Free Day in St. Louis

One of the perks of living outside of Washington, DC is all of the free attractions, like the monuments, the National Zoo and the Smithsonian museums. Today we were pleasantly surprised with our low-cost tourist activities in St. Louis.  

Henry and Ruth petting
sharks and stingrays

Grant's Farm was closed today, so Henry asked to go to the St. Louis Zoo.  I suggested the Budweiser brewery tour because I remembered thinking it was pretty cool when my family took a brewery tour when I was a kid, and I thought the kids would like to see the Clydesdales.  Or maybe it was fond memories of the opening of Laverne and Shirley episodes - Schlameel, Schlamozel - Hossenpepper Incorporated…  

As luck would have it, both the zoo and the brewery tour are free.  We got to the zoo a little late to take advantage of free street parking, but since we didn't have to pay to get in the zoo, it wasn't so bad.  

Henry will write about the zoo in more detail soon.  It got hotter as the morning went on, but it wasn't too bad.  Right before we left, we went inside the penguin and puffin building, where I'm guessing it was about 50 degrees.  It felt fabulous.  And that exhibit was the best part of the zoo.  Some penguins were arguing, some looked like they were doing yoga - standing still with their wings extended outward, and some looked like they were having a meeting.  The puffins were splashing and goofing around in the water, and two looked like they were wearing Donald Trump style toupees.  The sat facing a windy part of the rock wall, their toupees blowing in the wind.  

Jeff just said he wasn't expecting much from the brewery tour but he really enjoyed it.  The kids liked it too.  Perhaps the most perplexing aspect of them enjoying the trip was both of them saying they liked the smell around the brewery.   

We all enjoyed seeing the Clydesdales, both outside and in the horse barn.  The one inside looked huge!  Her name was Clare and she was beautiful.  

The brewery in St. Louis was the first brewery in the Anheuser Busch company, so there are still some historic buildings that date back to the company's early years, including the horse barn, the clock tower and the elementary school that the children of the company's founders went to.  We learned that during Prohibition, the company stayed alive by making and selling yeast, ice cream and other products.  When Prohibition was repealed, 25,000 St. Louis residents celebrated right outside of the brewery when the first cases and kegs of beer came out.  It must have been quite a party.

Watching the bottling process

My favorite part of the tour was watching the bottles go through the process of getting filled, labelled and sent along for cooling and packing.  Automated assembly lines fascinate me.  In addition to watching it from above, we also got to walk on the production floor to see and hear it up close.  

The tour ended in the tasting room.  When I saw Shock Top on the tap in the tasting room, I new what my first free beer was going to be.  It was ice cold and delicious.  Jeff's not a big beer drinker, but I told him to try it and he liked it as well.  The kids enjoyed the pretzels and free soda.  Ruth mixed Pepsi and root beer and loved the combination.

The most shocking - and financially efficient - part of the whole day is that we left both the zoo and brewery without purchasing any items from the gift shops.