road trip: St. Louis, Missouri

Our first stop on our road trip was just four hours west of Indianapolis.

Last summer, we took a weekend trip to St. Louis and fell in love with the food, the people, and the fun (and free) things to do. As we left to head back to Indy, we were already planning our next visit.

Our first stop was back to Salt and Smoke for delicious barbeque. Chris had been dreaming of this place for a year straight, and it did not disappoint. We got the big three-meat platter meal to share; it comes with two sides and this cheese-popover biscuit thing which I could eat twelve of. No joke.

Right next door to Salt and Smoke is Fitz’s Brewery, a place that makes and bottles its own soda. We watched some root beer being made then picked up a couple four-packs (root beer for Chris and orange pop for the girls) before heading to the City Museum. (Both those places are located on the Delmar Loop, an area we could easily spend all day in. There are so many cool, interesting shops, restaurants, and bars.)

Ooooh, City Museum. You make all my daughters’ dreams come true. And you make Chris Graham’s back hurt. When we first went to the City Museum last year, we had no idea what to expect, and we were overwhelmed by all the amazing things to do there. We didn’t leave enough time to explore everything and left with promises to take the girls back.

So this time when we went to the City Museum, we were prepared. We wore athletic clothes and tennis shoes. We brought water bottles. We went well rested and with full bellies. Some people bring headlamps, walkie talkies, and kneepads. I know this sounds intense, but it’s necessary to squeeze every last ounce of fun out of that place.

We ran ourselves ragged there.

And by “we” I mean Chris and the girls. I just follow them around taking pictures and holding water bottles. I don’t get in the tiny crawl spaces and up the scary ladders. Those things freak me out. I have a very real fear that I will not come back out if I go in. But I’m a really good support person to take to the City Museum. If you need adult backup, I’m your woman. If you need someone to get lost in the tunnels with you, move along.

We camped in Cahokia, Illinois, about one minute from the Missouri state line and, what feels like, still in downtown St. Louis. It was convenient to everything we wanted to do and a great one-night stop. They had clean bathrooms, a well-maintained pool, a restaurant onsite, and were really welcoming. I would say this place isn’t somewhere you go to spend a week camping though. There were a lot of long-term campers at this campground and that can sometimes make a place feel like a trailer park as opposed to a campground.

We were in St. Louis for a very short time and just needed a place to get a little rest so Cahokia RV Parque fit our needs perfectly.

The next morning, we pulled out of St. Louis with the goal of 1,000 miles in two days. This was probably more ambitious than Chris would have liked. Our girls were awesome, didn’t really complain, and just went with the flow. A DVD player and junk food helped. But we learned lots of lessons trying to travel that much in two days. Spoiler alert: don’t do it again.

Next stop: South Dakota.

(This is a shorter travel post because we didn’t spend more than 24 hours in Missouri and we did many of the same things we did last year–let’s just say, we know what we love. Read about last year’s trip here.)