The St. Louis Zoo

     

"Celebrating 100 years The Saint Louis Zoo has educated, entertained and earned a place in the hearts of St. Louisans for generations. We invite you to help us celebrate our rich history with a year of special activities, events and a new Zootennial exhibit in 2010." http://www.stlzoo.org/

The St. Louis Zoo has been entertaing tourist, school field trips, and families for many years. The Zoo to anyone is a place to experience nature in its raw form. The Saint Louis Zoo currently has about 17,955 animals and more than 700 species of animals. Broken up into different areas such as The Wild, Rivers Edge, and Historic Hill, the Zoo offers a fun and creative way for visitors to get up close and personal to their favorite animals. The Zoo also offers many live shows that will grab and hold your attention and help you learn many different things about the animals.

The St. Louis Zoo is free for visitors of all ages. If you want a more indepth experience, more exhibits, behind the scene tours, and train rides are avalible for an extra fee. Overall the Zoo is worth visiting and enjoying the experience.

My favorite Zoo memory was camping out in the Whale room during my sixth grade school year. We were able to run around Big Cat Country at night which was just as exciting as it was terrifying! This is just one of the great Zoo memories I have. With many more to come

St. Louis Science Center

 http://www.slsc.org/

 The St. Louis Science Center is one of my absolute favorite places in St. Louis, yes I'm 22 and I still love it, in fact I went over winter break.

The Science Center is a place where kids of all ages, young adults, families, friends, grand parents any person, can enjoy learning about different sciences, see over 30 amazing exhibits, visit the up-to-date Planetarium, and Omnimax Theater. It is easy to spend hours in this exciting museum. O and did i mention its FREE!!! General admission is free, however, if you want to enjoy all the extras the museum provides those prices are listed separately on the website. A combination of all these aspects will ensure a great day and lots and lots of learning.

Some of the most well-known exhibits are straight from the website. "The Saint Louis Science Center is a three-building complex (the main building, the EXPLORADOME and the James S. McDonnell Planetarium) with more than 700 hands-on exhibits. In the Science Center galleries you can":

• Visit a life-sized animated Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops in the Ecology and Environment Galleries
• Play a laser harp or create a "virtual fish" in Cyberville
• Explore the science of engineering
• Cross over the interstate and watch the cars go by on the Bridge
• Visit the Flight Gallery in the tunnel between the main building and the Planetarium
• Enjoy innovative live Amazing Science Demonstrations and Science Goes Splat! 

The most memorable experience I had at the Science Center (not including school field trips) was seeing the Omnimax presentation of Space. It was a crazy really adaptation of what life or lack there of is like in space. However, I think I was only ten so yes, it was scary and made me sick. BUT!!!! I was with my cousin, brother, and gma so that is what makes me remember the day.

Forest Park: The Muny

http://www.muny.org/

Drive to Forest Park: $8.00 for gas (from Ashtons house)
Dinner from Rizzi's on the Hill: $25.00 (for Ashton + Dad)
Tickets to the Muny Show: $40.00 (depending on seats, I don't mind paying more)
Parking at the Muny: Free
A nice summer night, picnic in the park,
live musical at the Muny (located outside), a night out with dad: PRICELESS

Some of my favorite memories are spending summer weekend nights at the Muny. Located in Forest Park. My dad and mom used to take me all the time when i was younger and the traditions only continued as i grew older. Now every summer i come my dad and I try to see at  least one show. We distinguish it as a father daughter night which includes dinner in the park from our favorite on the Hill restaurant and a great musical.

The Muny is an outdoor Opera House in the beautiful Forest Park, about ten min. from downtown. Forest Park includes attractions such as; The St. Louis Zoo, Science Center, Sculpture Park, ponds, playgrounds, and more. The Muny is only open during the summer season and is centered around the performing arts. Every summer the company come out with a series of 6-7 musicals to highlight the season. Other activities such as weddings, graduations, school plays, local theater companies also use the great Muny setting to host events. There is a variety of seating options, everything from free seating to the upper price of orchestra seating, concessions are available, as well as pre-show performance from local St. Louis groups.

If you want to get away for a night of music and fun, something different, visit the Muny. Trust me it will be worth your time and provide with amazing family/friends memories.

The Fabulous Fox Theater

The Fox theater is home to one of St. Louis residents favorite places for entertainment. The Fabulous Fox host numerous events from proms to plays, from concerts to seminars. The Fox theater located near St, Louis university is about ten min from downtown St. Louis which leaves visitors room for  a "fabulous" night out.

When the Fox first opened in 1929 over 5500 people opened this amazing theater, now the fox can seat just over 4000 not including box seating and standing room if necessary. The Fox offers many different seating options that fans can choose from, ranging in price, depth, and width in the theater. Personally I have sat just about everywhere. If you like to be up close and personal with the orchestra and the actors then the floor seating is the best option. Did i mention that students can "rush" a show and get half off floor seats. I did it for Rent and it was amazing! If I had to choose, however, lower balcony (for best price) and mezzanine (for best view) is the way to go. Not only do you get to see all the beautiful details inside the building but the view is amazing. A person can sit higher and view the entire stage and depending on the performance the orchestra.

To this day I have been to too many shows to count simply becasue i absolutly love the experience. My dad and I have sorta made the Fox our special place. Anytime a new show or one of our favoite shows would come through town we would go. The last show we saw was Phantom of the Opera, just happened to be my second time seeing it, but it was AMAZING!!!

If you are a show person and love the theater i encourage you to vist the Fabulous Fox Theater!

http://www.fabulousfox.com/default.aspx

The Delmar Loop

The Loop located in University City, Missouri is a strip full of restraunts, shops, and fun for tourest and locals. According to The American PLanning Asssociation, the Loop was named "One of the Ten Great Streets in America."

The Loop consists of six blocks, over 140 shops, and even a walk of fame. With a beautiful outside set up, people are free to walk up and down the strip, listen to live music, and eat at variety of places. The Loop is the home for the long established Blueberry Hill, a nationaly renowedrestraunt and music club.

The loop also as many great family owned shops from vintage clothing to tatoo parlors. One being Iron Age which is one of the most well known tattoo shops in st. louis (o and i got one of my tats there :))

There are convienient parking locations located in numerous areas, but still alows people to walk around and enjoy the St. Louis air.

oooo annnddd you can like the Loop on Facebook and follow on Twitter!

Here is a link to their website with a complete list of all the attractions.
http://visittheloop.com/

The Arch Experience

One of the most famous tourist attractions in St. Louis the Gateway Arch, which is why St. Louis has been named "The Gateway to The West."

There are so many amazing things you can do when you visit the Arch. First, the Arch grounds are a beautiful place to hang out with the family. Right along the riverfront and grassy greens compliment the amazing Arch structure and beauty. It also is conveniently located downtown St. Louis, within walking distance from many great restaurants and shops. Second, inside the Arch bottom is a gift shop and the Museum of Western Expansion. This exhibit gives customers an in depth history lesson on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, animals of the west, and much more. Lastly, making your way to the top of this historical monument is a MUST! Tickets are a very reasonable price and are set by times. On your way to the trams that lead you 630 feet up, you can tour the entire building process of the Arch and its grounds. Finally, you take about a 3min ride up one of the legs and reach the top. At the top you can look out one sides and see Illinois and the river, and the other side a perfect view of Busch Stadium and downtown St. Louis.

This is the link to the website where there is much more details about the Arch and near by attractions.

O! Did I mention that on the homepage you can "like" them on facebook?

The Magic House St. Louis Children's Museum

The Magic House St. Louis Children's Museum, is a museum in Kirkwood, MO that is centered around the education of children. It is also the place where i worked for 5 years, over summers and breaks from Bradley.

Their mission: The Magic House is to provide children with hands-on learning experiences that encourage experimentation, creativity and the development of problem-solving skills within a place of beauty, wonder, joy and magic.

The Magic House is a non-profit organization that offers many different choices of entertainment. These include speical rentals, birthday parties, and out reach programs. Every Sunday home game of the Cardinals a team of Magic House staff goes to the stadium and provides crafts for children. The Magic House also recently introduced new exhibts that doubled the size of the original house.

Social media wise the Magic House has Twitter and Facebook which fans can follow to view customer comments and upcoming offers.