bert425

I was wondering the same thing. and agreed, great report Steve. thanks for sharing.

Nice pics, JLP thanks for sharing

Day 2: part 3b - More at the City Museum not a whole lot of extra commentary to add here.. will "talk" under the pics so once we finished our snack, we of COURSE had to do one more round of Pinball before moving on. Hey, it makes Nick happy, and he was doing his best to keep up with me (and I love pinball too). Then we moved on continuing on the 3rd floor, admiring the train. For some reason, I didn't take a lot of pictures of the area the kid-size train goes thru, but it included some psychedelic colors, what looked like Jellyfish, a full size (like from outside the front of the restaurant) Bob's Big Boy statue among other things. i DID stop and take a pic of *this* WTF-ery area, where the train goes by a full scale model train set (complete with clouds, lightning, dinosaurs, fighter jets. . . oh, and all built on top of a giant (and scary looking) Millipede ! no, I don't understand it either. . . it is insane! but I loved it (too bad the miniature train wasn't running - when they closed the bigger train, they turned off this one too). Continuing around back to the side of the floor by the Carnival target game (and the back entrance to Beatnick Bob's), we then took a look in "Avalon" - one of the galleries that is more what you'd see in a typical Museum. although a sort of F-ed up one: Avalon is full of mummified, Taxidermied, and mounted bones of insects, animals, and reptiles. didn't take any pics inside here either, as we moved rather quickly thru it (it was. . . uncomfortable. . LOL. .. .especially the 4 giant dead hornet's nests suspended from the ceiling inside the "gallery"). Not really my thing, but interesting. Connecting thru the back of the Avalon gallery was a new installation in process of being created (so very cool they let you see what they are creating), this one focusing on stone reliefs & Gargoyles - as well as iron work from old buildings. There were no signs up telling me where the material came from, or even what city. But that COULD be because they are in process of putting up the exhibit (?). I say that because a similar gallery on the 4th floor, of Building reliefs *did* have cards noting where/what buildings they had come from, complete with pictures of the buildings with the stonework on it. you can see off to the right, some of that exhibition a better view of the entrance into the exhibition next door to Avalon. Nick and I posing in front of some beautiful ironwork installed on an interior wall of the space. I believe I may have asked someone passing by to take this picture, since we have cut off the 1920's turnstile that was beneath this iron work. It was really quite the stunner, made out of bent iron, and you could step on a floor pedal to "push" the turnstile - so it was very interactive, once you figured out that you had to step on the pedal to get it to turn. Me and a gargoyle. I couldn't help myself. I thought about how disrespectful it is that the idiot tourists at Easter Island are doing similar to the giant sculptured heads there. . . and then did this anyways, figuring it came from an outdoor corner of a building in a downtown somewhere. I even took another picture .. . LOL. . wonder if I'm gonna be haunted by spirits now! We needed a potty break around this time, and found hidden way back behind the stonework, an old bathroom - that I'll bet is original to the warehouse building the City Museum is in (it takes up the 1st 4 floors of the building (and the roof), with the floors above looking quite abandoned - at least based on the broken out windows I saw from outside). anyways, we were the only folks in this bathroom, and I absolutely adored the classic Subway Tile thruout the space. so took a picture. there was also a large empty gallery room off to the side (I have to wonder if maybe that's where the wedding party we had seen earlier on the 3rd floor taking pictures, had done their reception? - I HAD heard someone talking about the 4th floor being closed off for a wedding, but the stairs were open when we made our way up here, and we had passed the wedding party earlier). . .anyways. Up some steep, Iron steps from the 3rd floor (avoiding the spiral staircase that also would have taken us up to the 4th, as Nick was concerned he wouldn't be able to navigate the spiral as the handrail was on the wrong side for him - he's a lefty), we came upon the windows looking out over the front entrance outdoor area - and a fantastic view of the top of the "dragon slide" (and the City Museum Employee in the bright orange shirt, making sure it stayed safe). some really good views overlooking the outdoor area, from the windows on the 4th floor. the entrance to the outdoor area is on the 2nd floor. I dunno how I managed to get a picture with so few people in it, as the place really was pretty crowded. see that Metal "net" habitrail from the upper plane to the top of the Pyramid? And the other metal habitrail from the lower plane up to the upper plane? yeah. I did NOT do that. . LOL. . was terrified that I'd get stuck half way, and not be able to go back since it was so crowded. Luckily, there's an "easier" path - tho still climbing and squeezing - to get to the dragon slide. more on the outside in a bit. Here's Nick smiling in front of the windows (and behind him you can sort of see the "easier" path - climbing up a tall ladder structure). Not really 100% positive, but I THINK this is not the body of the Dragon Slide, but actually just another orange slide that was in the outdoor area. Pic taken thru the windows on the 4th floor this time over by the "outdoor reliefs" smaller gallery on this floor. these Mosaics too, were just lovely and very well done. So stopped and got a close up pic, before focusing my attention on the pop-art. The 4th floor was really pretty dead when we got up here : Art City was open (the hands on "make some art" area. . but since it was getting to be early evening, most of the kiddos who would have been in this space were gone, so it was empty). The restaurant here was not open, and looked like it hadn't been for a while - just an empty counter, with no supplies behind it. there were a few tables out, with some people sitting at them. what was here? Yep, more mosaics! you may notice here a closed metal gate. This leads into a small gallery of Pop Art & sculptures by some well known names. The Gallery is sponsored by the St. Louis Art Center. and I recognized several of the artists on display, and was excited for a moment, hoping there's another way into the gallery. there was a City Museum Employee patiently listening to someone at the tables by the closed Restaurant serving bar complaining about the 10 story slide being closed. when the people got up in a huff, I asked her before she went back downstairs about the closed gallery door. She told me that it wasn't open today, because of staffing. Note: THIS I *totally* understand. the pieces in this gallery are worth millions of dollars. I'm sure whomever owns them and has them on display has very strict rules about how many staffers must be in the space with the sculptures, to ensure no one touches them, or damages them. but i wasn't too upset, as the metal gates (as you can see here) are quite large. certainly large enough for a hand holding an iPhone to get thru, and get good pictures of the sculptures, even if one has to stay outside the actual gallery. the staff member even pointed out to me that there *was* a 2nd entrance to the Gallery, so I could go to that entrance and see the sculptures in the 2nd room. This kind of art is right up my alley, and I was positively thrilled to get to see it in person (even from back away a bit). To me? it was worth the price of admission on it's own .. although I had been having a spectacular time up to this point anyways. before she headed back downstairs, I mentioned i had heard her talking to the other folks about the 10-story slide, and knew it was closed, but that the 5 story slide entrance is thru the caves? (I had read that on the museum site). She said - well, you CAN go that way - from the lower floors . . . . *or*.. there's a hole in the wall over by the other gallery behind us (the ones with the building reliefs). She said "it doesn't look like it's something you should go thru. but go thru it, and you'll be right there at the bottom of the spiral steps that will take you to it" so got some cool insider info! Spectacular. I believe this is by KAWS (the X-ed out eyes & Pop Culture reference of Gumby are a giveaway) would have loved to get a closer look at the art on the walls. . but thrilled I got to see it. and that's a brass (?) or maybe polished Gold (?) topple chair back there! and on the wall? is a stained glass mural called "Mayhem on Ice" celebrating the St. Louis Blues (I know the name because the employee pointed it out to me from the other entrance) in particular this sculpture - which I've seen pics of (in various castings) from other museums. It's formed metal in the shape of blown up balloon figure, but artist Erwin Wurm. I've now moved over to the other entrance gate, to get a straight on picture. This one also took my breath away. . just amazing. and this is absolutely by KAWS (one of the signature style pieces) Benefit of the gallery being closed, is that I could get unobstructed pictures. there were a few other pieces in here, way in the back , that I wasn't able to see, but very much enjoyed what I could view from outside the gate. Remember that hole in the wall that doesn't look like something one should go thru? when you step thru it, you are BETWEEN the buildings, and looking up, you see the large spirals of the 10 story slide (on the left) and the 5 story slide (behind me). . and in between? multiple spiral staircases that may, or may not go to either of them. including a short one that brings you to a platform between them. There were also multiple spiral staircases that came up to the platform we were on from below - which I assume is where the caves connect to the slide complexes. I greatly appreciated the climbing we saved, as Nick wasn't able to do much on the spiral staircases (other than the slight one that brought us here), so he sat here on the 4th floor platform while I went and rode the 5 story slide 3 times. it's a pretty tight spiral, so it was mainly banging the side every few seconds, and desperately trying not to get spun around backwards - as they are pretty steep. but i was laughing the ENTIRE time. I'm serious when I say, I crawled out the bottom, and immediately started climbing the Spiral staircases back up to ride again. worked up quite the sweat! stepping directly between the two slides and looking up: 10 story on left, 5 story on right. Looking down from the exit to the slide, there's some theming down here too. . very spooky. and very well lit, as the sunlight from above doesn't really reach this far down into the space bewteen the buildings. our white boy "Straight Outta Compton" moment. c'mon. . you HAVE to take this pic. After a few rides on the "big" slide, I was already sweaty, so told Nick I think it's time to attempt the outside. so we headed back down the steep stairs to the 3rd floor, on our way to the outside on the 2nd floor. this is from the 3rd floor, looking down onto the top of the main stairs going to the 2nd floor (where, of course, there's another Mosaic). The "rollers" on the handrails? all actually rolled, and were hella fun to activate as you walked past them. there's even a slide on the 3rd (the entrance would be on the upper left and one floor up from this pic) that surrounded by a "triangle" of rollers, so you can reach out and roll the rollers the whole way down from the 3rd floor into the main lobby. (I did ride this slide to close out our night, but was so sweaty, got stuck quite a bit, so had to use the rollers to "nudge" myself down. . LOL). Stepping into the outdoor area, and looking up to get this shot of the school bus on the roof (which, again, I didn't go to on this trip. . . next time!). Luckily, in addition to all the outdoor towers/slides/climbing activities, there are also two old amusement park trams mounted on either side of the 2nd floor outdoor area. So I put Nick (and my shoulder bag) into one of them, and headed off to explore the outdoor fun for a good 30 minutes). that slide to the left of Nick was the only slide (besides the 10 story one) that was not open on the day we were there. the entire complex the slide came from - above the firetruck - was blocked off with caution tape. From the state of the slide, it looked lie it hadn't been utilized in a long time. I did ask the employees stationed at the top of the Dragon Slide if that one was in process of being removed, and she said that in all the years she's been working at City Museum, she's actually never seen that one open. so she doesn't think it's going away, but she also doesn't think it will ever be open. so I guess it's just "art". . . which is an idea that I love. A slide to nowhere that you cannot ride. LOL this pic I took of Nick is from the turret of one of the "castle" towers. I made my way up to the top of the tower. . well, almost to the top. The hatch to get to the top looked a bit too narrow for me to want to attempt it! so I was happy with the "next to top" level. I actually didn't even think I'd get that far, as some of the entranceways are super tiny - but I found a "bypass" that let me go down the side of the entranceway and in thru the back! I really love that there are no clear directions. Just GO. EXPLORE. HAVE FUN. great place. about to go on the suspended bridge that goes from one Castle Tower, to the more rustic, Medieval Castle Tower -- where you get to the top by climbing 12" stone steps clockwise around the inside of the tower. This is the way to get to plane 1 from prior pics. That's Plane 2 behind me. only way to get to that one (and I thought, the Dragon Slide) was to go thru the metal net habitrails. So I wasn't gonna do that - again, I was worried I was gonna get stuck, and not be able to go back because of all the kids that kept coming up behind me. I kept stepping aside to let them pass in places where able, but you can't do that in the mesh habitrails! still. . I got FAIRLY close to it. see? OMG but I did it. . I scootched on my butt, and squeezed thru. in the cockpit is the connecting mesh habitrail to go to the 2nd plane, but nope, did NOT go that way. Instead I went out the pilot's door, and along the top of the crane. then up the wobbly ladders, to take the mesh spiral up to the Dragon Slide. where the sweat I had worked up made for a "stop / start" slide. . . LOL but it was really, really fun! ok.. got into the 1st plane, from the Medieval Tower climb. this is the face one makes, when one realizes that the only way to proceed is forward.. . and the hatch ain't exactly . . .. 'large' Holy Crap. . but WHEEEEEEEE! Nick even got a pic of me as I got up after coming out the bottom. That face is a combination of happy and embarrassed. see that super steep brown/grey thing behind me? That's the steepest slide i encountered at City Museum. it really is almost straight down 1 story drop. It comes from the firetruck area above, and after looking to see if there's a way to get up there without the Mesh Habitrails, I found a "net spiral walkway" that got me up there. but the moment I sat on the edge and looked down? I regretted it. I ALMOST backed out, it was that scary. Certainly not the longest slide, but it was the steepest. But I was here. I WANTED to do it, despite my nerves. So I forced myself to slip my butt off the edge and went! Coming back inside after having all that fun outside, I told Nick I wanted to ride the "roller slide". .so he headed down to the lobby, and I went up one floor to get in the now short line for the roller slide. it was well after 8pm by this time, so the main lobby area had really cleared out. but in this pic, you get a fantastic view of the banisters full of rollers on the main stairs from the lobby to the 2nd floor. From the line for the Roller Slide, I noticed this closed off room at the top of the stairs leading to the slide. not sure what it was (an office for the staff maybe?), but I liked the stone work on either side, so took a picture. after riding (and getting stuck a bit. .LOL) in the Roller Slide, I met Nick at the bottom in the lobby, and asked him if he was still up for exploring a bit. He was still doing ok, so I talked him into attempting the Caves from the 1st floor, since we hadn't gone into them really - the entrance to them was behind the big whale he had sat on hours earlier while waiting for me in the treehouse slide complex. what cinched it for me wanting to give it a shot? the mosaic jellyfish. and the trail of fish mosaic leading into the caves. . . The caves are impressive as hell - you can't even tell you're in a building! and there are cool sculptures (with some interesting lighting effects) everywhere you look. like this SUPER COOL dragon (and nekkid people on the wall behind him, that I guess he's guarding)? there are all kinds of pathways, and rock "slides" here in the caves too, tho we were kind of limited due to Nick's balance - it likely wasn't' a good idea to get him in here, but did my best to navigate him to the "flat-est" option avail. all kinds of cool sculptures, stalagmites, & design work in here and as noted, with some really effective lighting effects. all kinds of hidey-holes too.. we passed several groups that were hiding and "popping out" to scare the crap out of their friends/family. it's a bad pic because of the shadows from the lighting, but even the "small" stuff, like this Geode, was really well done. Levels upon levels at City Museum. . even in the caves, there were walkways above and to the sides of us wherever you looked. it was really quite confusing, and Nick was getting concerned (and agitated) the further we went into the maze to try to find the way out. he's cussing me out under his breath here, as the easiest path at this particular juncture, was to go UP. . so he had to do uneven, curving steps. but this actually DID lead us to an exit out onto the 2nd floor landing (near the steps) and this scary sculpture thing. . . LOL We were beat, as it had been a long, long day. but, of course, we HAD to stop into the gift shop (where I went to the teeny tiny 2nd floor, up those steps) to look down and get this pic of Nick - and the Mosaic (!!) that's in the gift shop. it was actually a little frustrating trying to get this picture, since every one that came into the gift shop, saw Nick, then looked directly up at me/camera. sheesh.. . but after a moment was able to get a decent picture, even if he's not the only one in it It's a very large gift shop, selling a lot of very cool, some "educational" and some "Spencer Gifts" level stuff. they had a bunch of shirts on sale, as well as magnets, and puzzles, and chatchkis. They even sold unique (to us at least) soda flavors, so went ahead and bought some sort of vanilla/orange Sprite type drink.. even saying to the lady at the counter - this is a bad idea, I'm sure I'll like it for a swig or two, and then it will be too sweet for me. and she giggled and nodded (and sure enough, it was way too sweet for me, and after a few sips, it got re-capped and stayed in the room fridge until we threw it out on checkout on Monday). So we made our purchases, thanked the staff, and headed out. it was late, but still surprisingly not dark out yet. So I went to the side of the building to get a pic of this guy that I hadn't noticed on the way in. slightly better angle of the Dragon (?) Not sure what this is even, or if it's abandoned. But I liked the way it bridged the City Museum building and the building across the street, so took a snap of it. standing at the Trolley Stop waiting to board, snapped one last pic of the City Museum as we waited for the Trolley to show up. we hadn't actually ridden the entire route, so planned to ride a full circuit, keeping an eye out for anything we could stop to grab a bite to eat, before turning in, as tomorrow was gonna be a full day as well (Six Flags St. Louis) the City Museum wristband, with the disclaimer. we had a fantastic time (if you couldn't tell), and i highly recommend it. . but buy your tix online. huge timesaver.

ABSOLUTELY worth it. Even if a little bit "de-fanged" we still had an amazing time (and that's with Nick sitting quite a bit while I went off and did things) thanks! really appreciate it. . I love re-living my trips (even very recent ones), by sharing here at TPR. I'd say make sure to try some of the "treats" at Beatnick Bob's. . . everything I had there was great! as I just posted above too. . you likely need at least 2-3 hours to really experience it, but you *can* spend much longer there, and if pressed? you could just get a sampling of some of the stuff. there are no maps to the place, so you never know when you're done with an area - as a hallway might lead to a whole nother section, with slides/attractions to play with/on.

it depends on what you are interested in. . I would say you certainly need at minimum 3 hours. . just to glance at everything (if not DO everything). we were there a good 5 1/2 hours, and that was without the Rooftop, some galleries closed / in process of being installed-repaired, not seeing a Circus Show, or sitting down for a full meal, and simply bypassing things we weren't interested in (such as the rope swings, or running on the skateboard ramps, or some of the wire outdoor habitrails). we *easily* could have stayed another 3 hours. heck, at least 45 minutes was just at the Pinball Machines (and that's a very small section of the 3rd floor). so yeah. . plan for plenty of time, and you'll love it. if you can time it to go on a weekend? Friday & Saturday nights they are open until Midnight - and they offer a discounted "post 5-pm" admission ticket. about to upload part II. . so more pics coming!

tho I HATED DDD (only rode it once during my 2 day trip there last summer), but glad you had such a great visit. isn't that "Wave" element on TC fantastic? no mention of Monster Mansion? hope you rode the hell out of that WTF ride. . .

back to SFFT (to participate in Coasting for Kids) on 7/20.

Yeah but youre also trying to give us Beto. Beto will be dropping out soon anyways. . but at least he's not as creepy at Ted. . LOL

^ other States keep passing on taking Ted Cruz off our hands tho. .

what? Aquaman? it premiered in 1987 as Splashwater Falls, then became Splashdown for a while, before switching to an Aquaman theme in 2007 so it's been in the park for 32 years.

heh.. it was pretty nuts regardless! the signs were there, and there was staff at the top of each "big" slide telling folks when they could go. . . but they didn't turn anyone away. so I'd say the signs are just a "suggestion". . I didn't see anyone enforcing anything. so just for liability, I guess

^ agreed. i'd certainly love to go back at some point again! if not with a group, then just a quick weekend getaway - St Louis Zoo, City Museum on Sat, Six Flags on Sunday

not exactly related (but sorta/kinda), but the folks at Beatnick Bob's did mention to me in casual conversation (about the train closing so early) that several of the Museum attractions/food service options are run by independent contractors - including the Train, most of the restaurants, and even the Circus. So that's why sometimes things are closed, because the operators of those things needed to close that day. so they are IN the City Museum, but not run by the City Museum. I thought that was rather interesting, and sure enough, the eatery on the 4th floor was not open when we were there - it looked to me like the large open room behind the serving area, was missing an installation. So have to wonder if maybe with that being empty (at the moment), and the Pop Art Gallery up there being closed - it just wasn't worth it to staff the food counter, so they took time off? but who knows. as noted, I did see a ton of staff (in bright orange shirts) while we were there on floors 1, 3, and outside. . and most were stationed at the entrances to the bigger slides.

hmm. . "boiler room" ? that's not ringing a bell, although there was one near vertical slide outside, that I grit my teeth, decided I'm here once dammit, I'm gonna do it, and took the plunge. but that was a very "open area" slide. so wonder if the one you're talking about is no longer there? or if maybe it's one of those "hole in the ground" slides I didn't go into? (but I would think if it had a camera, it certainly would have had a staff member there monitoring the sliders). Edit: oh wait it was this one, right? [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] that was one of the ones you get to from the treehouse complex. I honestly don't recall the monitor there. . maybe I was just freaked about how steep it was

thanks. weird that folks were reacting like it was something they'd never seen before. it seemed that every "big" slide was open and staffed with an employee to monitor - but pretty much all of the smaller (less than 1 story slides), or very "open" slides - where you can clearly see the bottom of the slide from the top - were open with no staffing. there were some areas "closed" up on the 4th floor, and I was told that was due to staffing (will talk more about that in next update)..but it didn't impact my enjoyment of those areas, as even tho the one I was really interested in was closed off? could still easily see the artwork inside, so still got to get some great pictures of it.

hm. . someone just posted on the TPR FB group that Valravn is now closed for the season. I'm not seeing it indicated on CPs website as noted closed: https://www.cedarpoint.com/play/rides/valravn would they have made that announcement without updating the website?

I mean.. I know it's the point of the thread. . . but thanks for sharing these! the Tokyo Disney pics have been stunning.

With Superman: Krypton Koaster - a fantastic floorless B&M in between them in the park. 1,2,3 punch.

are the video screens at top & bottom of some slides new too? i would assume yes, just based on how many people were bitching as to why can't they ride even if the bottom video screen is not working???

thanks! yeah, the only part of the City Museum that really would fall under "museum" (and not so interactive) is on the 4th floor. Have some pics from there on my next update. .but the 4th floor has really only a Pop Art gallery (which is fantastic), and some building reliefs that are interesting. There are some interesting displays on the 3rd floor with stone work & bugs/taxidermy. . but don't go expecting a typical museum. The vast majority of the City Museum is very interactive, and i loved it. if you go, hopefully the trolley tips help we still need to hang out, Phil!

Day 2: part 3a - the City Museum gonna have to do this one in two parts, as I have so many pictures, and tho I've gone thru and culled a ton, still don't really have the time right now to get it all posted! so part "a" of the City Museum! So we got on the Downtown Trolley in front of the Hyatt near the arch, and soon we were exiting our stop across from our hotel. there were 2 reasons for this stop at the room: 1) to offload the souvenirs we had purchased at the Arch, and 2) to put on our long pants. I had read the "pro tips" on the City Museum site, and one of the things they most strongly recommend are long pants, if you want to enjoy the many slides there. this proved to be a piece of advice that I HIGHLY recommend. Long pants will also offer you some protection from cuts/scrapes on some of the edges one might encounter in the City Museum, as well as offering some knee protection - as several things might require crawling to get thru/to. so we got changed, changed our socks, and despite my urging Nick to move a bit faster, we got back down to the lobby and outside *just in time* to see a Trolley pull away from the stop across the street. yeah. Oh well, wasn't too concerned as we knew it was open till Midnight on Saturday (tho we didn't plan on staying that late. . we had Six Flags in the morning). So we crossed the street and leaned on planters and waited the 15 or so minutes for the next one (being entertained by the little girl who waited until her Dad's attention was elsewhere thru the Visitor Center window, and then bee-lined it to the ONE puddle that was on the ground and proceeded to happily jump up and down in it). . . Eventually the trolley showed up, and before we knew it, we were at the City Museum - a place I had on my wish list, ever since I first heard about it on TPR. One thing I want to mention before getting to pics: I know there was some concern that once the City Museum went from Privately owned to publicly owned by the city, there might be some changes made to the place. Now, I've never been, so I can't speak if any changes have been made, but I can say the place is Bat-crap insane, and still an injury lawyer's wet dream. Certainly, there's a disclaimer on the wristband that notes the City Museum is not responsible for any injuries or accidents that may occur. And there were "ride" signs posted at all of the major slides (including someone at top of the major slides monitoring the progress). As well as video monitors installed at the top and bottom of some slides for safety. No idea if these monitors are "new", but I did chat with an employee who was sitting at the stairway to the 10 story slide, and pointed folks to the other stairway (for the 5 story one). .and who had been dealing with people yelling at her that the 10 story slide was closed and demanded to know why (in conversation she told me the monitor at the bottom of the slide was out, so they couldn't allow anyone to use it for safety reasons). I felt terrible for her that she had to put up with the brunt of privileged idiots who couldn't understand why they couldn't ride something. For my part, I just rode the 5 story slide 3 times, so it's just as good as doing the 10 story & the 5 story but anyways, these "safety features" didn't stop us from seeing at least 8 crying kids (or limping adults) during our visit - who had either gotten hurt, scared, or just bumped on something. In other words? I FREAKING LOVED IT! so as far as I can tell, not much has changed other than the ownership. on to some pics and commentary! the Trolley has dropped us off, and I'm FINALLY here. at a wish-list place for me. I hadn't really told Nick much about it, other than it's not really a "museum" but rather an interactive art installation. but even he was wowed by it as we pulled up and saw the outside. He took one look at this stuff outside and was a bit concerned but I knew he would be able to do many things, if not all of them. And to his credit, he did actually TRY quite a bit of things (including the caves - while cursing me under his breath as he tried to navigate the uneven ground with the cane). Mostly tho, he enjoyed looking at stuff, even if he didn't do any of the actual slides. a few more pics of the outside as we headed toward the entrance. A really nice thing about taking the Trolley is that we didnt' have to worry about parking. and the stop is directly across the street from the City Museum Entrance. Looking up, as we're going toward the entrance. I did not get to go up on the roof. I didn't mind the $5 upcharge for it, that seemed very reasonable. But I already knew Nick would have to spend some time sitting waiting for me while I did "stuff". . . so didn't want to ask someone who's afraid of heights to come out on a roof with me, and certainly didn't want to ask him to sit alone (again) while I explored up there. So didn't get the rooftop, but it's something to go back to see! (the School Bus was "not operating" that day, but not sure what it does, other than hang out over the edge anyways?). a little hard to see, but I loved this sculptural "City Museum" sign at the entrance doors. and it gives a nice "hint" as to what kind of things you'll find on the 4th floor - with all the stone reliefs from buildings on display. I'd also highly recommend purchasing tickets online, as when we finally arrived, the line to purchase tickets was absolutely insane. Luckily, the line for online purchased tickets was only 1 person deep, and before we knew it, were inside the City Museum that I had heard so much about, bypassing all the people in line at the ticket counters. It was a Saturday mid afternoon, when we arrived, so there were lots of groups in the place - seemed to be camp groups. But the place is so big, it doesn't really matter. Just looking at this picture, you'd never know there were like 40 kids crammed in the outdoor ball pit just to our right. . LOL the entrance "plaza" on the 1st floor, leading to the Caves, and the Treehouse areas is stunning. if you're into pop art. . .STUNNING. I'm not sure if mosaics are a St. Louis thing, but there are incredible mosaics we kept seeing all over the city, and some truly fantastic ones were here on display on the 1st floor of the City Museum. it's a fish eye! (and it's near where I told Nick to sit down and rest, while I wandered off and explored the Treehouse slide complex). Whee !! my 1st slide at the City Museum. checked off the list! and I moved really well here. Gimme about 3 hours, and then? well, let's just say one works up a sweat with all the climbing, and sweaty clothing tends to "stick" on metal slides. LOL at least I was aware that many other people were getting "Stuck" and had to skootch along, so i wasn't horribly embarrassed when I had to "help myself along" on a few of the longer slides later in the evening Look at those mosaics. (oh, and Nick. . . LOL). I was climbing around in the "treehouse" area. I wasn't worried I was going to slip or fall, but yeah, its a little precarious over there, and there really are no directions! You just go whichever way you feel you can fit. and occasionally you come across a hole that leads to a slide. and sometimes those slides let you out in an area that you have to crawl on your belly to get out of. it was GREAT. tho will totally admit that I'm a tad bit claustrophobic, and tho I had no issues in this area, since the metal bars are so "open". .there were a few slides that just seemed to be dark holes in the floor that no way was I going to explore. Looking up in the main corner of the "treehouse" area on the 1st floor. having a ball. . these metal bars led to multiple slides (did them all), and even connected to the 2nd & 3rd floors Statue in the corner of the 2nd floor, by a slide. long hallway down the side of the building on the 3rd floor. Behind me are the metal "tunnels' that make up the treehouse, and the largest slide in that complex - a 3 story twisting one. that has a "ride information" sign. I love that this one tells you that : ** MUST CRAWL TO EXIT ** after about 20 minutes, I finished with this area, and went back to get Nick so we could go up the spiral stairs to the 2nd floor above some of the caves. stopping to take pics of the Mosaics along the way, of course. oh. .and this idiot. who took his hand out of the water, while i was grabbing my camera to get a picture of him. yes, the sign does read: "Hands Out! Fish Bite" too bad one didn't bite him. wandering towards the stairs, looking up to show Nick the type of things I had been climbing around inside of. there are overhead pathways everywhere. .I loved this place hidden rooms, with more mosaics - that look different depending what light filter is on at the moment. I know this is a blurry pic of Nick, but it shows off the color in the mosaic he's sitting on. before they completely change based on the light filter. you certainly FEEL like you're gonna fall over and bash your head on the floor. but nope, it's just an illusion that you're going to .. as you can see, I was giggling like an idiot the whole time. These were spread out around the City Museum on the 2nd & 3rd floors. from what we could tell, they are called Topple Chairs, and were fun as hell. I couldn't convince Nick to give it a try (he's already worried enough about his balance issues). but I gave up even trying once we saw a very large woman get in one, and immediately tilt all the way back (feet pointing up at the ceiling - while her family was laughing in hysterics and trying to pull her back upright) - I knew there was no point in even asking Nick again if he wanted to try them when we passed them. he doesn't want to be a spectacle. this section of the 2nd floor was very interesting, although a lot of the "pools" seemed to be drained. Either a new exhibit being installed? or repairs being done on the pools. the area was mostly open tho, so you could still walk around it, and see the installation, which I really liked that they did that. there was a spiral staircase inside this little tower thing . .remember what i said about being slightly claustrophobic? No, I didn't go down it to see where it went! even tho some pools were drained, many water features in this area were still operating. including the fishtank one can go inside of for a picture. yeah, I got on my hands and knees and crawled into this thing thru it's mouth for a pic. . . it was hot and steamy in there, LOL we took a spiral staircase behind the waterfalls, up to the 3rd floor which is big and open with skateboard ramps to run on, and ropes to swing on. . .and I rode a tractor! the 3rd floor is also where the Circus is (which had been running shows earlier in the day, but was closed up by the time we made it up there - post 6pm), as well as where the train is. The train was really cool, but was only for the kiddos. So we got to admire the WTF-ery of the decorations around it, but weren't allowed to ride ( a moot point anyways, as it closed for the day shortly after we got on the 3rd floor as well). there's a really nice "kids" climbing complex here. Which makes sense - this floor with the train, the circus, and the areas to expend energy? yeah, makes total sense the little one's play area should be. and I even found a cut out photo op. Nick wasn't thrilled I asked some random guy to take our picture here, but I don't mind asking someone. He's always worried how someone will react if I ask for a picture of us two. I was polite, I asked the guy if he could take a pic of us, and he said sure! The only one who cares, is Nick. and after we took the pic and Nick looked at it, it was *then* that he realized he was the girl robot! LOL and then we stumbled on this. . and Nick was in HEAVEN. outside of "Beatnick Bob's" on the 3rd floor -- which is a cafe, that is basically if you took Austin and squeezed it down into a dive bar/juice bar/bakery space? You'd get Beatnick Bob's I really dug the atmosphere in there, and right outside the space? dozens of classic pinball machines. the kind of machines that Nick loves. No digital readouts, all flipping digits, 1-2 players. . . and a quarter a game. I think we easily spend 45 minutes to an hour here just playing pinball. . . .I kept winning us free games. and we enjoyed every moment of it. Nick in particular. He coudln't do a lot of the activities thus far, but this area of classic Pinball Machines? He loved it enough that he was happy we came to City Museum (and even bought a T-shirt) fantastic more decoration near the Pinball area. the Electric Chair outside of Beatnick Bob's it was getting close to 6:30 and was starting to get a little hungry. Beatnick Bob's advertised local delicacies, so we headed in and i got to try a fantastic "Gooey Butter Cake" that was so rich, but not sweet, along with a local bottled Black Cherry Soda (can't recall the name), and because I was already cheating on my diet - spiced Hot Chocolate. That had a wonderful cinnamon and Cayenne (I think) kick. OMG ..it was SO good. Nick wasn't hungry, so he just sampled some of mine. We sat outside the Circus area, and enjoyed watching college age guys who should have known better as they were football player build, try to sqeeze themselves into some of the overhead "wire" tunnels. Getting stuck, and giggling, and wiggling, and moving further along until they were out of sight. I have to imagine City Museum has to rescue folks occasionally from some of the tight places. end of City Museum part a. . . will try to get the rest up by end of week! (hope you're enjoying following along) old carnival shooting gallery, just hanging out in a hallway. I love this place

here's a link to an article on the 5 best things to eat at Bucees https://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/the-5-best-things-to-eat-at-buc-ees-the-convenience-store-of-the-gods-6430007 Note: #2 & #1 are Beaver Nuggets & Jerky, respectively. if you don't wanna click the link, here's the pertinent info: 2. Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets Contrary to what these sound like, Beaver Nuggets have nothing to do with rodent droppings. They are, in fact, sweet, buttery corn puffs whose name is a nod to Buc-ee's beaver mascot. The nuggets are Buc-ee's No. 1 selling item among all stores, and even the smaller locations that may not carry fudge or bakery items carry Beaver Nuggets. They taste a lot like the kids cereal Pops, but bigger, plumper and more sugary. And they're really easy to eat in the car. Like, it's a little too easy to keep eating them until you stick your hand in the bag, wave it around frantically and find that there is not a single golden nugget left. Good thing there's another Buc-ee's on the horizon.

^ that's great! who is he fox? it's great they have a girl character. . but . . . Kozmo & Dexter I know pretty well, but never seen the fox, even when at Knoebels. so curious

thanks Dustin! very cool Yours is not until Sept . I'll make sure and donate to your page this week! bert

I've joined Team TPR for the Fiesta Texas event on 7/20. here's the link to my page! (please help support this great cause) http://support.gktw.org/site/TR/CoastingForKids/General?px=1417173&pg=personal&fr_id=1887