Gateway Arch National Park

No matter how you drive into St. Louis, it’s hard to miss the city’s most famous landmark.  The Gateway Arch stands 630 feet tall between the Mississippi River and downtown St. Louis. The Arch is a monument to America’s westward expansion and a marvel of modern engineering.  In recent years, the National Park Service has worked to give the grounds around the Arch and the area underneath it a massive makeover.  Even before all the work, the area was one of the best free attractions in the city and now it’s even better.

Start your visit to one of America’s newest National Parks by taking a walk around the grounds nestled between the mighty Mississippi River and Downtown St. Louis. With plenty of green space and walkways, this is one of the best spots for soaking in the atmosphere of this historic river city.  Along the landing at the riverfront be sure and check out “The Captain’s Return,” a statue depicting famous explorers Lewis and Clark as well as the riverboats and great views.  Also take time to walk under the Arch where you will quickly see, just how big it really is.

Museum of Westward Expansion

St. Louis is America’s gateway to the West, an important launching point for explorers, traders and people seeking a new life on the American frontier.  Below the Gateway Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion tells the history of the country’s expansion beyond the Mississippi River.  You enter the museum (and access to go up in the Arch) through the West Entrance.  All visitors must go through a security checkpoint, so be prepared to wait in line, especially during peak visiting hours.

At the entrance to the museum, large glass windows look out toward Downtown St. Louis and the Old Courthouse.   The floor on the next level is a map of America’s great river systems and the routes most people used as they settled the West.  The museum itself can keep visitors busy for hours with dozens of interactive exhibits, videos and artifacts.  You’ll also find a special exhibit showing how the Gateway Arch came to be and information about the architect Eero Saarinen.

Museum admission is free, but trips up into the Arch and some of the films shown at the museum will cost extra.  A small park fee is added to those tickets, but several times each year, the fees are waived.  The view from the top of the Arch is spectacular and is something you should probably do at least once.  With that said, I found the cars going up to the top cramped, so if you are claustrophobic I would suggest sticking to the wide open spaces of the museum and the park around the Arch.

The Old St. Louis Courthouse

A building with a stately dome and large columns is hard to miss behind the Gateway Arch.  In fact, the gleaming steel of the Arch almost perfectly frames the old St. Louis Courthouse which stands in sharp contrast to many of the modern skyscrapers forming the impressive skyline of St. Louis.   A visit to this historic structure is a must when visiting Gateway National Park. 

Just beyond the entrance make your way to the center of the building for a look up into the dome.  Exquisite artwork adorn the walls of each level along with brightly colored walls and ornamental décor scattered along the walls.  At different times of the year, large banners and/or flags hang from the different levels, helping add more dimension to this already fabulous space.

The museum portion of the Old Courthouse brings you a look at the historical significance of the building.  A court case that originated here moved onto the Supreme Court where the final decision helped set the stage for the Civil War.  Learn about the Dred Scott decisions and also a later case where Virginia Minor fought for a woman’s right to vote.

Citygarden

A grand space filled with works of public art lies just a few blocks beyond the Old Courthouse and the Gateway Arch.  Citygarden’s water features, sculpture and interactive art displays fill about three acres of space amidst the towering buildings nearby. 

You’ll find a giant, hollowed out steel head in the park that appeared to be a favorite of the small children in the park at the time.   Not too far away a giant zipper stretches out across the lawn and our daughter truly enjoyed the sculpture with the ropes to walk across.

St. Louis Zoo

“Mommy’s taking us to the zoo tomorrow and we can play all day.”  It’s a line from a song I heard often growing up as we visited the Knoxville Zoo on many occasions.   Nowadays our kids (even as they’ve grown) ask us to go to the zoo anytime we are in  St. Louis.  One of the main reasons, the zoo has free admission to everyone!  Yes, you heard that right, getting into the zoo won’t cost you a dime.  There are some attractions within the zoo that do require extra admission like the Children’s Zoo, the train ride, and the sea lion show, but the “free” portion will keep you busy for hours. Street parking is available near the entrance to the park, but fills up quickly so you may end up in one of the paid lots, but the fees are still much less than you would pay for a ticket to most zoos.

One of our favorite places inside the St. Louis Zoo is the penguin and puffin exhibit.  It’s especially great when the temperatures rise above 90.  The chill in the air inside provides plenty of relief while the birds jumping in and out of the water provide plenty of entertainment.

Follow the “trails” throughout the zoo for your fill of lions, tigers and bears (Oh my!) as well as flamingos in the lagoon, a house filled with reptiles and even one filled with insects including a wing dedicated to butterflies.

Forest Park

The St. Louis Zoo sits inside Forest Park, a 1200 acre space in the middle of the city.  The park itself is larger than New York City’s Central Park.  In 1904, people from around the globe came to this part of the city to enjoy a World’s Fair. Today, this grand green space caters to crowds seeking a retreat from the Urban surroundings as well as those seeking to learn about history, art and science.   In addition to the Zoo being free, the city’s Art Museum, Science Center and the Missouri History Museum, all in Forest Park offer free general admission.

Get your kicks on Route 66

And one last free thing to do is to drive around on Historic Route 66. The “Mother Road” which runs from Chicago to California takes a big turn in St. Louis and parts of it are still welcoming people on the ultimate road trip.   I have only been on part of the highway in St. Louis, with a visit several years ago to Ted Drewe’s Frozen Custard.  However, the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and the Route 66 State Park are on my list to visit on future trips.