A Half Day Trip to St. Louis, Missouri!
It was another work trip – this time to St. Louis, Missouri! To be honest, most of this post will be about food as I did not have a whole lot of free time. I was actually in the area for about a week, but was working for all of it.
Day 1
St. Louis
A must see attraction in St. Louis is the Gateway Arch. The Gateway Arch is a 630ft tall monument built in 1965. The tallest in the world as of 2023. Visitors can take the elevator up to the view point. I did not have enough time to go up, but I walked around the park and took some pictures. The photos don’t quite do it justice, but I can assure you, it is a very large arch. The Gateway Arch faces the Mississippi River, the second longest river in the US. Tom Sawyer, a well known fictional character, grew up along the Mississippi River in the book the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain, the author of the book, based the town in the book on Hannibal, a small town about 1.5 hours away from St. Louis.
You’ll likely have lots of time until dinner, so explore the many attractions in St. Louis. Examples are St. Louis Zoo, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Missouri Botanical Garden, and the National WW1 Museum and Memorial. For dinner, head to the St. Charles Historic District. This is about a 35 minute drive from the central St. Louis area. Ahead of dinner, walk along the streets. The main street is lined with European styled buildings and was the site of the first permanent European Settlement along the Missouri River (the longest river in the US). We went to dinner twice in this area that same week – Schlafly Bankside and Tony’s on Main Street. Schlafly is a brewing company based in Missouri with multiple locations. The one in St. Charles has food and drinks. I ordered the Shepherd’s Pie and a Raspberry Hefeweizen. Tony’s on Main Street is a steakhouse, much fancier than Schlafly Bankside. I ordered the Steak Anthony, which was a 2.5oz tenderloin with red onions, mushrooms and cheese. The steak is topped with their signature butter and comes with a side of your choice – I picked the garlic mashed potatoes. The steak was so good, but very rich and the portion was humongous. I was not able to finish it all!
Afterwards, we headed to the Streets of St. Charles, a shopping mall district, for dessert at Hot Box Cookies. On another night, we had dinner at Prasino in this area as well. You can buy individual cookies from Hot Box. The cookies were warm and so gooey. Prasino is a Farm to Table Restaurant. I ordered the Prasino burger, which came with a side of truffle fries.
This concludes my trip to St. Louis Missouri. If you end up venturing further out of St. Louis, about a 1.5 hour drive Northwest is a town called Bowling Green. There isn’t much in the town, but there is an amazing Mexican restaurant called Dos Primos. It feels very traditional and is very affordable. The chips and salsa are free and endless. I ordered the Lunch Fajitas with beef, which came with vegetables, rice, refried beans, sour cream and warm tortilla. So delicious!
Complete Half-Day Itinerary
*Travel times may vary. Check Google Maps for most accurate travel details.
12:00pm: Visit the Gateway Arch. Walk along the Mississippi River.
2:00pm: Explore St. Louis – visit the St. Louis Zoo, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Missouri Botanical Garden, National WW1 Museum and Memorial, and more!
6:00pm: Walk along the St. Charles Historic District. Have dinner at Tony’s on Main Street (34 minute drive from the Gateway Arch).
8:00pm: Have a cookie at Hot Box Cookie at the Streets of St. Charles District (6 minute drive from Tony’s on Main Street).
Travels with Carolyne 