New Thing #31 - I Feel Like a Kid Again

This week I finally made it to the City Museum in downtown St. Louis with my friend Chris. I've heard about this place for years, but I've just never made an effort to go down there. And I'm so mad that I waited this long to go. The City Museum is awesome. Let me say it again...it's Awesome. And it really brings out the kid in you. It's not like any museum you can think of. It's housed in the 600,000-square-foot former International Shoe Company and was created by a St. Louis-born internationally acclaimed sculptor/artist. Everything in it was made from things found in and around the metro St. Louis area. This includes old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile and two abandoned airplanes. It's basically one giant playground. All ages can go, but kids under 16 have to be chaperoned at all times. And it's a good thing too, because you can easily get lost amidst the endless underground tunnels and tight crawlspaces in the ceiling. If I tried to take my nieces, I'd be in full-on panic mode the entire time I was there, b/c I'd be afraid of losing them! For the most part, it was mainly teenage and college aged kids there, along with a mixure of older adults. I forgot how annoying teenagers can be. It's open until 1 am on the weekends, so yes, people of all ages and sobrieties show up.

We got there at a pretty hoppin' time and the place was packed. Chris has been to the museum before, so I had him lead the way. We started by crawling up on the ceiling and then in and out of the Enchanted Caves under the floors. I will warn you that if you're claustrophic in any way, this place is not for you. Some of those tunnels I had problems getting through. Makes me wish I didn't have ice cream for dessert before I came. I'm not normally a claustrophic person, but sometimes when you're shimmying down a small hole into mild darkness, it can start to creep you out a little bit. Pretty much any time you see a hole or a small opening in the wall, it will lead you somewhere new. You could probably spend a few hours just exploring all the nooks and crannies above or below the floor. I wonder if anyone has gotten stuck and had to be pried out...



This giant whale type creature housed a ramp leading you up to the second floor. I have no idea why I posed like that.



There's another view of the sea creature. Chris and I climbed up the spiral on the left.



This was fairly easy since I could use mainly my hands and feet to crawl. Those metal rungs are murder on your knees.


Chris is quite a bit taller than me, so he went up on his back to save his knees.



Just a view of more of the spaces to crawl into in the ceiling.



Metal mesh to crawl over. We opted to skip it so we would be able to walk later. The metal didn't have any give to it.



Here's a look into one of the "underground" cave passages.



Another one, that isn't very big.



Chris was making his attempt to get through that hole. I told Chris not to get stuck because I didn't want to be interviewed on the news about my friend who was stuck in the City Museum.



I made it!



"Look at me! I'm a big boy!"



This space was barely big enough for those kids to crawl through.



The beginning of this long "tube" was fairly wide, but it narrowed toward the end. I had to use my arms to grab onto the bars to shimmy up it because I couldn't crawl anymore.



This looks wide at the end, but there's not a lot of space up where I was.



Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


After our knee caps were practically broken and we were both sweating like pigs, we decided it would be a good idea to hike up to the 10th floor to take a ride down the 7-story spiral slide. It was awesome. The slide, not the hike up to the top. Mental Note #1: do not work out and do tons of squats the day you're going to be crawling around on your hands and knees and going up 10 stories worth of spiral stairs. I had worked up such a sweat by the time I got to the top that I was afraid my jeans would be so damp I'd get stuck halfway down the slide. Another newsworthy moment I hoped to avoid. We had roughly a 10 minute wait before we could go down, so we were able to take it easy for a bit. There's some poor sap working that has to watch a video monitor and wait for each person to reach the bottom before the next person can go. Safety first! It reminds me of the lifeguards at the top of water slides. It was finally my turn to go and I hopped off the ledge and away I went. If you get dizzy easily, avoid the 7 story spiral slide. Since it's really dark in the slide, I didn't have much to focus on, so I didn't really get that dizzy. Which is amazing, since I was on the slide for a full 30 seconds or so. Mental Note #2: It's important to tuck the elbows in to avoid getting them bashed on the slide walls. I learned that one the hard way.


It's hard to see, but there are 7 visible stories below us and 3 stories below that.



Chris having a good time at the end of the slide.


There are so many things to see and do in this place. We didn't cover all of them, but we did have to stop by the Skateless Park where Chris tries his best Tarzan impersonation. Before that however, I had a showdown with the Sumo wrestler.



I totally kicked his ass.



I guess Chris was scared to get too close.



Do NOT try this at home kids. ;-) Unless you want to be mocked.

Next, we headed inside the walls like a pack of rats. Yes, I said inside the walls. This is worse than the enchanted caves because for the most part, they're dark. Apparently a few more lights have been added since Chris was there a month ago. Which is probaby a good thing. Last time he did a face plant right into a metal beam. Ouch. This time, however, we had to maneuver through low crawlspaces, make hairpin turns and army crawl to freedom. This must be how my dad feels when he climbs under the house. Bleh. Again, I'd like to say I'm not a claustrophic person, but I may need to rethink that diagnosis.


The outer rings are wider, but as you get close to the center, they get narrower. Much narrower.



Chris being a dork trying to fit through a new hole.



See, very small spaces.

I should also mention that for the sake of the blog, I obviously took my camera with me during my journey. You're welcome. I didn't want to drop it or scratch it, so I took a small purse to keep it safe. Mental Note #3: Never take anything but yourself into the City Museum. That purse was a huge pain in the butt. I knew it would be, but since I wanted to record my adventure, I sacrificed that luxury. So, most of the time, I had it around my neck, hanging like a barrel on a St. Bernard's neck. Don't you wish you were hot like me?

There's a two story slide that we went down that wasn't nearly as much fun as the spiral. It was just a straight shot to the bottom, but it wasn't quite at a steep enough incline to get any momentum. I'd just stop and have to push myself down a few more feet. If you're sweaty (which we were) or if the slide is somehow wet (which is strangely was), it makes it even more difficult. The second time I went, there was something wet on the slide and I barely made it down. I really don't want to know why it was wet. Then, we hiked back up to the 10th floor again to do the spiral slide. Apparently we're both crazy. I probably should have let my shoes and pants dry a bit more because they hindered the perfect executed slide. As heard on the video below, my shoes squeaked quite a bit. Chris, on the other hand, was dry and shot out of that slide like a rocket.


The two story slide is in the background on the wall.



Here's a "video" of my second attempt on the spiral slide. Sorry you can't see much, but you can listen!

At this point, we were both so tired and sore from climbing around on our hands and knees all night, that we opted to skip out on all the fun outside. Plus, it was cold and wet, and I really didn't want to add falling off a 10 story building to my list of new things. Call me a pansy, I don't care, but when it's warmer and drier out, I'll be back. They did have an outdoor ball pit that looked like so much fun. These were kickball size balls too. No puny baseball sized ones. Next to that is the Cabin Inn where you can get adult beverages, listen to acoustic music or sit outside by the fire pit. We opted to get a cup of hot apple cider and warm up by the fire pit. Actually, I just need to sit down to ease my muscles.



Ball Pit! (You can get a T-shirt in the gift shop with "Ball Pit" on it and a stick figure getting nailed with a ball.)



Yes, you can climb all the way up there and into the plane.


More things to climb up.



Yes, this garbled looking mess has more places to climb around.



The Cabin Inn, a great place to grab a drink and get away from all the young'uns running around inside.



The acoustic band.

After a good 2.5 hours, we decided to head home. We were both starting to feel our age. ;-) I highly recommend this place to anyone in the St. Louis area. It is an absolute blast and definitely brings out the kid in you. I would bring knee pads and shin guards though. Trust me.