Before we even started traveling down the Mississippi, my parents had me interested in their talk about an ‘adult playground’.
Being Dutch and seventeen, playgrounds have kind of fallen off of my list of campground perks. I’m too tall to do half of the activities, and since my brother stopped accompanying me to the playground, I’ve stopped going.
Oh, and I hate plastic slides because of the electric shock I get at the bottom.
Homeschooled. Sorry, can’t help it.
Biking to the Museum
But yes, this adult playground got me thinking. So I was very excited when the day came and my dad and I biked down to the City Museum.
After we dropped off the backpack at the check-in station, we wandered around a bit before we found out how to get to the rooftop. Apparently I wasn’t reading every word for once.
The Rooftop
I was amazed when I got to the rooftop. I guess the crowd was what hit me first. It was a Friday and apparently a half-day of school in the area, so it was pretty packed.
I had seen part of the rooftop from the road on our day out to the Arch, so the first thing I wanted to do was go in the school bus that hung half over open air. I knew it was something my brother wouldn’t have done. But I did it. And it was fun.
Big Slide
I think next we went up a couple levels to go down the praying mantis slide. At first I was bit nervous. I couldn’t see where the slide ended. But since I knew it must end somewhere, I slipped through the bars and let go. It was a very fast slide, but also long, and I loved it. Daddy came down next, and he liked it, too.
Ferris Wheel
I asked if we could go on the ferris wheel, which I think my dad was a bit surprised about, considering my first ferris wheel experience at Sheels in Nevada, but that was about five years ago.
I’ve changed since then. And they were playing bubblegum oldies. Nobody can resist a ferris wheel ride while listening to a radio playing bubblegum oldies.
The ferris wheel wasn’t that big, but it still gave that little thrill of ‘ooh, I think I left my stomach up there’ when we just started going down. It was pretty fast.
We played around a bit, went down the praying mantis slide again and climbing up over it. (“Are we there yet?” “No!”)
Ten Story Slide
And then there was the ten story slide. I was very excited to go down it, especially when I could look over the guardrail while in line and not be able to see the bottom. But it was awesome. It took a really long time to get the end, and when I staggered off, I had to lean against the wall for a minute. Ten stories, all curlicue.
The Caves
When Daddy got off, we found ourselves in ‘the caves’. Like a touchable Carlsbad Caverns. We had no idea how to get back up, so we just wandered around a bit.
The Organ
We heard music and found where it was coming from. It was like the organ at Organ Pipe Pizza, and I was entranced with the percussion section that we could watch. So we watched and listened for two songs. Then we left to find our way out.
Second Rooftop
I crawled a little bit, and finally I crawled through a maze that led us back to the actual building and not under it. That’s when we realized that we had only visited one part of the rooftop.
So we went outside and explored up there. There were a lot of slides, which I was having a heck of a fun time going down. Never too old for slides, especially when they’re all metal and no shocks!
I liked the first rooftop part best, but the second was cool too. It was a lot more busy than the first rooftop part.
A Break
After we finished the rooftop attractions, Daddy insisted that we take a break for a while. So we ate a couple of Clif bars, inspected the printing press block thingies on the wall, and then went off to have fun inside.
Another Slide
I was looking for another fun slide to do, but I had to climb and wriggle a little bit before we got to it. And it was steep. I didn’t want to do it at first, but two elementary school-age boys rushed past and threw themselves down without a qualm, so I figured I could do it too. And I did. And it was fun.
Spiral Thing
It’s all a blur after that. I remember Daddy telling me to climb up ‘one of those spiral things’ and pretty much figuring out that it DIDN’T lead to the next floor up, but instead led to an intricate maze of tunnels I didn’t have the moxie to go through.
City Museum is awesome! My favorite parts are the slides and the caves. It’s also fun to go at night and see the city from the rooftop. Unfortunately the man who founded it, Bob Cassilly, died a few years ago. Luckily others have taken on the museum and his creations continue to grow.