St Louis Vacation from Nashville for family of four with 2 young kids.

Ok, so why am I writing this now?

So I intended to write this blog post 3 years ago.  At the time, I had decided that blogging our adventures would be something useful that I could share with my followers.  As an ENTJ / Enneagram 1 / Type A personality, planning is something I'm really good at.  I love researching vacations in-depth and for me, the planning is a big part of the fun. I know that not everyone feels that way (I have a good friend who practically has a panic attack at the idea of a Disney vacation because of the planning involved), so I had every intention of blogging our trips so that others could learn from my intensive research if they liked.  It just never happened.  And I always felt like I should do it right after a trip.  Like if I waited too long, then it was too late.  

But recently, a friend decided to take her family to St. Louis and started asking me about all the details of our trip.  I started thinking about how much easier it would be if I had blogged the trip, to share my information with her.  Then I thought, why not just go ahead and blog it?  Most, if not all, of the information is still relevant and useful. Who cares if it was three years ago?  So here you go.  I plan to do more if people seem interested.  I know I often get asked about our Disney and Universal planning as well. 

Why St. Louis?

I had wanted to go to St. Louis all my life, so much so that it had become a running joke between my husband and I with me whining about how he’s never taken me to St. Louis.  When I was a kid, I had an assignment to do a report on a state. We did not get to pick the state, but it was assigned to us. All my friends got "cool" states like Florida, Hawaii, and California. I was so bummed to have gotten Missouri. This was back in the olden times, and there was no internet to help us do the report, so we had to call the chamber of commerce for the states we got and ask them to SNAIL mail us travel brochures. (Kids, can you even imagine??) For reasons I don't completely remember, I became fascinated with St. Louis, and in the Arch in particular.

So in 2016,  I finally took matters into my own hands and decided that we were going to St. Louis on vacation.  I’m not sure why it took us so long. It’s a perfect choice. It’s only about a five-hour drive from Spring Hill / Nashville and there are tons of free or almost free things for a family to do. Our trip was during the week of July 4, chosen only because that was when my husband was on vacation for shutdown. As a point of reference, my girls at the time were 8 and 10 years old. 

An Overview of Our Itinerary: 

St Louis Vacation Itinerary for one week with two young children.

HOTEL Selection:

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in a suburb called Creve Coeur.  We knew that we wanted to stay at a Marriott because that’s where my husband stays when he travels for work and we collect reward points from there.  One of my clients tagged a friend of hers from St. Louis in my post asking for suggestions and she ended up messaging me and being so super helpful. She suggested a couple of different Marriotts that would be fairly close to activities we would want to do.  

We knew we wanted a pool, and also preferred a suite with a separate living area from the bedroom, so this is the hotel we chose from her suggestions.  It was perfect. Nothing fancy, but the room was nice and big and allowed Kayla to go to bed before everyone else, and had an indoor pool and hot tub for the girls to play in. There was a mini-fridge and microwave that enabled us to bring our own food for breakfast. There was a bistro that served food and the staff was very nice…especially when Megan smashed her finger in the hinge part of the public bathroom door near the pool. She screamed bloody murder and half the hotel staff came running to help us and bring us ice. (She was fine…just bruised.)

Courtyard Marriott in Creve Coeur near St. Louis, Missouri

Sunday: Driving to St. Louis and Magic House

As I said, it’s only a five-hour drive, so we left early, stopped for lunch, and then drove straight to The Magic House - St. Louis Children’s Museum.  Admission was $10 a person (now $12 a person).  So while the Magic House was really cool, on the day we were there (July 3, so everyone in the world was probably on vacation), it was SOOOO crowded.  It’s in this really neat old house with lots of small rooms and hallways so it was not fun with so many people.  That being said, my kids loved it.  I wasn’t sure they would because it seemed to be aimed at a slightly younger demographic, and there was a big room they weren’t even allowed in because they were not under eight years old, but they seemed to find plenty to keep them occupied.

There was this one exhibit where they had to follow all the clues to see who committed a crime, that even had detective costumes for them to wear. They spent FOREVER playing at that exhibit.  They also had this temporary Art & Technology exhibit that Megan (my artist) really loved.  She decorated a coloring page with a bus on it, then they put it in a scanner and her bus became part of this 3-D neon digital world that was being projected onto a big wall. She got to watch the bus she designed to travel through the digital town full of buses, houses, and airplanes that other children had designed. 

After Magic House, we checked into our hotel, had dinner at the hotel Bistro there and then let the kids play in the pool until bedtime.

Driving to St. Louis for our Family Vacation - only about 5.5 hours from Nashville Magic House St. Louis

Monday:  St. Louis Science Museum and Independence Day with Fair St. Louis

My husband is not a big fan of huge events with lots of people…especially the driving/parking part of all of that, so this item on my itinerary took a little persuading, careful planning, and a little luck because I wasn’t 100% sure it would work. 

Fair St. Louis is a huge Fourth of July event that included a concert by FloRida (who my 10-year-old at the time loved) and fireworks (which I love).  It started at 1:00 at Forest Park.  So my plan was to go to the St. Louis Science Center and Planetarium in the morning, which is also at Forest Park, and then leave our car there for the Fair St. Louis event.   In my mind, the Science center was really close to Fair St Louis but I underestimated how big Forest Park is.  I also wasn’t 100% sure we would be able to leave our car at the Science Center, but we got lucky.  They did allow us to leave our car there, and there were buses that took us from the Science Center right to the Fair location.

I had not-so-great point and shoot with me for most of these photos, and wasn't trying very hard, so please forgive the crummy pics. 

Outside on our way to Science Center St Louis Science Center

The concert was fun. There was soooo much mud, and we couldn't help but laugh at people (mostly drunk) slipping down the hill in it. People were absolutely covered in it.  It was sort of Woostock-ish. The kids probably got a little too much exposure to misbehaving adults, but all in all, it was pretty good for their first concert, and the fireworks were AMAZING.  
Fair St. Louis Fourth of July Fair St. Louis Fourth of July Fair St. Louis Fourth of July

Tuesday: City Museum, Crown Candy Kitchen & St. Louis Arch

The City Museum is one of the neatest places I've ever seen.  Of all the museums we visited, this was our favorite.   It's a hundred-year-old warehouse in downtown St. Louis in which artists have repurposed the pieces of old cities to build miles of tunnels, slides, climbers, bridges, and castles. It's really neat and easy to spend a lot of time in there.  It's $21 a person for admission. I would call this a can't miss attraction if you are visiting St. Louis!

I especially love the photo of Kayla throwing a tantrum in the "Odditorium."  #memories

City Museum, St. Louis Missouri City Museum, St. Louis Missouri City Museum, St. Louis Missouri City Museum, St. Louis Missouri Crown Candy Kitchen was a place that everyone kept recommending for us to eat, and they were not wrong.  So, so good.  I'm pretty sure my husband was in heaven with his "Heart-Stopping BLT."

Crown Candy Kitchen, St. Louis Missouri

After dinner, we took an impromptu walk along the St. Louis Riverfront trail -  a 12-mile paved trail along the Mississippi River, between the Gateway Arch and the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. 

St Louis Riverfront Trail

So, a note about the Gateway Arch:  I had mentioned in the intro that I had always wanted to see the Arch.  You can probably guess that my main interest was in photographing it.  I wouldn't be opposed to also going up in it, but we happen to have two family members who are pretty afraid of heights.  Not to mention any names, but to go up in it, it would have been Megan and I alone.  I made the decision before we got there that going was not as important to me as finding a place to view it properly.

According to the internet, that meant going to the Malcom W. Martin Memorial Park.  It was a perfect spot to get photos of the arch.  

St Louis Gateway Arch St Louis Gateway Arch

Wednesday: History & Art Museums

Wednesday was our museum day.  I also had tentatively planned to go to the Botanical Gardens, but it didn't happen because everyone was tired and ready to go back to the hotel.  The Art Museum and History Museum were both free, which is one of the really cool things about St. Louis - a lot of the activities are free or not very expensive.  

Three of us enjoyed the Art Museum.  One of us did not.  😂 My only regret was that she didn't throw her 2nd tantrum of the week in front of a more recognizable piece of art.  It's probably good for me to note that the Art Museum would not be a top choice for any small child, but you know...sometimes grown-ups want to see stuff too. 

St. Louis Art Museum She enjoyed the History Museum quite a bit more, primarily because they had a section called the "History Clubhouse" that was a hands-on learning play place for kids.  If you are choosing between the Art and History Museum for little kids, choose the History museum.

Missouri History Museum

Thursday: St. Louis Zoo

It was raining when we first got to the zoo, but that wasn't a big deal because they have a lot of indoor exhibits. The Zoo is a really awesome one, and the most awesome thing is that admission is free!  There were some things we paid for though, such as feeding the stingrays, carousel rides, and riding the railroad train...which you will want to do because it's a big place.  We got the Adventure Pass to cover all the extras for about $12 a person. 

This was Kayla's happy place and made up for the Art Museum. 

St Louis Zoo St Louis Zoo One of the girl's favorite things was playing in a mister fan at the zoo.  It's the little things I guess. 

Playing in the Misting Fan

Friday: More Gateway Arch, Citygarden Budweiser Plant & Dinner at the Biergarten

So my husband loves me so much that he suggested a second stop by Malcom W. Martin Memorial Park to get more photos of the Arch, and I'm glad he did because it was completely different in the morning light than the first photos I took. 

St. Louis Gateway Arch St. Louis Gateway Arch

Citygarden is a really neat park in Downtown St. Louis with a fountain the kids can play in.  They absolutely loved it.  It was a lot of fun and also free, and Bruce and I really enjoyed just relaxing and watching them play. We brought them a change of clothes for afterward so we could head to the Budweiser Plant. 

St, Louis Citygarden Budweiser offers a free tour of their plant in St Louis which was neat, but the real attraction for the kids, of course, were the Clydesdales. After the tour and hanging with the horses, we had dinner at the Biergarten. 

Budweiser Plant Tour in St Louis Missouri

Saturday: Grants Farm & then Drive Home

Usually, on a road trip, I feel like we waste two days of the trip driving. The great thing about St. Louis being so close to Nashville was that we were still able to fit activities in our travel days without being too rushed or tired.  So before we hit the road for Nashville, we went to Grant's Farm.  Grant's Farm is the ancestral home of the Busch family (as in Anheiser Busch) and has lots of fun activities for kids. Admission is free (yay, St. Louis!), but there are a few extras you can buy, such as feeding the parakeets, which was a favorite for my girls. 

Grant's Farm St Louis Missouri

So was that useful information?

I would love to hear whether or not you found that to be useful information and would like to see more blog posts on our adventures. If so, please post a comment below!