STL 250 Cake Quest - Creve Coeur Park

I can't believe that we haven't spent more time at Creve Coeur Park. It has so much to offer! 

Here are some of the highlights:
- 320-acre lake with a sand beach along north-east shore and "Dripping Springs" waterfall along south east shore
- boat and bike rentals 
- fishing
- 4 playgrounds
- restaurant
- paved walking and cycling trail
- picnic pavilions
- athletic fields 
- Go Ape! Zip Lines

We started out by finding the cake, which was located by the entrance to Tremayne shelter near the boat ramp.  You can practically drive right up to it.

This is the map I used.

Click here for a printable PDF version.

We drove around and saw the four playground and the best one is located all the way at the end of Streetcar Drive (Location 2 on the map).

One of the best things about this playground is that it's really well shaded (at least it was when we went in the late afternoon).  It also has playground equipment for little kids and big kids.  And there is a sprayground although it was not working when we were there.  There are some playgrounds that I feel like I can't safely take all 3 kids to by myself.  This playground is totally manageable with all 3 kids.

PS - Click here to see some of our other STL 250 Cake Quests.

STL 250 Cake Quest - N. Grand Blvd.

It was a seriously hot day but we decided to go look for cakes anyway. North Grand Blvd has 8 cakes within walking distance of each other, which made for a fun afternoon.

Click here for a printable PDF of this map.

St. Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University, a Catholic, Jesuit institution, is the oldest university west of the Mississippi. SLU has campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain.

 This is the most iconic intersection on SLU’s campus. The corner is home to one of the University’s distinctive fountains and in the shadows of the rising white steeple of St. Francis Xavier College Church as well as Jesuit Hall.

Centene Center for the Arts & Education

The Centene Center for the Arts & Education houses many cultural organizations including Arts and Education Council, African Musical Arts, aTrek Dance Collective, Bach Society of St. Louis, Cinema St. Louis, Circus Flora, Gateway Men's Chorus, HotCity Theatre, Jazz St. Louis, Prison Performing Arts and St. Louis ArtWorks (to name a few).

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri is celebrating their 100th birthday this year. The headquarters is located in the Woolworth building, a historic location in St. Louis. During the turbulent 1960s this building was a site of historic civil rights pickets and protests.

Nine Network

Nine Network, one of the nation’s most watched public television stations, will mark its 60th birthday in 2014 with the opening of an innovative outdoor public media commons. The Public Media Commons is intended to become a major destination for engagement and creative activity with large-screen projections and high-tech interactivity. The site lies between the Nine Network and St. Louis Public Radio. The construction site is behind the fencing that is next to Tim.

In 1968, the Public Broadcasting Act had created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to dispense annual federal appropriations for public television.  In 1970, when PBS began operation, the idea that television could help prepare children for school was innovative.  

In 1978, Channel 9 became one of the first PBS stations to receive programs via the Westar I Satellite.

Fabulous Fox Theatre

The Fabulous Fox Theatre opened on January 31, 1929 and was billed as “St. Louis’ largest and most magnificent temple of amusement”. After nearly 50 years, the theater closed in 1978. In 1981, the Fox was privately purchased by Fox Associates and an incredible one-year restoration project was launched. The Fox reopened its doors with the musical “Barnum” on September 7, 1982 to a capacity crowd of 4,500. Since 1982, more than 15 million people have passed through the brass doors of the Fox.

There are tons of shows in December for families.  Here are a few that I'm excited about:

Annie

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Story

Also, Cinderella is coming in January!

Powell Hall

Powell Hall, home of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, was built in 1925 as the St. Louis Theatre. It became known as Powell Hall in 1966, named for Walter S. Powell, a St. Louis shoe manufacturing executive whose widow gave the Symphony a charitable trust, helping to match a $2 million Ford Foundation grant.

The St. Louis Symphony has great concerts for families. I'm really excited about these concerts:

Circus Flora + STL Symphony: A Winter Fable

Friday, December 12, 7:30pm 

Saturday, December 13, 2:00pm & 7:30pm 

Macy’s Holiday Celebration 

Friday, December 19, 2:00pm & 7:30pm

Saturday, December 20, 2:00pm & 7:30pm

Sunday, December 21, 2:00pm

Pixar in Concert

Saturday, December 27, 7:30pm

Sunday, December 28, 2:00pm

Click here for more info on the family concert series and click here for the PDF brochure.

Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis

Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis was founded in response to the 1917 deadly race riot in East St. Louis where between 40 to 200 blacks were killed. The riots began when white East St. Louisans attacked black workers and migrants. During this time, thousands of black migrants traveled to East St. Louis, a predominately white city, seeking jobs. 

Today, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis serves 80,000 residents with economic empowerment, meeting basic needs, educational quality and equality, civic engagement and social justice programs.

The Sheldon

The Sheldon opened in 1912 and is known around the world for its perfect acoustics. The Sheldon Art Galleries contain seven separate spaces devoted to rotating exhibits of St. Louis artists, photography, architecture, jazz history, emerging artists, and children’s art.

On Saturdays through August 9, 2014 from 10:30am - 12:30pm, kids can do crafts and a scavenger hunt in the galleries at the Sheldon ($3 / child donation for crafts).  We were the only ones there. Good thing because the table could only seat 4 people!

One of the exhibits, St. Louis at 250, is a culmination of a citywide photo contest. The contest garnered over 500 entries and 100 were selected for the exhibit. An accompanying book with all 100 photos was published by the Sheldon Art Galleries. We loved the exhibit so much that we purchased a book. As we were leaving the Sheldon, we met one of the photographers. Two of her photos were selected for the exhibit.  She offered to sign our book!

If you are interested in buying a book (above), click here to purchase on Amazon or click here for a mail order form. You can also purchase them at the Sheldon.

PS - Click here to see some of our other STL 250 Cake Quests.

STL 250 Cake Quest - West County

There are several cakes scattered around West County.  It took us a few trips to see them all.  

DAY 1

Our destination for our first trip was the Museum of Transportation.  On the way, we stopped by the Manchester City Hall to see their cake too.

Manchester City Hall is located in the Lyceum Building constructed in 1894. Throughout the years, this building has been used as a tin shop, a grocery, an ice cream and soda parlor, a hardware store, an upholstery shop, a post office, a stable and a theater.  In 1979, the Lyceum was purchased by the City of Manchester for use as its City Hall.

We didn't make it in time to visit the Creation Station at the Museum of Transportation. But there was still plenty to do.

To find the cake, you need to take the tram up the hill.  There are two buildings - the first is the Automobile Center.  I don't know what the second building is called but it's on the porch right in front.

The Museum of Transportation houses what has been recognized as one of the largest and best collections of transportation vehicles in the world. The Museum was founded in 1944 by a group of citizens who had acquired the mule-drawn streetcar "Bellefontaine" and opened to the public in 1946.

Here are some upcoming events at the Museum of Transportation that you may be interested in:

Model Train Show
Sunday, August 24 @ 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

The Oldsmobile Fun Show
Sunday, September 28 @ 11:00 am to 3:30 pm

Go By Train! and the Brass and Nickel Car Show
Saturday, September 27 @ 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Trick or Track (ages 10 and under)
Saturday, October 18 @ 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Check the Creation Station website for holiday activities.

DAY 2

We stopped by the AKC Museum of the Dog in Queeny Park before heading to the playground.

The Museum of The Dog, located in Queeny Park, is the only art museum in the world dedicated to European and American paintings, sculptures, porcelains, drawings and items of dog from the 17th century to today. Among the galleries are those featuring the St. Louis County K-9 units and Hall of Fame, The Dogs of War and Sled Dogs of Alaska.

This was the girls first visit to the playground at Queeny Park.

 There weren't many other kids at the park as you can see from my pictures.  I'm guessing that the rock surface is a deterrent. I have to admit that the girls were constantly emptying their shoes and everyone was covered in dust/dirt from the rocks by the time we were done playing.  But the girls had a great time and took home a big rock collection!

DAY 3

Our destination for Day 3 was Laumeier Sculpture Park. On our way we stopped at The Lodge at Des Peres to see their cake.

The cake was moved to its current location at The Lodge at Des Peres (I'm not sure why) from it's previous location at Des Peres City Hall. The present Des Peres City Hall, built in 1936, was once the Lutheran Orphan Home. Three previous buildings were erected on the same site to accommodate the constantly increasing number of children. The city of Des Peres purchased the building in 1973 and converted it into City Hall.

Indoor pool at The Lodge at Des Peres - I am torturing my kids by only allowing them to look at pools this summer ;)

We drove to the Frank Lloyd Wright House next.

This house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was completed in 1955 for Russell and Ruth Kraus. It is one of five buildings designed by Wright in Missouri. The house sits on 10.5 acres in the Sugar Creek Valley of Kirkwood. It is noted for its architectural integrity and original Wright-designed furnishings.

Finally!  We made it to Laumeier Sculpture Park!

It was hard to get the girls to sit still long enough to take this picture. They just wanted to run and play! Here's a better picture of the cake.  It's very creatively decorated with objects found in the park!

Laumeier opened in 1977 and has 105-acres and 300,000 visitors annually. 

Here are some upcoming events at Laumeier:

Feast in the Park 

Friday, September 5 @ 5-8pm @ The Way Field

Harvest Festival

Sunday, October 19 @ 11am-5pm @ The Way Field

PS - If you want to see some of our other STL 250 cake quests, click here.

STL 250 Cake Quest - Grant's Farm

I know I went to Grant's Farm as a kid because I've seen pictures of me feeding the goats, however, I have no memory of being there. I am so glad that the STL 250 Cake Quest led us to Grant's Farm because we had the BEST day!

TIP #1: Go early. I should mention that this was our 2nd attempt at going to Grant's Farm. We showed up around 10am on a Saturday morning thinking we'd waltz right in.  Not even close.  In the summer months and especially on the weekends you need to get there right when the park opens if you don't want to wait in line for an hour. We got to Grant's Farm 15 minutes before it opened and we were not the first ones in line.  We did, however, make it on the first tram into the park which was key.

TIP #2: Bring your wallet. As my friend, Erin, pointed out: This attraction is one of the most expensive "free" attractions that St. Louis has to offer. You have to pay to park, pay for milk to feed the goats, pay to feed the birds, pay for the carousel ride, pay for the camel rides, pay for food and (non-alcoholic) drinks, pay to ride the paddleboats. If you are trying to cut back on costs, bring your own food or come on $1 hot dog days on Wednesdays. I also found a $5 off parking coupon too. Click here to print a parking coupon.

Now for the fun stuff!  

I was surprised that I didn't know that Grant's Farm is named after Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the US.  He was gifted the land that Grant's Farm sits on by his in-laws and built a two-story log cabin (chopped the wood and everything) for him and his wife, Julia Dent, to live on.  He recruited some friends to help and the cabin was built in 3 days!  They named the cabin "Hardscrabble" referring to the harsh and difficult conditions because of poverty.  You can see the log cabin on the tram ride.

The tram ride is great (and one of the few free activities)! Everyone has to ride the tram to get into and out of the park. We saw cattle, deer, geese and horses from the tram.

When we got into the park, we first fed the goats.  Clara LOVED it! I wish I could figure out how to upload the video to Blogger, but no such luck. {Help, please?}  You might be able to click here to see it.

Sidney didn't enjoy the goats at all so as a consolation prize, we rode the carousel.

{Can you tell I discovered a new collage maker!?!?  It's piZap and I love it!}

Next we went to feed the birds.  Sidney took one look at all those people trapped in a giant bird cage with birds flying all over the place and said "Hell NO!"  Well, she's 4 so she probably just made a sad, nervous face and I got the message.  I asked Clara if she wanted to go feed the birds and she was practically scaling the bird cage trying to get in.

We walked around the park and saw the animals and then we went to have lunch in the Bauernhof, which is where the cake is located. This is also where you catch the tram to head back to the parking lot.

During the tram ride back to the parking lot, we learned that the Clydesdale stables are at the back of the parking lot.

There sure was a lot to see and do.  We didn't get to see the Animal Encounters show or ride a camel.  Guess we'll have to save up for another trip!

PS - Click here if you want to see some of our other STL 250 Cake Quests.