Obligatory arch shot - left exposure comp on (whoops)
St. Louis is famously home to Anheuser-Busch breweries, who until recently employed the most people in the city. They were recently bought out by InBev, a foreign brewery most famous stateside for its beer Stella Artois. The locals are still a bit touchy about it, so don't be surprised if you get an odd look from the guy at the brewery when you ask him to pour you a glass of Stella.
The tour itself is free, and comes with two free beers at the end. That alone is an amazing deal anywhere - free beer - but when you actually see the amazing clydesdale facilities, the huge brewhouses, and the awe-inspiring miles of pipes and huge vats of beer, it is quite overwhelming to say the least. Turns out, we drink a LOT of beer.
For our second stop, we checked out something incredible in the truest sense of the word - it's hard to believe it exists in this day and age. I highly recommend anyone within driving distance to St. Louis check out their City Museum - it's basically a giant recycled shoe factory with tons of caverns made out of concrete that look like caves and mouths etc, a bunch of recycled steel bits to form railings and slides:
The City Museum also has a lot of sculptures outside the place too, like turrets, planes, and metal hoops and railings you can climb through to check it all out. A bit of a tight fit for adults, but it's doable.
Word of advice if you crawl through these places: secure your belongings! Holly dropped her phone from about 50 feet up (it survived), and I nearly dropped my camera from my coat pocket when descending through one of those slinky-style tubes. I heard a clink, looked down, and there's the GF1 cradled between the railings. Yikes! This is one of the few places a Fanny Pack would be really advisable.
The City museum would be a great place to take your kids or to act like one yourself. I only wish I had the chance to check out all those tunnels when I was about 7 or 8 years old.
We finished up St Louis by going to the Zoo. It's free, and this time of year there really is no crowd at all. Quite a good Zoo actually, especially considering the price!
