St. Louis Travel

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My most recent mini-vacation was for 4 days and 3 nights. In all actuality, I like to say 2 days and 3 nights because you get there late at night the first day, and then you have to check out and go back home on the fourth day. So for future reference, I am going to use this method of describing my vacations. I am sure those of you who love to travel like I do will understand.

We left Thursday night after work without reservations. Coming from the North, the best deal we were able to find close to the city without getting into a rough area, was at the America's Best Value Inn in Litchfield, IL. This was 45 miles from St. Louis. We arrived at 11:00 pm, so we wouldn't have been able to do much in the city arriving that late anyway.

The next morning we awoke, had breakfast, and headed into St. Louis. We first went to the St. Louis Zoo, which offers free admission. The parking is $11.00, but this is still a great deal. Their free zoo far outranks Chicago's free zoo, for anyone interested. The weather was not the best for being outdoors, with a high of 99 degrees and extreme humidity. We were able to cover the zoo in about 3 and 1/2 hours. By that time the heat had gotten to us and we were ready to find something cool to do. Originally, we had planned to visit Anheuser Busch for the free Budweiser tour, but opted to have a late lunch or early dinner.

Our reservations were for the Union Station Marriott for Friday and Saturday night, in which we had gotten an excellent deal through Expedia. The Union Station in St. Louis has been completely remodeled and has many shops and restaurants, in addition to the hotel. We decided to see if we could check in, as we were just a little early. Sure enough, no questons asked, they allowed us to go ahead and check into our room.

Now, we made a change of plans. Since it was so warm out, and we needed to cool off, we decided to hit the pool. We swam for a couple of hours and then went to dinner at Landry's. This is an excellent seafood restaurant chain, and the service was exceptional (as always).

Afterwards, we took the train to Busch Stadium, which was only 2 stops away. The Cubs were playing the Cardinals, the Cubs lost so I won't go into much detail about that. However, I was really impressed by the hospitality at Busch Stadium. There were several people outside to help with directions, oh yeah, and also tell you what you shouldn't do.

The next day we woke up and drove about 30 miles to get to Six Flags Great America. It was a great day for riding roller coasters and enjoying Hurricane Harbor, their waterpark. In the evening we swam some more, then went to Maggie O'Brien's for dinner. The food wasn't bad, but the service was horrible. Perhaps they do not care for tourists? So, it was back to Landry's for a nightcap.

All in all, it was a great mini-vacation. There are many things to do and see for free in St. Louis. Here is an article titled [url=http://www.ehow.com/how_5555337_travel-st-louis-budget.html}How to Travel to St. Louis on a Budget, for more information.

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Comments

[randy]

travel help
Hi next time you head this way. Use my website. www.saintlouistravel.org Thks Rg