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| View from the Gateway Arch |
December 10th, 2013
After visiting John in Kansas City, I didn't have many more places on my list before making my way home. If you remember way back when I started the blog I was asking for suggestions on where to stop along the way. My coworker Mark suggested I stop at Meramec Caverns and the City Museum in St. Louis. Since I absolutely loved Carlsbad, I made sure that Meramec was on my list.
Having been to both sets of caves I can't help but compare the two. Meramec does not have as many big rooms as Carlsbad. It has a lot of low ceilings, but it feels like it could go on forever. It has a lot of the same formations as Carlsbad, but you can see them a little closer because of the size of the rooms.
It is also privately owned, vs Carlsbad which is a National Park. As such there is a little more, slightly cheesy, touristy things there. However, my tour guide was fantastic and even though I was the only person in the group he still gave me the full tour (plus some extra places he normally doesn't take groups). He is a caver and had been working for the caves for a long time, so I was really privileged to pick his brain for a few hours.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get most of my pictures to turn out for the caves. They have some very beautiful areas, just like Carlsbad. If you had to pick between the two, I think I would say there is more to see in Carlsbad, but Meramec is a solid 2nd choice. There are also a lot of activities outside of the caves at Meramec if it wasn't freezing when I was there. It is like a theme park, with the caves being one of the attractions.
I made my way into the city, stopping at Schlafly Bottleworks. When I was in Kansas City I had one of their coffee beers. I was so impressed, I made a note to stop there while I was in St. Louis. Sadly, there were no tours while I was going to be in town.So I ate dinner there, which was great, and grabbed a bottle of the coffee beer for my room that night.
That night didn't go so well. I was starting to come to the realization that my trip was nearing it's end and I was really starting to feel sorry for myself. I left my job with such grandiose plans, and I had made it only a few months. Sure I had some fun along the way, but what the hell was I going to do with myself after I got back home? So, I did the only logical thing: I went to the bar and got drunk. I made it back to my room that night, but still probably one of the stupider things I did on the trip.
This internal conflict started here, but it wouldn't be resolved until a few months down the road.
The next morning I woke up a little groggy from the beer, but still made my way downtown to get to City Museum. I am not sure if they have these everywhere, but where I grew up in St. Joseph they had something called Curious Kids Museum. It was basically a "learn by doing" Museum. City Museum was a similar concept, but in an old industrial building. This big kid had a blast!
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| You walked all the way up to the roof. Then you got to slide down! |
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| TURTLES! |
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| It felt like climbing through the ducts |
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| Didn't see any bikes or skateboards while I was there, so I am not sure what this is used for |
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| They were working on an outdoor exhibit. It was a little to cold to be outside anyway. |
It is a pretty weird place, not really fitting in with it's surroundings. To get up to the top, they have a sort of train/elevator thing. It is a really cool idea on how to move people both vertically and horizontally. You can't have a normal elevator, or you would be on your side when you hit the top! Once you got to the top, however, there wasn't a whole lot to do besides take some pictures. The views were great, but it is very much like the Space Needle. See the view once, and you are probably good.
With my deadline looming, that was really all I had time for in St. Louis. After making my way back to the car, I hit the road.
Click here for pictures of Meramec (most didn't turn out)
Click here for pictures of St. Louis
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