Written by Paul
Odds are, if you’ve ever been to St. Louis, you’ve been to the City Museum at least once. If not, shame on you. Living in and around the city of Chicago all my life has certainly given me a wide spectrum of fun and interesting ways to entertain myself, many of which just aren’t the same anywhere else. But a year and a half ago my fiancée took me on a weekend trip to St. Louis to visit friends, where I got my first taste of the unbelievable City Museum.
Recently, we returned to the home of Anheuser-Busch, killer BBQ, and once great hockey, and I got to make my 3rd trip to the City Museum. Quite seriously, words cannot do it justice. The best description I can sum up (having tried many times) is this: think of the bizarre absurdity of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, connect all the exhibits with dark passageways, ladders, slides, tunnels and artist conceptions built with wood, iron, and plaster, and add booze. What you get is a place that overloads your senses and makes you feel 5 years old again from the moment you enter.
My last trip took myself, fiancée Emily, soon to be sister in law Elisa, and good buddy/resident St. Louisian Mike to heart of the city at 10 pm Saturday night. The Museum keeps normal operating hours during the week, but for people in the know, Saturdays after 10pm they turn off the lights and give you mini flashlights to get lost with. The first thing you see is the largest outdoor jungle gym you could imagine, easily 4 stories high outside, connected by old planes, walkways and rebar. At the bottom lies a giant pit full of dodge balls, and in the center of it all, the first bar. The jungle gym makes its way inside and out of the building leading you to more options than you could possibly know what to do with!
Once inside, the options are endless. There is a giant indoor tree house area to easily get lost in connected to exhibits such as a giant turtle tank, old turn of the century machinery, a huge whales mouth to walk in and crawl around amongst the offshoots, and a seemingly never-ending maze of caves which leads to a giant room that takes up the entire 10 story expanse of the building. Playing in said room, is a giant pipe organ blaring as you carefully make your way all the way up to the top navigating a series of stairs and ladders. Once you reach the top, a spiral slide conveniently takes you back down all 10 stories.
Another area has a small skate park made to slide around on your knees and swing on ropes, another has the largest insect collection I have ever seen in my life, and yet another has giant hamster wheels, crazy gargoyles and an aquarium with some very impressive fish.
But the coup de grace must certainly be the rooftop. 10 stories above a beautifully lit city, the river in the distance framed by the silver Arch itself makes for a gorgeous backdrop. Atop the roof we enjoy a full size Ferris wheel which makes for just the right amount of night time vertigo, and then make our way to the school bus hanging off the edge of the building which one can climb all the way to the front of and sit in the driver’s seat. Pretty intense. The rooftop also offers a long, straight slide that sends you shooting down fast from a crows nest you climb up to, and deposits you (rather uncomfortably) at a pool of water with a path of stones to navigate your way across. More rebar climbing apparatus’ will take you up even higher, and a giant rope swing will allow your friends to swing you back and forth around a padded room till you make yourself sick.
Needless to say, after merely a few short hours (and more than a few drinks) we are tired and bruised and ready to go home. Making our way back to the car we look back to see everything we had just done and marvel at the enormity of it all. It really doesn’t feel that big when you’re a part of it, but at a second glance you can’t help but think to yourself “How crazy was I to just throw myself into all that?”
As I said before, words simply cannot do it justice. For a better idea of what you’re getting yourself into, check out their website http://www.citymuseum.org/home.asp where you can find pics, videos, and lists of upcoming special attractions. For a truly fun and original experience, get yourself to St. Louis and check out the City Museum. Whether you’re 5 or 50, whether or not you have kids of your own, this wonderful building has innumerable secrets to unravel, and is worth coming back to again and again.
Suds Wants You To Know: This place sounds like my type of museum.
Ohio State came rolling into town this past Saturday for a game against the Illini and Tshirt Laundry was there to experience the mayhem firsthand. Armed with our brand new, Ohio State inspired, “Overrated” shirt, we were ready to hit up the tailgate.
The Budweiser tailgate proved to be the spot to be before the game. Bud had their Bud Light Truck set up blasting AC/DC’s Live in London while the Bud Girls gave out samples of flavored beers like pumpkin, peach and blueberry. This was the perfect place for us to meet and greet while people filled out entries to win a free tshirt from our site. However, most people just wanted one of our “Overrated” shirts that we had on.
This Illini fan couldn’t wait to put on his Overrated shirt while hanging out with some Ohio State fans. If I wasn’t so against Ohio State then I may have given them shirts too…
The party continued after the game at Red Lion where we tried our best to “stick it” to these Ohio State fans with our shirt. However, they had the last laugh since they won the game. They thought the shirts were hilarious anyway.
Suds Wants You To Know: All shirts worn at the tailgate are available here, http://www.tshirtlaundry.com/illini.
