please delete.

[XUfan]

OK, here's the plan. We have never taken a family vacation in the 9 years we've been together. Next year we want to bring that losing streak to an end!! Our destination...St. Louis, MO.

We live in Ohio. It's a 365 mile drive for us. My daughter (30) lives in Texas. She can fly from Dallas to St. Louis for 1/2 the price of her flight to Ohio. AND...she's a HUGE Cardinals fan!! Many years ago (early 70's) my parents took me on a trip to St. Louis, and I've always wanted to go back again. My husband and his daughter (13) have never been there.

So...I figured we could just meet my daughter there for a long weekend! She's so excited about the trip, and is digging to find things for us to do that are free or really cheap.

I have almost a year to plan this, and to save for it. I need some ideas, though! Not just ideas for things to do...I need ideas for how to save up the money for the trip. I've thought about adding fast food GCs to my wishlist, so that we can stop for food, and not have to budget for it. My husband works for Holiday Inn, so he can get our rooms really cheap. Besides that, I'm stumped!!!

If you don't already know me, you should know this. My husband was jobless for 2 years before finding this job. It doesn't pay a lot, and neither does mine. This is why we can't just jump in the car and go. I'm not even thinking about going if we aren't current on our bills at the time. As of right now, I'm just looking for ideas...so hopefully this thing works out!

SO...

Do you live in the St. Louis area? Can you tell me about some bargain things to do, or places to eat? OR...Have you saved a year for a vacation? If so...what were your tricks (especially if you're on a tight budget to start with!)?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[ladytiger1411]

You need to set a day to go to the ZOO its awesome! and its FREE! You have the Art Museum for FREE! The Muny is Free! The Science Center is FREE! The History Museum for FREE! These are all in Forest Park. You can look them all up on the net.

[foggierbard9]

Touring the Budweiser Brewery used to be free, not sure now. There also used to be a museum down by the arch that was free. Its been awhile since I've been to St. Louis for anything other than a baseball game, but those are things I remember doing when I was a kid.

[mariana7mcc]

I'm originally from stl. There's of course the arch (free to get in, it costs if you want to go up to the top), the science center, missouri botanical gardens, zoo (LOVE THE ZOO), Six flags (that costs, though), there is a totally awesome place to go called city museum (google it) it's a HUGE play place/funhouse for the whole family, soooo neat. Baseball tickets are fairly cheap as well. Also, if you drive into Illinois about 30 minutes from Stl, there's a waterpark called Raging Rivers, admission is under $20/person, not bad for a whole day's worth of fun. With both Six Flags and Raging Rivers, my family would always pack a cooler with lunch in it and just go out to the parking lot around lunch time to eat, then go back into the park.

A great place to eat is The Old Spaghetti Factory on Laclede's Landing down near the river's edge. It has all the atmosphere of a fancy restaurant without the price. Most of the entrees are $10 average, but that includes tea or coffee, salad or soup, fresh baked bread (YUM), the entree itself, AND your choice of vanilla or spumoni ice cream for dessert. The atmosphere is just amazing in that place (old historical building).

Other things I can think of are the Cahokia mounds in cahokia IL (minutes from stl), Pere Marquette state park in grafton IL, and you could always check out a riverboat cruise to see how much those are (not sure). I know that during the summer for a few weeks, they have "Live on the Levee" free concerts near the riverfront. Also, they have fair st. louis downtown for a week during the summer as well. Hope that helped you!!

[XUfan]

I love all of these ideas!!!! I'm emailing them to my daughter too!! Keep 'em coming!!!

[manders13]

My sis and her BF drove out for the night. Just to go see.. Ya ready for this?


The bowling Hallf of Fame...


Might be boring... i know i would be bored.. but some people love the game!

[XUfan]

Originally Posted by manders13 My sis and her BF drove out for the night. Just to go see.. Ya ready for this? The bowling Hallf of Fame... Might be boring... i know i would be bored.. but some people love the game!

OMG!!! Three years ago, my daughter drove out there with a friend. My daughter planned the whole thing...the hotel, the baseball game, restaurants (from restaurant.com)...everything! The ONLY reason her friend went was to go to the bowling hall of fame!! Her grandpa's name is there somewhere. My daughter said it was pretty boring, but her friend loved it!

[chicana]

If you google "free St. Louis" there is a whole site dedicated to free stuff and it tells you all about all the attractions. When you google it it will be the first site you click on. HOpe you enjoy. actually the main page is free stuff the rest of the site just gives you ideas on things you can do in St. Louis. Most of them tell you how much it is to see the attraction.

[notmstewart]

Originally Posted by manders13 My sis and her BF drove out for the night. Just to go see.. Ya ready for this? The bowling Hallf of Fame... Might be boring... i know i would be bored.. but some people love the game!

Don't come to StL for the Bowling Hall of Fame. It isn't here anymore. I remember seeing a big thing about it on the news the week it was closing. It moved to Arlington, Texas else for whatever reason.

Originally Posted by mariana7mmc I know that during the summer for a few weeks, they have "Live on the Levee" free concerts near the riverfront. Also, they have fair st. louis downtown for a week during the summer as well.

The Live on the Levee concert series usually starts with Fair St. Louis, which is usually over the 4th of July. Then they continue having concerts most weekends thru at least the beginning of August. You might be able to get next years list of dates/acts sometime in May of next year.

There is a lot of Historical stuff in St. Charles, MO. It was the first state capital, and the "downtown" area is full of small shops, cobblestone roads, a beautiful river park, and a lot of places to eat. If you're a history buff, some of it is really neat.

Danial Boone's Home, Defiance, MO (just a bit west)
First Missouri State Capital, St. Charles, MO
The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
Lewis and Clarke Boat House & Nature Center, St. Charles, MO
St. Charles County Historical Society, St. Charles, MO
Anheuser-Bush Tour, St. Louis, MO
Grants Farm, St. Louis, MO
Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO ($8/person)
City Museum, St. Louis, MO ($12/person)

25 Things to Do in St. Louis This site covers quite a bit of St. Louis. What to do/see, where to eat, kids attractions, free stuff, etc.

A lot of people from StL (I'm a transplant, not an original, so I don't count ) will tell you that you absolutely have to plan to stop at Ted Drewes for frozen custard but honestly, I didn't see that it was any better than any other frozen custard stand, and there are several, all over the place.

On the Illinois side of the river, there is Fast Eddie's Bon Air I'm always hearing about, haven't made the trip over the river myself (a cheap burger is just not a good enough reason for me to cross a bridge ). Thing is though, you have to be 21 and their website says no carryouts. But they advertise a 1/2 pound burger for 99cents.

I hope I did all the links right. I sometimes have trouble with them going where they are supposed to go. Others have already said the zoo, science center, those are great, even if you have small children. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

[flower$]

Did anyone mention the Sophia M. Sachs butterfly house?
I always love going there...altho there is a smaller butterfly house @ the zoo that is free...but the assortment of is larger at the Sophia M. Sachs butterfly house...admission is $6.00

This year I found a brochure at a information booth @ the STL airport when we picked up visitors...It is the St.Louis family attractions card...(it's a brochure with lots of discounts to the area attractions).Most are B1G1! There are also supposedly available @ St. Louis area grocery stores...& they are free!
(You can also print the coupons directly from the site & use them ).
This came in really handy when we took our visitors around & treated them to all the sites!
Here's some info:
www.familyattractionscard.com
www.explorestlouis.com

The St.Louis cathedral is beautiful...the ceiling is all mosaics...you can get a guided tour(very informative) & there is a museum in the basement.

Several caves to tour south of St.Louis too.