (or Bill Nye the Science Guy) built the place for everyone to enjoy learning science. You can build the arch and discover facts about the structure, race balls over huge metal contraptions to learn about comparative distance and friction, and much more. The place is of course free, with some workshops and the huge Omnimax theatre being all that costs money. Since it expanded to a second building, the Science Center has become another place you can lose yourself in for a day and not get bored. The Science Center is open Monday-Saturday 930 AM to 530 PM and 1030 AM to 530 PM on Sundays. For more information visit the Science Center's website.

In addition to these locations don't forget Forest Park itself is a massive free park for everyone to enjoy. There's plenty of space for picnics, exercise (it has a several mile bike and running path), and fields to play in. There is also the Grand Basin, a massive fountain at the foot of Art Hill, and the World's Fair Pavilion, a beautiful pavilion built for the 1904 World's Fair. On the patio of the World's Fair Pavilion is a concrete tortoise statue, similar in theme to those at the Turtle Playground.