As I think about places that I want to visit, one area that was on the top of my travel list was St. Louis, Missouri because 1) my brother was born there though he knows nothing about St. Louis and 2) one of my best friends lives there. After a potential plan to make moves to New York with my friends didn’t go through, I ran the idea of coming to visit St. Louis by my friend, and she was all for it. She began to plan our daily itinerary right away.
Here are a list and lil recap of some of the places we visited and the food we ate while I was in the 314 for four days. This trip is only the beginning, and I will be adding more places to this list once I go and visit again!
Here’s a day-by-day breakdown:
Thursday
After touching down in St. Louis that morning, my friend swooped me up, and we ate breakfast at a diner called Golden Pancake. I was able to have two of my favorite things (buttermilk pancakes and a ham and cheddar cheese omelet) for breakfast. Being that I am so used to eating at chain restaurants like IHOP, it was pretty cool to get an authentic diner vibe with good inexpensive food as my first food spot in St. Louis.
Fast Forward past our manis and pedis, we made our way to go and check out the Arch which is the tallest monument in the United States.
The Gateway Arch
We went downtown to see the Arch, where we paid $14 (not bad!) to ride a tram to the top to see a great view of Downtown St. Louis, the Mississippi River, and the bridge leading into Illinois. While we waited for our designated time to ride the tram, we explored the little museum and learned the history behind the creation of the Arch.
If you want to ride a tram, make sure you have enough time in your schedule to wait. The Arch is a major tourist attraction in St. Louis, so though our appointed time was 2:50 PM, we didn’t get into the tram until probably 30-45 minutes after that.
The tram which seats five individual is a small space, so if you’re claustrophobic, this may be something you want to avoid as the ride up is about 3-4 minutes.
Once we got to the top, the view was beautiful! So many details you can see in Downtown St. Louis. From the old courthouse to the Saint Louis Cardinals stadium to the busyness of downtown, the Arch is a great height to see everything!
After spending about 2 hours at the Arch, we headed to the hotel to freshen up and get ready to head to this BBQ joint that my friend was excited about for dinner.
Sugar Fire Smoke House
The spot is called Sugar Fire Smoke House and the employees were super friendly and willing to let me try things before buying it. I enjoyed the ribs, especially since they weren’t too tough and hard to chew like other ribs I have eaten in the past. The ribs with the sweet St. Louis BBQ sauce hit different!
The mac n’ cheese was okay. It ain’t the mac n’ cheese you’d find at your family cookout if you know what I mean. You know that baked mac n’ cheese that goes good with the
My friend mentioned the baked beans, so I decided to try them as well. They’re definitely not like the BBQ baked beans that I was used to eating at cookouts. These beans had different kinds of beans in them, including some black beans. It also had onions and celery inside, which made it less enjoyable in my opinion. The cornbread was good though I like my cornbread to be a little sweeter. Besides the ribs, I also loved their sweet tea!
Friday
First Time At a Six Flags Theme Park
On Friday, after stopping by Uncle Bill’s Pancake House for breakfast (sadly we forgot to take pictures), we headed to Six Flags St. Louis to enjoy their waterpark, Hurricane Harbor, which was a great time for a reasonable price!
But let me put y’all on to how we got a discounted price. I am a member of AAA, a roadside assistance service, that usually has discounts for different parks, hotels, and other activities around the country. My mom always reminds me to check and see if AAA has a discounted price before paying full price. At the time we were looking to purchase the tickets, the rates on Six Flags’ website listed about $54. With the AAA discount, we paid $43! If you’re a AAA member, take advantage of your discounts. Save ya coins where you can! But back to Hurricane Harbor.
Hurricane Harbor
I loved the smallness of the waterpark and how all the rides were laid out. Being from Orlando, our theme parks are HUGE and overcrowded. The day at Six Flags was filled with good vibes as the sun was perfectly shining, but it was not too hot. Also, I gotta tell y’all how my whole day was made when this little girl who was next to me in the wave pool turned to me and said, “excuse me, you’re really pretty.” She was so sweet for that! She had me smiling so hard.
Anyways, this was my first time at a Six Flags theme park, and I would for sure go back to Hurricane Harbor again for a hot summer day!
After a long day at the waterpark, we headed back to the hotel to shower, change, and get ready to grab food and enjoy a night out exploring the town.
St. Louis Style Pizza: Imo Edition
Friday night’s dinner was Imo’s Pizza! Now, my friend, Mary, is always talking about this pizza place and hyping it up. So, you know it had to be one of the food spots I tried on my visit. Imo’s Pizza is known for their signature St. Louis style thin crust Pizza which uses Provel (a combination of swiss, cheddar, and provolone) cheese instead of mozzarella like the majority of pizza places. I order my usual toppings for pizza (pepperoni and mushrooms) on my half of the pizza.
The pizza was all right in my personal opinion. Mary and any other St. Louis folks don’t come for me lol. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the different kind of cheese nor the thin crust. I prefer regular crust. I can tell that this is a big company in St. Louis. Pretty much everywhere we drove, I was able to spot an Imo’s Pizza. If you go to St. Louis, go ahead and check out Imo’s Pizza and tell me what you think in the comments below.
Saturday
Day at the Saint Louis Zoo
On Saturday’s agenda was the Saint Louis Zoo, which had to be on the to-do list for our love of animals and the fact that this zoo is FREE! Yes, you read that right FREE! I remember the first time Mary asked about going to a zoo while in Florida, and I asked her did she have zoo money? She looked at me so confused and said you all pay to go to the zoo? She was so used to having a zoo with free admission while I was excited that a zoo was free.
The St. Louis Zoo has all kinds of exhibits such as elephants, giraffes, zebras, bears, hippos, penguins, birds, and reptiles. My favorite section of the zoo was the butterfly house because I LOVE butterflies, as they always remind me that change can be beautiful. Also, my second favorite section of the zoo was the penguin exhibit because it was a nice refreshing break from the sun, and we could see the penguins up close, and we even got splashed by one.
After leaving the zoo, we walked around the rest of Forrest Park, sat by the fountain, and rode a scooter before heading to the lake area to paddle boat. Paddle boating was about $22 for an hour, but it was $22 well spent as we enjoyed the views on the lake and took in some more sun.
I highly suggest having a nice cold drink during paddle boating because the sun was hella hot.
Forrest Park also contains some of St. Louis’ major museums such as the Art and History museums along with the St. Louis Science Center and flower conservatory called the Jewel Box.
Unfortunately, after a long day at the zoo, we decided not to check out the museums, but they will definitely be on the itinerary for my next visit, and they should be on yours too.
Posted Up in Downtown St. Louis
Before deciding our next move, we made a slight detour to downtown St. Louis to take some dope pictures. If you know me, I always say I’m not photogenic because I don’t know how to pose. My best pictures are the off guards where I am not so in my head.
Check out these great pictures Mary G. took of me:
To wrap up the day, we headed to the Delmar Loop aka The Loop, which is home to over 100 specialty shops/ boutiques, restaurants, entertainment venues, etc. We checked out some dope shops, including Oso A Style Lab, where I found these dope cards that were drawn by a local artist (even more reason to support this creativity).
Our main reason for checking out The Loop was to grab a bite to eat at Fritz’s, a restaurant famous for the root beers and other traditional sodas. I enjoyed their jambalaya while Mary had one of their burgers and fries. I am not the biggest fan of root beer in general, so I decided to stick with water. Maybe next time, I’ll give it a try.
Now let’s get to my last day in the 314.
Sunday
Sunflower Field Vibes
My last day in St. Louis was spent driving about 45 minutes to Belleville, Illinois to enjoy a sunflower field at Eckert’s Farm. The tickets for the sunflower field were just $5! Buy the ticket online to avoid the long lines. If you want to pick and buy a sunflower, you can buy them for $1 per flower.
If not, you are free to take as many pictures in the sunflower field as you like. We took so many great photos in the field and enjoyed the good vibes. I wish we could have done the fruits and vegetable picking, but it didn’t make sense to do so.
Here are our pictures of me from the sunflower field taken by Mary G. then pictured of me and Mary G together in the field:
After spending some time in the sunflower field, we went to check out the store and then got some custard from their little store outside. The custard was tasty and even more enjoyable on that hot day. Just thinking about it, I wish I had some right now!
St. Louis Fast Food Round-Up
To end the night, we picked up Mary’s friend, Alecia, and had planned to have a little STL fastfood
I can tell you this much. Jack in the Box tacos and White Castle sliders were not for me. Those fast-food chains can stay away from Orlando lol.
Outside of food tasting, we got to explore Saint Louis University a little bit as the sunset and end the night with girl talk on a hammock.
A great end to a memorable trip! Big shoutout to one of my best friends, Mary G., for making this trip so much fun! My St.Louis takeover with Mary was wonderful, and I enjoyed the good vibes! This trip definitely got me into the mindset of enjoying my twenties through traveling! Remember, Catch Flights, not F
But for now, much love to the 314!
Comment below your favorite travel destination or a destination on your travel bucket list!
