Travel to St. Louis and Springfield Missouri

[jkoeni01]

We are planning a trip to either St. Louis or Springfield Missouri the summer of 2011. We have concerns about crime as we are taking our 7 year old grandson. Can anyone provide any advice as to which area(s) to avoid. Our plans are to visit a baseball game, petting zoo if available, and some museums. I would appreciate any advice from those who know these areas of the country.

Jim&Jenny

2005 KSDP 3910

Toad Subaru Legacy

[rsmgoddard@sbcglobal.net]

Jim and Jenny

I sent you a private message that will really point you in the right direction.

take care

Rg

[akadeadeye]

Not familiar with St. Louis. Avoid the north side of Springfield.

Don

[Guest BillAdams]

Visit St. Louis and enjoy. Crime is everywhere in every state. Don't let it stop you from traveling.

We always stay at the Casino Queen campground which is across the river in E. St. Louis. This is not known as a great part of town but you are not going to drive into the town, you are going to visit St. Louis.

[StevenH]

Jim and Jenny

The St Louis Zoo is a must see. Grant's Farm used to be worthwile. St Louis Science Center is worth a day and it's air conditioned.

Steve

[2ndgenfulltimer]

We spent a week at Dr. Babler State Park in Chesterfield with our kids & grands (6 & 8 at the time) back in 2009. It was a good jumping off point for visiting the sites of St Louis.

The zoo is amazing and it's free!

Grants farm was equally enjoyable and cost $11 per carload with no additional fees.

You can always take a free tour at the Anheuser Busch brewery - our little people enjoyed it!

And don't forget the Gateway Arch with it's Museum of Westward Expansion.

As for baseball....well, you can go see the St Louis Cardinals, we took everyone and had a great day!

We had no issues or concerns about safety or crime.

[tbutler]

We are native St. Louis area residents who lived there until we went full time ten years ago. We return there often so are in touch with the area. I would not worry about crime if you stay in the well traveled areas of the city. The attractions mentioned above are in areas that are relatively crime free. St. Louis has public transportation that can make getting around a little less hassle. The Metrolink provides transportation from the Casino Queen campground mentioned above across the river to downtown St. Louis where you can get to the Arch, Laclede's Landing, Busch Stadium, Forest Park with the Zoo, Science Center and Art Museum. Fares are reasonable and the trains are clean and well maintained.

I second all the recommendations above. Within the St. Louis Zoo there is a Children's Zoo with a small admission charge. There are numerous opportunities to interact with a variety of animals in the Children's Zoo. On a typical day at the zoo you will also see docents walking around with animals to touch or hold. The St. Louis Zoo is a world class zoo. It is large enough that you can spend a whole day there and still have more to see. For the children, there is a train ride that circles the zoo (handy also for adults who are tired of walking) and a beautifully restored Merry-go-round with lots of animals to ride. Grant's Farm takes its name from U.S. Grant who farmed the area. It is the ancestral home of the Busch family and has many attractions to interest children. Among other things to be seen are the Clydesdale horses in their stables and pastures. There are exotic animals, goats to pet and feed, and much more. For the adults you can sample some Anhauser-Busch products (beer).

If you are going to a Cardinal's ballgame, you might enjoy lunch or dinner in Laclede's Landing which has many bars and restaurants. During the day and week nights it is a fine place to take children. Avoid it on weekends and holidays as it attracts the young party crowd! Laclede's Landing is the old warehouse district from the early days of St. Louis role in bringing supplies to the west. The old warehouses are now remodeled restaurants along cobblestone streets. The Gateway Arch lies just to the south of this area. The Arch, Busch Stadium and Laclede's Landing are all in walking distance.

In addition, you might be interested in the Magic House which is a highly interactive children's museum. The City Museum which is the most un-museum like museum you are likely to visit also rates high for hands on activities of all kinds. Both these museums will captivate a seven year old. In fact we have a hard time getting our young grandchildren to leave either one! We're generally on the third closing announcement before we are out the door! Another interesting museum is the Transportation Museum which has trains, autos and other transportation related exhibits.

There is also an excellent Art Museum which is located in Forest Park right next to the St. Louis Zoo. Like the St. Louis Zoo, admission to the St. Louis Art Museum is free. Another Forest Park attraction, The St. Louis Science Center has an Omni-Max and a fine assortment of hands-on exhibits. The Missouri Botanical Garden has many special programs and a wide variety of gardens to be explored. Across the Mississippi River in Illinois is Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, the site of a huge city and an equally huge ceremonial mound occupied about 1250 AD.

If you want to explore more of the outdoors and get some exercise, there is the KATY Trail which winds across the state from St. Charles toward Kansas City on the old KATY Railroad right of way. It is now a state park and provides a backbone for the bicycle and walking trails in the state. The trail in St. Charles runs along the bank of the Missouri River and further south and west you will find a number of wineries along the trail. The above site will take you to other state parks in Missouri as well. Most of Missouri's State Parks have no entrance fee and camping fees are quite reasonable. We've stayed at Babler State Park and it is a very nice rural park close to the city. St. Charles was Missouri's first state capital and many old buildings have been turned into restaurants, shops, and stores with antiques and artworks featured. St. Charles is the place where Lewis met Clark and the rest of the company to begin their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804. Other trails in St. Louis can be found on this site. There are four pages of trails listed, go to the bottom of the trail list to get to the other pages.

On your way to Springfield on I-44 (Lots of Hwy 66 remnants along the way from St. Louis), you should stop at Onondaga Cave State Park to tour a wonderful natural cave. Nearby Meramec Caverns is much more commercialized. You might also want to spend a day on one of Missouri's Ozark Streams. There are many float trip outfitters but I recommend Ozark Outdoors which is right across the Meramec River from Onondaga Cave. They have full hookups for RV's and hundreds of tent sites. Best times for float trips in the summer are weekdays. Weekends and holidays attract huge crowds and your experience will be compromised by the noise and congestion. You have a choice of several streams from their location. You can fish, swim or just enjoy the sights in a canoe or raft.

Hope you have a wonderful visit to Missouri.

[tbutler]

Jim and Jenny

I sent you a private message that will really point you in the right direction.

take care

Rg

Rg,

Welcome to the Forum. A great deal of the value of the Forum is the open exchange of ideas. We'd all like to know the "right direction" so we can avoid taking a wrong turn. Unless someone requests information privately, I always post my information for all to read. Additionally, if you send a private message there is no need to put notice of that on the Forum. The recipient will receive notice via e-mail that a message is waiting for them.

[jkoeni01]

Tom,

Thank you to you and the many others who responded. You have given Jenny and me several ideas to plan an exciting vacation with our grandson.

Jim