St Louis, Missouri

Community Highlights North America St Louis, Missouri

After my trip to the Seychelles was cancelled I decided I would try to work towards a few goals, one being my National Park stamps. I saw a deal on Travelzoo for the Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta hotel and decided I would head there for a few days to get my Gateway Arch National Park stamp. I had done a lot of the activities surrounding the park when I lived in Missouri in 2006 so it wasn't going to take me a lot of time. The drive was a little over four hours and by 1500 I was pulling in to the parking garage of the hotel. The $40 a night self parking was included in the deal with travelzoo.

Luckily my room was ready so I could drop off my stuff and explore the hotel. They had a gorgeous entry way, pool and even a theater. I spent some time that afternoon by the pool and then went to see Longlegs at the theater. I read a brief description on line and didn't notice that Nicolas Cage directed it - weird.

On Tuesday morning my goal was to get the gateway arch stamp but when I walked outside to check on the weather that morning I noticed a park across the road. When I looked it up I noticed that a HUGE park, Forest Park, had a ton of stuff to see. The zoo inside was free so I changed my plan and put on my walking shoes. I walked the two miles to the zoo which had some beautiful landscaping.

I walked past the World Fair Pavilian which was built with proceeds from the Worlds Fair.

The zoo had a wonderful collection of animals although some were not visible as I walked around.

I did see a couple of animals I don't remember seeing before...a Takin which is the relative of a musk ox.

Addax which reminded me of the kudu.

I also loved seeing the hippo under the water.

The Orangutangs had a baby which was adorable.

The black mamba reminded me of seeing the one in Africa.

The cobra was also neat to see alert.

All the other animals were cool to see as well.

I also saw there were some waterfalls in the park about 15 minutes walk from the zoo so I walked over there. I went past the Art Museum which had a pretty view and statue of St Louis.

I probably could have skipped that but it was still a pretty manmade fall.

On the way back I had walk past some pretty impressive homes.

The Starbucks I got back at the hotel was one of the best things I had tasted in awhile and I spent the rest of the day going to the gym, having some flatbread by the pool and reading in the room.

On Wednesday after the gym I headed to the Gateway Arch on the way out of town. I hit the visitors center to get my stamp and did a quick trip around the museum inside. It has a lot of stuff on westward expansion to check out.

Outside I walked around a bit getting photos of the arch from every angle.

I even walked all the way to the Mississippi River.

After that quick visit I did the four hour trip home.