My 8 year old son and I are doing our first set of ballparks this summer. We are driving from DFW and making it a long weekend trip. Catching a game on Thursday in St Louis and a Saturday game in Kansas City. Question for those is that we basically will have Friday in between games to tour around. Would you drive over to Kansas City that Friday morning or stay in St Louis one extra night? What do each towns have to offer. Only thing I know in St Louis is the Arch. Thanks

For a kid the Arch is the best site to visit in either town. Maybe visit the Budweiser brewery to see the Clydesdales (and get a daddy drink).

St. Louis zoo is pretty cool. As said above, the tours at Budweiser are cool and you get a chance to see the Clydesdales up close. Spend time in KC for work and visit St. Louis for Cardinal games at least once a year. That said, I'd choose St. Louis.

That said when in KC, stop at Q39 and get the wings. They are amazing.

Ag CPA said:

---

Maybe visit the Budweiser brewery to see the Clydesdales (and get a daddy drink).

---

if you are going to opt for a brewery tour, skip budweiser and get a decent beer at Schlafly's.

Beer snob.

Halfway between St. Louis and KC is the farm where they raise the Budweiser Clydesdales. Tours fill up fast, so check it out quickly.

https://www.warmspringsranch.com/

The World War One museum in KC is amazing.

Truman library and home in Independence are cool

Some Santa Fe Trail swales are visible in KC

Ag Museum in Bonner Springs

https://www.aghalloffame.com/

The city museum in St Louis is a "can't miss" for a kid. The arch is very cool as well.
Budweiser plant was fun.
Busch stadium is a great ballpark as well.

aggiederelict said:

---

Beer snob.

---

sometimes. there's a time and a place for ****ty beer.

CanyonAg77 said:

---

The World War One museum in KC is amazing.

---

I'll second that. Not sure if an 8 year old would enjoy it as much, but it's far, far more interesting than the Arch to me.

Thank you all so much. Wonderful ideas. This really helps our trip.

Your kid may be too young to appreciate it, but the Steamship Arabia museum is small but fascinating. River boat sank in 1856, mud covered it, and the meandering river left it buried in a corn field. It was packed with 200 tons (400,000 pounds) of food, tools, dishes, etc. etc. etc., including materials to build an entire house. It was all stuff to stock general stores upriver. Imagine seven semis full of stuff for Walmart being lost, then recovered in 2155.

It was excavated in 1988, and almost all the cargo was intact, including a lot of the canned food still being edible.

City Museum in St Louis

Zoo is free, you pay for extras

I would also look at OKC minor league schedule great ball park on way there or back

In KC...

WWI museum
Negro League museum
Boulevard Brewery tour (great tour I'm told)

Our family did a TN, Kentucky, Ohio focused road trip last summer (kids were 18, 14, 11) and we took a different route home that took us through St. Louis. We didn't get in until 4 pm and had to leave the next morning so we planned the Arch as our activity. We all enjoyed it and the museum/ movie on the building of the Arch inside. It's an interesting, but fun ride up in those little pods and you can slightly feel it sway up there. We were all glad we did it. Book tickets ahead if you go as they can sell out days in advance. After that they wanted to see other sites for a possible future trip back so we drove by City Museum. I've heard of it for years, but wasn't sure if the kids would be too old and we didn't schedule enough time in SL for it. They ALL thought it looked amazingly fun just from what they could see outside and were so bummed that we didn't go. They also wanted to see the ballpark closer up so we ended up eating right across the street. They have a great entertainment/ restaurant district right there- very cool. There was so much more there to see that we definitely will go back someday.

My husband has cousins in KC so we've been there although it's been years. It's a nice town, but from a tourism standpoint with an 8 year old, I'd pick St. Louis.

schmendeler said:

---

The city museum in St Louis is a "can't miss" for a kid.

---

This is the correct answer for the situation.

If you can fit it in, grab lunch in St Louis on "The Hill".

Cunetto's House of Pasta or Zia's. Both are great!

Thanks again. I showed my son the website for the City Museum, and he is super excited. He is even more fired up now.

Moved the family to St. Louis about 2 years ago for work. It really does have a lot of great kids attractions. Sounds like you've got it figured out but happy to chat if you want more suggestions.

St Louis, get the toasted ravioli. Thought they were just pizza rolls before, but they are great. We went to Favazzas. Piazza Imo down the street is worth a stop.

There is a park east of the Mississippi that has a great view, minus the power lines. Malcolm Martin Memorial Park.

Absolutely agree. We spent so much time there and my stepson still claims that St. Louis was the best trip! He always raves about the City Museum.

WWI museum is on par with any of the Smithsonian museums. But that's assuming your kid can do something like that.

Be aware that Kaufman Stadium is now no cash (I think most of them are). The Royals HOF out by left field is a good walk through and there is a kids area out behind the HOF as well.

Also, Q39 as others suggested. If your there on a weekend night, go online and make reservations.

a.froman said:

---

My 8 year old son and I are doing our first set of ballparks this summer. We are driving from DFW and making it a long weekend trip. Catching a game on Thursday in St Louis and a Saturday game in Kansas City. Question for those is that we basically will have Friday in between games to tour around. Would you drive over to Kansas City that Friday morning or stay in St Louis one extra night? What do each towns have to offer. Only thing I know in St Louis is the Arch. Thanks

---

Was about to start a thread but searched first…

Would you stay longer in either KC or StL? Anything you do that you'd go back for? Anything you saw that you wished you had time to do? And where did you stay?

I second the toasted ravioli suggestion. The provel cheese on St Louis thin pizza is unique and great

Well it has been a while but we stayed in St Louis the extra night and it was well worth it. Like I stated we drove up on a Thursday from DFW and pretty much checked into the hotel and then went straight to the ballpark. Probably could get there a little earlier to explore more around the park. Friday was a really great day. Did the Arch and museum. Well worth it. Then also a did a riverboat cruise. That was ok but after a while my son was over it. Then we went to the City Museum and I literally had to drag my son out of there after 3 hours. One of his favorite places ever. Then went to Fitz's that is makes it's own sodas. Solid American food and sports bar type place. Drove over to KC on Saturday and unfortunately didn't have a bunch of time there, Did catch the Negro League museum which was cool but not very big. Took only about 30 minutes or less to go through. Thought it would be bigger so we planned on more time. I think next time if we make it to KC we might try the Museum area. It looked pretty neat.

Overall really really enjoyed St Louis. You forget about the history of that place. One thing we didn't do that you need to make reservations for is the Clydesdale tours in between cities. Stayed a little west of the airport in a business area.Not really close to downtown but only about a 20 minute ride in. I used points so that was our best option. In KC we stayed in Overland which made getting home from the stadium pretty easy and on the right side of KC coming home. Hope all this helps

Thanks!! Helps a bunch. We're knocking those two off the stadium list this summer and I have 3 days in KC and 2 days in StL. Trying to decide if I should flip days in the cities or not

I live in KC and you can you flip the days, depending on what you want to do. St Louis has the Arch (which wont' take all day) and StL Zoo is tons better.

If in KC, the Negro League Museum is OK, but the WW1 Museum is Smithsonian level quality. Simply fantastic. Plaza area shops are fun for the wife. Nelson Atkins Museum is good. For KC BBQ, Q39 is good but expensive, Jack Stack is good, Joe's KC (people say it's good, I'm not a fan). Also, find time to look go through the Royals HOF museum in left field.

If you want to buy stuff, Rally House (several locations in KC) has good prices on Royals gear.

Not sure what days you'll be in KC, but tickets should be easy to come by on SeatGeek, StubHub or whatever app you chose.

If you're hear the first Saturday of the month and near Overland Park or Leawood, go to Iron Horse Bar and Grill for breakfast, there will be 10-20 Ferrari's parked out back between 9-11 AM if you like that sort of thing.