Take a Trip to St. Louis, Missouri

There are many things to do in St. Louis, Missouri, that cost little to nothing to do or see. There are many free attractions to take up a full day if you just want to relax and get away from the stresses of your day to day life. The ones the are not free are inexpensive (other than the exceptions I will list later).

To start with, we will focus on Forest Park. This park sits right off of I-64 and is home to many attractions (most all of which are free). Start your day off with a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. The Zoo is home to over 22,000 animals from over 800 species. Make sure you take a walk along the River's Edge area and pay a visit to Raja, one of the zoo's Asian elephants. Considering St. Louis can be extremely hot and humid in the summer...cool off at Penguin and Puffin Coast in the area called "The Wild". Here you can see emperor, Humboldt, Gentoo and King penguins in one tank replicating the Antarctic. Go around the corner and see horned and tufted puffins along with king eiders in another tank. Needless to say, during the summer months...this is one of the most popular attractions at the zoo. General admission to the zoo is always free and the attractions that you do have to pay for are inexpensive! The Children's Zoo is $4 per person with free admission the first hour the zoo is open. If you don't want to walk around the entire zoo, buy a round trip ticket on the Zooline Railroad for $5 per person. Other at-cost attractions and zoo hours and driving directions can all be found at the zoo's website St. Louis Zoo

While in Forest Park, stop by the St. Louis Art Museum. Admission to the museum (featuring over 30,000 works of art) is free as well with a small charge for featured exhibits (usually around $10). Hours and directions can be found at the website St. Louis Art Museum Also in Forest Park is the Missouri History Museum. Admission to the museum and library are free to the public. There is a fee for special museum exhibitions, but weekly free admission times are available. My personal favorite attraction in Forest Park is the St. Louis Science Center. Here you can walk through and learn about the different eras of earth's history and see what the weather would have been like at St. Louis' location on earth during that era. You can see a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex standing over a wounded and ready to die Triceratops. On the walking bridge over I-64, play highway patrolman and use the radar gun on the passing cars and see who is speeding (speed limit through the area is 60 mph). Come back to Forest Park later in the evening to catch a play at the Muny (http://www.muny.org/). Tickets to individual performances are available for purchase at The Muny's Ticket Office in Forest Park, through MetroTix by phone at (314) 534-1111, on line at MetroTix or at any MetroTix outlet location. The season is almost over (ends August 15) but the plays that could be seen this summer included: Oklahoma!, Grease, Hello Dolly!, Peter Pan and for the first time at the Muny, Les Miserables, among others.

There is more to St. Louis than just Forest Park! Just minutes south of downtown St. Louis, visit and tour the world-famous Anheuser-Busch brewery. See how some of the most popular beers in America and the world are made at no cost to you. If you are of legal drinking age, at the end of your tour you can sample one of the products you just watched being made. The Anheuser Busch Brewery is located at 12th and Lynch, just off of I-55.

If you go downtown during the summer, you can catch the 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in action at their new Busch Stadium (opened in 2006). If the Redbirds are not scheduled to play, you can still take a stadium tour by going to the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $7 for seniors (66 and older) and $6 for youth (16 and under). Inside the Hall of Fame, you can learn the history of one of the most popular participation sports in the U.S. and world, bowl a game on modern or old-time lanes, watch a movie about the history of bowling, walk through the hall of fame and learn about some of the greatest to ever play the game and see who from your hometown has bowled an ABC, WIBC, USBC, or YABA sanctioned 300 game or 800 series. In the entry level, you can also visit the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. Relive some of the greatest moments in Cardinal history, learn about some of the greatest players to ever set foot on a baseball field and see the World Championship trophies from 1967, 1982 and 2006. Admission to the Cardinals Hall of Fame is included in the cost of the bowling hall of fame admission. Stadium tours cost extra.

On I-270 at the Dougherty Ferry exit, you can find the National Museum for Transportation. Once again, admission to this museum is free. Here you can find antique cars, planes, trains and even some information about ships. As long as it's a nice day, you can even ride on a train pulled by a replica 1863 C.P. Huntington steam locomotive. The train ride costs $5 per person.

Also on I-270 at Gravois Road, you will find the St. Louis home of the 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's Farm was rated the nation's seventh best family attraction by Zagat Surveys. Parking at Grant's Farm costs $8 per vehicle. I personally have not been to Grant's Farm yet so I cannot provide much info about this attraction. Visit their website for all your questions.

Just off of I-44 on Shaw Avenue, you can visit the Missouri Botanical Garden. Once again, another attraction I have not yet visited so I cannot provide any information other than what is on their website.

St. Louis has three major professional sports franchises. I mentioned the Cardinals. The 1999 Super Bowl Champion St. Louis Rams play in the Edward Jones Dome. The 2000 President's Trophy winning St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League play in the Savvis Center. Visit the team websites for schedules and ticket information.

The thing St. Louis is most famous for is the last attraction I will include. The Gateway Arch is located within the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Admission to the park is free as is admission to the underground museum under the arch. All admission fees for attractions within the park can be found at the website.

As you can see, there is much more to St. Louis than just the Arch. I forgot to give the website for Forest Park (there are other things in Forest Park I did not mention).

I hope you will find this informative and helpful in planning a trip to the Gateway to the West, St. Louis!