St. Louis, MO – Final Stop of our Cross-Country Road Trip
Hard to believe a week had passed already and it was time for the final leg of our trip: St. Louis, Missouri.
I found Cahokia RV Parque, just outside of St. Louis, for this stay. It’s actually in Illinois, making this a multiple state visit. We rolled in around 8:30 p.m. – happy to be done with another long drive and ready to eat.
Cahokia RV Parque
Cahokia RV Parque was a great choice for the proximity to St. Louis, only about five minutes from the Arch. There is also a barbecue restaurant on site, and we were planning to enjoy the local food offering there, but the restaurant was closed. Once we got set up, it began to pour. So we ordered a pizza for delivery. It was a St. Louis-style, which was a first for us, thin crust and made with Provel cheese. It was delicious, and we very much appreciated the poor delivery guy who brought it in a downpour!
The next morning as we took the boys for a walk around the campground, we saw how flooded the place was. There was standing water in the back section of the campground and our site was pretty soggy. The weather this year is just insane.
We also spotted another famous Instagram/YouTube camping celebrity family down the road from us, Five to Go. These fellow Grand Design owners were one of the reasons we made the decision to join the Grand Design family, and we love our Transcend so much, we owe them a thank you. We also watch their YouTube videos a lot during the winter when we’re stuck home in our “sticks and bricks” house and the camper just sits in the yard, reminding of us of better times. This time, Jamey was the one who was star struck. We sent them a message on Instagram and managed a passing wave. Next time we run into a fellow ‘grammer, we must make time to actually talk!
Birthday Boy
Saturday morning, we headed out for a jam-packed day of tourism in St. Louis. But most importantly, we were celebrating Toby’s 13th birthday! We don’t really know when his birthday is, but when Jamey brought him home in October 2006, he was four months old, and since he loves doing all the things when we’re camping, we decided June 1st would be the best chance to celebrate the old man.
St. Louis Tourism
While we were in Arlington, Kristen gave Toby his adorable birthday boy bandana and he wore it all day long, for maximum attention. It was lunch time, and obviously we had to eat some St. Louis barbecue! After consulting Bring Fido (seriously, a useful app/website to finding places that are dog-friendly) we headed to Salt + Smoke, where the dogs were allowed on the outdoor patio. Of course, we made sure to tell the waitress it was Toby’s birthday, so she brought treats for both dogs.
Knowing our time in St. Louis was limited and this was probably our only chance to get St. Louis-style barbeque, Jamey ordered the giant three-meat platter to have a little of everything while I had a prime brisket sandwich. Oh man, that was delicious stuff. Toby got a few bites of our food, since it was his birthday after all. The sauce and homemade mustard were so good we bought some to take home with us.
Three Dog Bakery
After lunch, we took the short walk down the street to Three Dog Bakery so Toby could pick out his very own special birthday treat. This adorable bakery sells hand made pet treats and toys and it’s dog-friendly. The boys loved all the smells and the resident dog popped out to say hello. In the end we got some fancy treats to go and a squeaky toy for Toby. I think Toby and Buddy would have liked to spend the day there, eating everything at nose level!
When Toby was allowed to eat his treat, I think he was shocked. The photos tell the whole story. I love that guy, it was fun to make his day extra special.
Citygarden Sculpture Park
Just outside of the famous Arch is the St. Louis “Gateway Mall” with this sculpture garden. We took the dogs for a nice walk and admired the art. Lots of kids were playing in the fountain and pools, this was a great area for families. Now that he’s officially 13, Toby felt more comfortable demanding frequent rest stops, so we took a slow walk through here. After about 45 minutes here, we took the tired dogs back to the campground. They were pretty well worn out from all the people, and the walking, and the heat, so they were happy to get back to the A/C and the couch.
Gateway Arch
After spoiling and tiring out the dogs, we took the afternoon to do touristy things by bike. Just a short ride across the bridge into St. Louis. The road and sidewalks were full of broken glass, so that was frustrating, but once we got onto Eads Bridge, the view was great and it took us easily to the Riverfront.
More flooding was obvious here, the Mississippi River was so high, most of the St. Louis Riverfront was underwater. You could see light posts and traffic signs to indicate where a sidewalk or path is, but those paths are entirely under water. We couldn’t have taken the Riverboat cruise since the river was too high, that was disappointing.
We explored the park a little bit and headed over to the Gateway Arch to get our tickets to the top. All aboard the sardine express! The tram to the top squeezes five people in, not comfortably, but the ride is a short 4 minutes. If you’re tall, prepare to crouch. If you’re claustrophobic, skip it. It doesn’t get much better at the top.
Once you get to the top, the views are spectacular. Through very small windows. And you have to fight the horde of other people all trying to look out those small windows. From the top you can see the river, the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott case was decided, and Busch Stadium.
The Arch is quintessential St. Louis tourism – but if you can go during the work week, that would probably be less stressful and crowded. Or, if you’re more like Jamey who doesn’t mind being a sardine or cattle, the weekend is fine.
The museum is amazing, I would recommend that to anyone. They tell the story of the Native Americans, the explorers and pioneers, the brutality, manifest destiny, all of it – without whitewashing the really awful things that happened along the way.
Anheuser-Busch Brewery
Anheuser-Busch? Budweiser, really? I know that’s what you’re thinking. But it’s a historic brewery in St. Louis and Anheuser-Busch makes more than you probably know. They own Goose Island, Breckenridge Brewery, Shock Top, Johnny Appleseed … and more. I won’t even pretend; a fresh Budweiser is pretty tasty on a hot day.
Plus, Clydesdales.
I was in St. Louis around this time last year and took a free tram from the ballpark to the brewery, and at the brewery they brought out a Clydesdale that I got to pet and take a picture with. Apparently all that changed this year. Budget cuts or something. Now you have to take the tour to see the horses, which was disappointing. We didn’t get there in time to take the tour, but we could see the horses from far away. We tried to walk over to where they were hanging out, but we got yelled out and told only tour guests were allowed in that area.
Still, the brewery is actually a really neat place to visit. The outdoor biergarten is a lovely area to grab a bite and some brews, the beers on tap are surprisingly affordable, and the walls are covered in history.
Back to Reality
Sunday morning and it was time to head home and back to reality. It rained more overnight Saturday, so our site was extra squishy and the backside of the campground was even more flooded. If we had pulled out the correct way, we would have had to drive through that area, which was not a risk we wanted to take. We couldn’t just back out since there was another RV behind us, so we ended up pulling out about half way out of the site, going back in at an angle, and pulling back out so we could exit the “wrong way” to avoid driving through pretty deep standing water.
This was the most epic trip! 1665 miles, 11 days, 10 nights. And not once was I homesick because I had my camper, my husband, and my dogs. I don’t always go camping, but when I do, I bring home with.
Vacation was very fun! It was not at all restful! We have three weeks until our next trip to recover from this one.
1 Comment
Masonic West River Park, Hutchinson, MN - Wandering Weirdos · July 10, 2019 at 1:57 am
[…] was a great choice for a short weekend camping trip! Three whole weeks passed since we were camping in St. Louis and we were getting a little twitchy. I hadn’t even really given Hutchinson a thought as a […]
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