Reclaim your childhood
One of the stops on our weekend jaunt to St. Louis was the City Museum, which in the last post I described as “unspeakably awesome.” Words really can’t adequately describe just how much fun the place is. If you go, I do have one piece of advice: Wear sneakers.
The overriding theme of the museum is one of reclamation and reuse. Located in St. Louis’ former garment district, City Museum occupies the old International Shoe Co. factory. It’s basically a huge, multi-story, indoor/outdoor playground. Much of what makes up the museum and its attractions is salvaged from long-vanished buildings and unwanted objects.
The most striking attraction at City Museum is MonstroCity, the most fantastic, incredible, kick-ass jungle gym you will ever see in your life:
None of the photos I took Sunday can do justice to MonstroCity’s size, scale and dynamism. At the upper right corner of the photo is the tail of one of two aircraft fuselages you can climb in. There also is a couple of ball pits (one for little kids and one for “big kids,” which can get kind of rough), an old firetruck, a Gothic-style tower from what I’m guessing was a church and an enormous cupola salvaged from a demolished portion of the old St. Louis State Hospital, all of which are interconnected by a series of slides, staircases, bridges and catwalks.
Some of those catwalks also are perilously high off the ground, maybe 50 feet up or more:
(The Girl, pictured, had no problem zipping down the chute. I, on the other hand, was all too aware of how high up I was and was mostly concentrating on not soiling myself. It didn’t help that with every step down I took, my fat ass shook the entire thing. I’d do it again in a second, though.)
And if the weather’s bad but you still want to get your climb on, you can hit the Enchanted Caves. Built deep in the building’s belly around the shoe factory’s spiral conveyor, the caves are a playground for the imagination as well as for the body, with hidden passageways, enormous dragons, crystal formations, stairways and more of the museum’s ubiquitous slides.
If you’re not totally exhausted by those attractions, you can head upstairs to the no-skate skate park, which features actual Masonite quarter- and half-pipes and two concrete bowls, which you can run up and slide down (and tunnel under, of course). I must say that I am proud that The Boy has an instinct for proper sliding technique:
Whew! And I haven’t even mentioned the museum’s huge art-crafts room, the aquarium, the shoelace factory and other attractions. There’s so much to see and do that you could spend the whole day there and still not hit everything. Not that your body would be physically capable of such a task; it’s been four days, and I still have some lingering soreness from all the climbing and sliding.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Do you wear check slip on Vans, too?
March 6th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
No. In fact, I’m the only one of our family who doesn’t rock the checkerboard slip-ons.
March 6th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Yay! We’ll be going as soon as we can have a reasonable expectation of decent weather for the outdoor activities. Since global warming is a myth, we’ll schedule for as close to March 22, the beginning of spring, as possible and and count on mild weather. Thanks so much for sharing the details of your awesome family trip.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Global warming IS a myth. At least as it is being presented. But that’s another issue. And not to cherry-pick, but isn’t March 20 the first day of spring this year?
Seriously, and more on-topic, the other piece of advice that I’d recommend, especially if one has bad knees like I do, is to wear knee pads. I had a blast but my knees were killing me for days afterward. Next time we go, I’ll gladly look like a dork in order to salvage what’s left of my knees.
Besides, I look like a dork anyway. Ask around.
Have fun, Nancy, I know you will!
March 7th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Johann–I knew I was reaching with the spring date. Thanks for the clarification. Sorry about the bad knees.
Commie–I was talking to my kids last night about the City Museum and they want to know if we can go tomorrow. When will I learn to keep my big mouth shut until it’s literally time to load them in the car and go?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:06 am
[…] Now, I’m not really going to get into too much detail about our trip, since my brother and his family took a nearly identical trip just a couple weeks ago and recounted their adventures here, and also here. Suffice it to say, we went to the City Museum as well (ahhh, but did YOU guys pet the stingrays?! That was worth the price of admission, as far as I was concerned), we went up in the Arch as well, and I’m not sure if they went to the Zoo or not, but we did. Zoo members and all. […]
April 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
[…] The decor inside is obviously influenced by the City Museum, down to the dragon’s-mouth entryway and the conveyor rollers that make up the railings. […]