In 2010 we moved from Georgia to Bowling Green, Kentucky so that summer we knew we wanted to do a road trip to some nearby states. St. Louis, Missouri is only a little over 4 hours away so it was the perfect place to start! There are SO many free and inexpensive things to in St. Louis, especially with kids.
Our first stop was City Museum which was one of the only things we did in St. Louis that had paid admission. It was still very affordable and was well worth the price of admission! Although the name museum is in this spot’s title, it is anything but your run of the mill “boring” museum. It was once a giant warehouse that is now filled with interactive exhibits for kids to run and play til their hearts are content. This is one of those places that words can’t really fully describe, so here are a few pictures that will give you a little glimpse into this crazy, awesome place!
Our next stop in St. Louis was a visit to Ulysses S. Grant’s home. I realize that historical sites like these may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I would encourage you to give them a shot! Many times, admission is free (this one was) and you can learn some new things during your visit.
On that same day we visited Grant’s Farm (named for Ulysses S. Grant who once worked part of the land) that is the ancestral home of the Anheuser Busch family. This is another FREE attraction where you can see lots of animals (some of them by train I might add!) including the famous Busch Clydesdale horses!
We finished up the day by taking in a St. Louis Cardinal’s game, (even though we are die hard Atlanta Braves fans!). We love checking out baseball games when we visit other cities and Busch Stadium is a great place to catch a game with a beautiful view of the St. Louis skyline, including the Gateway Arch. We did have a friend who had a connection and hooked us up with these tickets, but usually you can find baseball tickets that are pretty affordable. You can even find cheap tickets on the same day of the game you want to attend on sites like StubHub.
Another FREE tourist attraction in St. Louis is the St. Louis Zoo. There are some small fees for separate attractions, but you can still see a ton without doing all of the extras. A big storm came up while we were there and we ended up having to make a run for the car while dodging lightning bolts, but now that we survived the harrowing ordeal its a fun memory! Brian still says we wouldn’t have gotten caught in the storm if I hadn’t insisted on going to see the giraffes!
Of course, we couldn’t leave St. Louis without seeing its most iconic spot, the Gateway Arch! There are several different price options for both the tram to the top and the museum below. I do not enjoy heights or enclosed spaces and the tram to the top of the arch included both (yippee!), but I’m so glad we did it! The view from the top was amazing! I also had no idea there was a museum at the arch until we visited and it was definitely worth the time to explore.
After leaving St. Louis, we headed north to Springfield, Illinois to check out Abraham Lincoln’s home. One thing you will quickly learn about us is we’re big fans of visiting Presidential homes! This is another National Park exhibit that is FREE so its worth checking out. Many times these homes have been furnished with replica furniture, but there are many original pieces in Lincoln’s home, including the couch he was sitting on when we accepted his Presidential nomination (Ok…I know I’m a total nerd)
While in Springfield, we also visited Lincoln’s burial site and we were able to see Civil War re-enactors (I don’t even know if that is the proper term) perform a 21 gun salute.
After boring the kids to death with day of history (haha!) we headed east to Indianapolis, Indiana to check out something a little more kid-friendly, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Admission here is admittedly a little pricey, but it was really our only big ticket attraction on this road trip. The girls LOVED this place! L still talks about it ten years later and although AK is too little to remember, we have picture proof that she loved it too! We spent an entire day here and I still don’t know if we spent as much time there as the girls would have liked to! It was definitely worth the price of admission!
Our last stop on our way back to Bowling Green, was one more historic site, Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home. I mean, we already saw the only home he ever owned, so we might as well stop and see where he grew up, right? There is only a memorial of the cabin there now, but there is a re-creation of what his cabin would have looked like. YOU can also see staff dressed in period clothing who describe what life would have been like for the Lincoln’s. It may not sound like much, but its a National Park (which we love) and it was FREE so it was worth the stop.
This is one of the most affordable road trips we ever did because so many attractions we visited were FREE (in case you missed that theme). Total drive time on this trip was only a little over 13 hours, which was broken up over the course of several days so it is a very do-able trip with young kids. We have since been back to different parts of these states on other road trips so keep an eye out for future blogs with more fun places to see in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana!
Traveling Light 
2 thoughts on “Missouri, Illinois and Indiana”