Road-trip stops in Missouri

City Museum

Take an abandoned shoe factory. Add a sculpture artist with no fear and unlimited welding gas. Now your kids are crawling through a rebar tunnel ten feet off the ground heading toward a real Boeing fuselage on the roof. This place has a slide that's ten stories tall. Wear long pants, leave your bag in the car, plan for six hours, and bring band-aids.

Gateway Arch National Park

630 feet of stainless steel marking the Gateway to the West. The tram ride takes you to the top in tiny capsules where the wait is the experience and the view is forty miles. Reservations required (book online), allow ninety minutes from arrival to exit. Underground museum has been completely redone — history of westward expansion, Lewis & Clark, the building of the Arch itself. Free admission to the grounds and museum; tram tickets are paid. A National Park since 2018.

Meramec Caverns

Five-level cave system, 80-minute guided tour, 60°F all year (perfect July escape). Jesse James reportedly used it as a hideout — the kids will fact-check that part later. Gift shop, picnic grounds, river canoe rentals. The original 'See Rock City'-style barn-painted billboards that built American highway advertising.

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

Since 1929. The 'concrete' — a frozen custard shake so thick they turn the cup upside down before they hand it to you to prove it. If it falls out you get a free one. Located right on old Route 66 in south St. Louis, walk-up window only. Cash and card. The line moves fast. Get the Hawaiian.