Tasty was on the road again.
We have a few friends who live in Jackson Missouri, and I have always been somewhat interested in seeing the arch in St Louis. Since we were going to visit with them, I decided we would make this a weekend trip! We took a 3 day trip to Missouri and fortunately got to stay a night in Saint Louis, it was quite an adventure.
A big city always means big fun. We checked into the hotel and it was off to the arch we went! It was exhaustively hot outside that day, but still worth the trip. The arch was beautiful as we pictured it.
Our next stop was the turtle park. Yes... you read correctly... TURTLE PARK. It was a large area of nothing but giant turtles for people to play on. It was quite fun. The funnest part for Seth was crawling in a giant turtle's mouth! Come on! How many people can say they've done that?
Their was also a group of turtle eggs! It was a very unique and park that was full of art.
After visiting the turtle park, we had a small meal at a place called The Chocolate Bar. It was a very comfortable restaurant. Great for couples to go and enjoy a drink or maybe something to nibble on, dessert in particular. We chose the fondue which was a little.bit of a disappointment because they served it in a coffee mug. We wanted the experience of the having the actual fondue cooker since we never had fondue before. Everything tasted decent. The place was definitely fun. A great place to unwind and relax with a real rose at every table!
The next day we had breakfast at Rooster.
(see next Monday's Blog for our Review)
After our filling breakfast we then went to the famous Anheuser Bush factory! This is the place where Budweiser and Bud light were conjured up!
There was actually a lot of history associated with this place. Did you know that back in the early 1900's when alcohol was finally legalized they had a huge celebration where we visited that day and drank tons of beer? Talk about partying like its 1930.
We decided to take the free tour. The tour was very informational, we learned a lot about how their beer is made, and how the beer is stored. One of the highlights was that they give you free samples along the way! Free beer samples?! Say what?
They gave everyone a small free sample of Budweiser during the tour. Then after the tour they give you a free 16 oz. of any Anheuser Bush beer you could want.
You may think that free beer would have been the best part of the tour, but you would be wrong.
We thought being able to see the world famous Anheuser Bush Clydesdale's up close and personal was fantastic. The Clydesdale's were definitely the highlight of the tour, being the animal lovers that we are.
These animals were beautiful and let's not forget how gigantic they are. In comparison, an American Quarter horse walking horse can weigh a little over 1000 pounds, while Clydesdale's can weigh a monstrous 2200 pounds! We were up close and personal with the beautiful horses, only a foot or two away from them. Seeing them in person is a lot different than seeing them on t.v.
The Clydesdale shown above were only one of the few we got to see that day! These were the Clydesdale's just at the brewery. Keep reading to find out about our visit to Grants Farm of Anheuser Bush! (In a separate location from brewery.)
After our fun tour of the brewery of Anheuser Bush, we stopped at the world famous Grant's farm! Much like the brewery this farm.was very informational. Not only the weight, but the hove size of an average horse compared to the Clydesdale's is night and day! See picture below.
These horses seemed to be well taken care of and happy about where they were living. You could get up close to these giants and even pet them and take pictures with them, which we could not resist doing!
Not only were there Clydesdale's at this farm, but there were plenty of other different types of animals as well, and they were just short shuttle ride away. This was not a normal shuttle ride either, it was a ride to the other side of the farm while you got to see tons of animals in their living area along the way. As they drove us through we were in a wooded nature filled area with tons of animals roaming all around.
There was deer, buffalo, cattle and much more. Once you arrive off of the shuttle there are plenty of awesome animals waiting for you. Grants has a petting zoo complete with goats and sheep. You could feed them milk from a bottle!
But the best part of the whole farm besides the Clydesdale's would have to be the Elephant Show!
The whole show was performed by one single elephant. This Elephant was a jolly giant named Bud. This fella could do tons (no pun intended) of awesome tricks. He could stand on 2 legs, and he could also respond to his trainer by shaking his head in a yes or no gesture. According to the trainer, Bud never has to do the same exact show over and over. She explained they do not want him to get bored.
The Elephant Show was also very educational, the trainer mentioned that the ivory trade is destroying the population of elephants so it was nice to see one in a happy and safe environment.
We made a quick stop at Gus pretzels to get a snack for the ride. We purchased a traditional twist pretzel and also a stick pretzel. When you think of pretzels you would think a pretzel is a pretzel, but when you actually taste Gus's for yourself they have a wonderful flavor like no other, easily one of the best pretzels we have ever had. Definitely order a side of honey mustard to top this delicious treat off.
What might possibly be one of the best stops we made on the entire trip was the St. Louis Zoo.
Not to mention this Zoo has FREE ADMISSION!!! Which is such a huge change from back home in Ohio. Sorry Ohio, but the St. Louis Zoo was the best zoo we've seen. This zoo had such a wide selection of animals to feast your eyes upon.
It was almost hard to decide what to do first. We went for the sea lions show to start with, the show was only $4 and was easily one of the most amazing things you can see an animal do. This friendly sea lion could high five, jump 10 feet out of the water, and even throw a Frisbee into the crowd! It doesn't get any better than that!
After the sea lion show we went to check out the insect building! It was an incredible experience.
They had bugs and insects that I didn't even know existed! This area was one of the most impressive things about this Zoo. It's not everyday you see hissing cockroaches, tarantulas, stick bugs the size of and giant centipedes all in the same room.
The penguins were also very impressive, they had almost every type of penguin you could think of right there in the same room! It seems that every animal was well taken care of and happy about where they were living. We also enjoyed the hippos! We give this Zoo 5 stars St. Louis!
The next stop on our St. Louis journey was the St. Louis Museum of Art. The museum was very interesting. There was so much history involved and so many legendary art pieces to look at it. There was art from so many different famous artists at this museum, from Vincent Van Gogh's 'Factories of Clichy', all the way to Pablo Picasso's 'Mandolin and Vase of Flowers'. We took plenty of pictures of amazing art creations. Take a gander if you must!
If you're looking for famous art, St. Louis most definitely has it!
And last but not least on our Missouri trip was Six Flags theme park! Although not located in St. Louis, we thought it would be worth mentioning.
Surprisingly, unlike other theme parks, the lines for the rides went by very quickly. We rode the Batman roller coaster first which was awesome!
After that we rode pretty much every other big ride they had there, but one ride stood out the most and was definitely the most exhilarating... MR. FREEZE... This roller coaster blasts into speed the second it starts to move and it doesn't stop there, you go up backwards until the tracks end at the tippy top, and then you go straight back down with a crazy amount of speed. It was an absolute rush! The only thing we would have changed about six flags is the cost of parking... $20.... I mean come on!?
All in all St Louis is a great weekend getaway. There was also a few places we wanted to visit but didn't have time for, such as going to see the Saint Louis Cardinals play a game. We did get to drive past the stadium for a quick photo though!
Until next time, Tasty!
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