City Museum - THE Coolest Place on Earth

I had heard amazing tales from two different friends that went at two different times to the City Museum.  I tried to wrap my brain around the pictures on their blogs - but there just is no one picture or video that can even scratch the surface of this awesome place.  

It is a 10 story old shoe warehouse that a bunch of creative artsy types got a hold of an created the most magical indoor adventure land.  Every nook and cranny of this place is filled with something to climb on, in, under or through.  It is whimsical, creative and begs to be explored.  It is the only children's museum that I've been to (and I've been to maaaany) that made even Brian and I feel like kids again.  They don't hand out maps - they want you to explore and find the many surprises around every corner.  They aren't overly safety conscience like most places now days.  The goal isn't to try to make learning things fun - it is just to HAVE fun!  

We knew there was a 10 story slide in there but after looking on each floor, we finally had to ask where it was.  The answer - go to the first floor, go behind the whale, into the caves and you will find stairs that go up.  One set is for the 5 story slide and one is for the 10.  What???  Whale?  Caves?  Stairs that go up 10 flights?  How did we miss this?  Yes...it was true.  Just when you think you saw it all, there is a whole other section you didn't even know existed. 

  
 Once you get through the caves it opens up to where the slides are.  These aren't the best pictures but you get the idea.
 The caves were my favorite part.  There were so many places to explore.  There were so many times I'd send Brian and Grant into the "dark hole" to tell me what was down there and if I'd fit before heading in myself.  There were more places that only kids could fit so they would go in and you'd just hope you'd see your kids again when they came out who knows where.  I swear there might still be children lost in there from 5 years ago.  

We stayed close to each other though and only got separated once...and that was enough!  We found a secret slide that went down into the boiler room and you had to crawl out from under this tree fort underground.  So confusing.  
 Outside was a whole other story.  They had metal tubes you could crawl through to slides, sitting spots, airplanes, etc.  Here is Haley about 8 stories above the ground on the wing of an airplane pondering if she should follow the boys over the arch.  It was really high up and I could tell she didn't want to go.  Lucky for her Brian's wallet slipped out of his pocket as he climbed over and fell down, down, down 8 stories to the ground.  She quickly ran back the way she came to get the wallet.  Watching all of this from the wing of the airplane - I saw an honest woman pick up the wallet and turn it into the front desk.  Thank goodness for honest people!


 One room was an indoor skate-less park full of kids running, slidding and playing all over.  Plus you could crawl under them in tunnels too.  They had rope swings, and a wooden ninja warrior type wall too that Brian successfully climbed over to a cheering crowd.  haha!


 I had to post this picture below because we all overcame our fears to discover this cool tube.  In the caves was a very small space that was very dark and only had a dimly lit red light.  When you crawled in you could tell the floor sloped but you had no idea where it went.  We were all too scared to find out.  Later in the day we came across it again and we decided to send Brian in with his phone flashlight and to our surprise after crawling into the darkness it opened up into this huge sewer type tube that you could walk down to another part of the cave.  It was super fun!  So many metaphors could be used here!  I'm glad we went in and I'm glad it was worth it!
One of Haley's favorite parts were these simple but fun spinny chairs.
 The tree forts were never ending!

We stayed at City Museum from 9-3:30 when we decided we should get back on the road to head home. St. Louis was such a fun town full of cool things and a great place to make more happy family memories!


Comments

Anonymous said…
What an amazing place! I'm sure the pictures don't do it justice. Thanks for the tour.
April 15, 2015 at 7:58 PM
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