midwest trip - the city museum

I don't really know where to begin with The City Museum. I could start with how I had no idea it existed until my cousin demanded we go... Or how it's an abandoned-shoe-factory-turned-whimsical-metal-wonderland... Or how the four of us (aged between 16 & 26) all turned into 9-year-olds for about 4 hours... Or you could just read all about it here or here.

It is truly the most bizarre place I have ever been, so obviously, I would highly recommend visiting if you ever find yourself in St. Louis. My description will not do it justice. From a beatnik bar to a skateless park to a ferris wheel on top of the building to caves that go on & on & on... There was absolutely no way to capture all of it with a camera. You can take a video while you go down the 10 story slide (while Phantom of the Opera plays on a restored organ) but you're sort of in a mixture between a stairwell & an alley, so the video doesn't do it justice. How do you capture climbing into a school bus that is hanging off the side of a building? Or room after room of archeological/bug/bottle collections? I didn't even try to take pictures of us climbing through the indoor tree house & you are quite welcome for that (read: not flattering, & bruises for dayyyys).

If you feel confused &/or overwhelmed by all of this information, then my work here is done, because I was pretty much both of those things the entire time we were in there. But it's somehow magical, all at the same time.

The transformation from adult-to-child was swift, like lighting.

 

Couldn't keep up with these two.

  

A personal favorite from the stained glass room

How we wait for rooftop elevators.

 

I so badly want to describe to you what it's like climbing metal 10 floors above the city

 towards a praying mantis, but it's a rather you-had-to-be-there sort of thing.

Lissy & Trent

Riding a ferris wheel together is some sort of couple's rite of passage... So swoony!

 

& then you slide down from the places you climbed up.

 

This is the look of "we are no longer children with flexible little limbs."

  

Respite.

I was so excited by the many possibilities of visiting St. Louis as an adult with driving capabilities, so though we were stiff, sweaty, bruised & exhausted, we made the executive decision to eat dinner in the city. & again - IF you find yourself in St. Louis, you MUST eat at Range. One of my lovely followers on instagram recommended it to us, & we all almost cried over the amazing meal that met us there. The perfect finish to quite the long day.

& now I really want one of those lemonades. Oh, Jaaaaareeed...