Fun in Six Flags St. Louis

Remember when I promised you I would share more about my St. Louis trip? Well the time is nigh, my friends. Now that I’ve made you wait in anticipation for several weeks, I feel I can at long last wrap up the St. Louis recaps. This post revolves entirely around Six Flags, and who doesn’t want to read a detailed account of fun at an amusement park while sitting at their desk on a Friday afternoon? That’s what I thought, so let’s jump on in.

You can’t really go to St. Louis without dedicating a portion of your visit to Six Flags, so we did what any respectable tourist would do and spent a full 13 hours there. If a little is good, a lot is better, right? Of course it doesn’t hurt that we all love rollercoasters and hadn’t experienced the joy of riding one in entirely too long. So, we arrived early and headed straight for the Batman immediately upon entry. We only waited probably 20 minutes before zipping through five head-over-heels loops and a zero-gravity roll with our feet dangling in the air. Let’s get this party started!

Next, we rode the newest addition to the park, the SkyScreamer, then hit the Screaming Eagle rollercoaster. From there, we hopped in line for Superman, which is in my opinion the scariest ride there. Not that I’m complaining. I love that stomach drop feeling, and the Superman is most certainly in the business of providing it. The machine slowly draws you higher and higher upwards to a surely unsafe 230-feet, then suspends you in air for an agonizingly long wait, toying with your emotions. Just as the anticipation becomes almost too much to bear, you are dropped in a 60 mph free fall. The descent is so fast, it absolutely takes your breath away.

We then came across what turned out to be my favorite roller coaster of the day, The Boss. It is a wooden coaster (the best kind, if you ask me) and is seemingly endless, super fast, and boasts great hills. Just when you think the ride should be coming to an end, it starts another series of crazy turns. So. Much. Fun. At this point, we decided to break for lunch. We came prepared with a smorgasbord of sandwiches and snacks packed in the car for exactly this purpose, and I’m telling you, this is the way to do it. You are saved from eating the overpriced junk at the amusement park and get a chance to recuperate before returning to the fun.

We picked things back up in Hurricane Harbor, where we rode pretty much every water slide multiple times. After our hands were sufficiently wrinkled, we headed back to the park for another dose of rollercoasters. We started at the Ninja, which was fair but not worth elaborating on. We then went to Mr. Freeze, where we endured our longest but totally worthwhile wait of the day. The Six Flag’s website describes the coaster as such:

Mr. Freeze uses super-cool new linear induction technology to catapult you from zero to 70 mph in about four seconds. You’ll blast out of a 190-foot icy tunnel and travel through 1,382 feet of track at spine-chilling speeds, twists, and turns. Then do it all over again – in reverse.

From there, we may or may not have hit a couple other rollercoasters (it’s fuzzy now), but I’m certain we took another visit to The Boss. Wouldn’t forget something that awesome. Gave Xcalibur a try, and I can honestly say it’s the worst ride I have ever been on. Sure, it spins and catapults, but it doesn’t offer an ounce of fun; it just makes your brain hurt. By this time, we were exhausted from the day’s excitement and only had about 20 minutes until the park closed, so we rode one last twisty rollercoaster then called it a night.

 A very, very good one, at that.

St. Louis and The City Museum

I haven’t yet told you about our recent St. Louis trip, because the moment we returned I plunged back into the work routine, and both kickball and softball seasons started back, and I just plain haven’t found the time to cuddle up with pen and paper, or keyboard and monitor, for that matter. It was such a fun weekend, though, it really would be a pity to not preserve the memories for posterity so that I can look back and remember that great Labor Day weekend I spent with my brother in 2011. So yesterday after church I spent some time in my backyard enjoying the crisp sunshine and rehashing the weekend, and this is what I came up with:

We had been tentatively planning this recess for months, but due to the realm of activities we hoped to accomplish during our visit and the inevitable time constraints, we pushed our road trip out to Labor Day weekend, which gave us an extra vacation day to work with. Turns out that was a most excellent decision, as we used every hour we were given, and the weather could not have been more cooperative. Except for that time we ran through the pouring rain on our way to dinner, but who doesn’t need to get caught in a downpour every now and then?

We arrived late Friday evening and settled into our hotel room in preparation for the jam-packed weekend ahead. Good thing, too, because once the alarm sounded Saturday morning, we hit the ground running. We (and when I say we, I’m referring to Jax and I, obviously, and our excellent travel companions, my awesome bro and his beautiful girlfriend) made our way downtown to grab a bite to eat before the 3:15 Cardinals game, which took place during the most comfortable game-day weather known to man, complete with refreshing and welcome raindrops and a 6-4 win.

After the game, we walked several blocks to dine on tasty grub at Schlafly’s Tap Room, then dedicated the rest of our evening to The City Museum, which is no ordinary museum, my friends. Let me be clear on this – this museum is light-years away from your mental schema of what a museum is, and there is really no intelligible way to communicate what, exactly, this phenom is all about. The best and most concise way I can think to describe it is as an oversized adult playground, but that barely begins to tell the story. As we approached the facility, we were not emotionally, physically, mentally, or imaginatively prepared for the adventure we were about to embark on, and that is not a joke. 

What we’re looking at is multiple levels of slides, caves, ladders, and a host of other craziness. We climbed through suspended tunnels and twisty caverns, slid down ten-story slides, and sat on a school bus suspended in limbo off the rooftop. We ran in a hamster wheel, stood on top of the world’s largest pencil, rode a ridiculously fast ferris wheel, and walked through a hall of mirrors. There were abandoned jet planes and live turtles and skateless skate parks. And that is only scratching the surface.

It doesn’t make sense, because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to this place. We  spent five full hours climbing about this topsy-turvy Alice in Wonderland world, and left at 1am only because they were locking up for the evening. Our hands were raw and bodies battered from hours of contorting into small spaces and exploring the depths of the museum.

If you have never experienced this bizarre gem, you are severely missing out. It is a world of fun, and I highly suggest that you stop what are you are doing and immediately head to St. Louis to check it out for yourself. And please take me with you, because I’m itching to go back!

Side note: A supreme shout out and thank you to my cousin Brett for directing my attention to this wondrous museum many months ago and convincing me that my life wouldn’t be complete without a visit. I can respectfully attest that you were right. This is absolute fact.

Since I got a little carried away with all this chatter about The City Museum and have already written 701 words in this post, I’ll give you a break and return later this week with the second half of our trip.