St. Louis Vacation!

We just came back from a three day vacation to St. Louis! It was really fun. We went to the botanical gardens (twice), the zoo, and a chocolate factory! We also went to a lot of really good restaurants, and stopped in Springfield on the way there.

We live in a suburb of Chicago called Oak Park, and from there it is about four and a half to five hours to St. Louis, depending on traffic. We  drove there, and on the way there we stopped in Springfield and did a tour of the only house that Abraham Lincoln owned. It was really sad, because a day or two before we got there, there was a strong series of storms and they knocked down the last tree that was there when Lincoln lived there.

We arrived in St. Louis later that night. We went to a playground over by the arch and then went to a restaurant over by the Cardinal’s stadium called Katie’s. It was pretty good. I split a Chicken Parm and Caesar Salad with my parents and it was really good, but it was spicy. I don’t like spicy food, so I just ate the bread. They have really good focaccia there! They also give you plates of dough to play with, and my little siblings and I thought that was really cool, and that was the main reason why we came back (we had gone on a previous trip to St. Louis). We then went to the hotel.

The next day, we went to the botanical gardens and had lunch there. They have an amazing children’s area that you do have to pay a little bit extra for, but not much. Only five dollars for every kid aged 3-12. It was really cool, there was a treehouse, a grocery store, a splash pad, and more. It was awesome, and the whole botanical gardens were beautiful. There is also a  cafe called Sassafras, and there was really great food there. I got a salad called Nature’s Candy, it had grapes strawberries, candied pecans, some greens, and balsamic vinaigrette. It was the best salad I ever had. It was really big, and I ate the whole thing. If you could go one place in St. Louis, I would recommend the botanical gardens, and then you eat lunch here, and take it to go for dinner too.

After, we went to the Saint Louis Zoo. It was really cool. There is free admission, but there are a lot of cool gift shops and add-on experiences, making it hard to leave without buying something, especially with kids. We saw a lot of cool animals! We saw the penguin exhibit first, because it is really cool! It is also really cold. They have (Southern) Rockhopper Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, and king penguins! They also have Humboldt Penguins outside (weather dependent). We then went to see the flamingos, which is basically just an island in the middle of the lake with a bunch of flamingos on it. My sister wanted to see the flamingos, and I wanted to see penguins, so we saw both of those. My brother wanted to see giraffes, so we went over to that section. We saw one giraffe, then another one popped out of nowhere! My little brother really liked that. We then walked around some more in that section. We saw a leopard, a tiger, zebras, and a donkey that went by some other name. We also saw an ocelot, which my dad really wanted to see, and that was awesome. I got a t-shirt that smelled like fish, a penguin in an egg stuffed animal that crinkles when you pull it out, and a little penguin keychain. I really like penguins. 

We then left the zoo and went to this really good food court called the Foundry for dinner. I got a sandwich from a sandwich shop called subdivision sandwiches. All of the sandwiches had names that were quotes from somewhere. I got one called “I Believe You Have My Stapler.”  It had pesto, buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, and spring greens. I despise tomatoes, unless they are in sauce, so I picked them off. The rest of the sandwich was delicious. The food court had a lot of options, and looked really neat. I would highly recommend it.

We stopped at Target on the way back to the hotel to get some snacks (candy). I got peanut M&M’s. We were staying in a Hyatt Place. They had a pool, so we decided to go swimming. The water was cold, and very chlorinated. It was cloudy with chlorine, and you could smell it very strongly the second you walked in. However, we still had fun. For about fifteen minutes, then we were all done. I wrapped myself in four towels when we got out! One for my legs, one for below my arms, one for above my arms, and one for my hair. 

The next day, we went to a chocolate factory! It was really fun, we got to see how the chocolate was made, and then we got some chocolate. It was a free tour, but there was a gift shop and we bought a lot of chocolate. The brand was (I’m not lying) Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company. After that, we went back to the botanical gardens. I got the salad again, and we went to the gift shop and I got a dumpling squishy, because for some reason they were selling them there. I got a pink one that was sparkly when it got hit with light. They have a Japanese garden there, and in it they have a koi pond. We got some koi food and fed them. They really liked it! There were also some smart geese there that realized that they get free food thrown at them all day! So they were in the water too. They were kind of annoying at first, until I realized that they follow food. So I made a trail of it to a corner of the pond and they all stayed over there. We then went back to the children's garden. 

After that we headed home. We stopped at a Biaggi’s for dinner and then finished driving home. I think that it was a very fun and memorable trip.