There are a lot of wonderful things you can see and do in St. Louis, if you plan to arrive early. We may be doing some of these things throughtout the week before the cookout (see the Cookout Events section). If you plan to show up early, let us know - Here are just some of our top suggestions:

Six Flags of St. Louis - What list would be complete without this world famous amusement park?

St. Louis Museum of Transportation - Not so well known but really neat.

Missouri Botanical Gardens - A little pricy, but world famous and sooo beautiful.

Soulard Farmer's Market - food grown by independant farmers.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tours (open to all ages) - Soooo cool!

The St. Louis Zoo - World famous for its quality and size, and also for its new huge penguin habitat.

The St. Louis Science Center - Ryan's favorite place. Multiple levels of science goodness and fun!

The St. Louis Art Museum - World famous art museum and Forest Park grounds.

Turtle Playground at Forest Park - Not a playground full of baby turtles, but a playground full of giant metal ones! check it out.

St. Louis County Parks and Recreation

Lameier Sculpture Park - VERY, VERY cool, and free!

The Gateway Arch - Of course... includes the museum, boat cruises, as well as the arch itself.

Main Street, St. Charles - Neat old antique main street with quaint shops.

The Loop - College scene. Has the Fritz pop bottling company, the original Blueberry Hill, etcetera. Also very near the Kolter homestead.

The Pageant in the Loop - Concert Venue. For 21 and up only.

St. Louis Mills Mall - Giant fricken mall with tons of stuff like the hockey rink the Blues practice at, a go-cart place, a gamer shop. This place isn't the biggest in the world, but it'll tire you out.

NASCAR Speed Park @ The Mills Mall - Imagine a huge multi-level indoor and outdoor go-cart racing track, arcade, and NASCAR themed place. It's amazing.

Funny Bone Comedy Club - Cool standup comedy club. A bit pricy to get in.

Union Station - St. Louis Union Station - a train station turned into a very snazzy mall with lots of cool stores and things. Also nice archetecture. Part of the downtown life.

Lacledes's Landing - St. Louis riverfront with clubs and bars and the like for those who want the nightlife!

Swing Around Fun Town - A fun amusement center!

The City Museum - possibly the strangest and coolest museum you will ever encounter in your life. It goes on forever, and has everything in it, and it's all interactive. It's... something to behold.

Cahokia Mounds State Park - A state park to the Missippian era indian tribes that lived in this area of the country and their lives and the massive earthwork mounds they made including the world famous Monk's Mound.

Ameristar Casino - The best casino in the city, for those who like to gamble.

Maryland Heights Aquaport - A very nice water park.

Adrenaline Zone and Demolition Ball - Big arcade, with bumper cars and Demolition Ball - kind of a team game you play with cannons that shoot balls, mounted to multi-person bumper cars. It's wicked cool.

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard - World famous frozen custard stand; expect long lines, and the best frozen custard this side of the Mississippi!

Eckert's Country Store and Farms - Huge set of farms where apples, melons, and other fruits, vegetables, and cereal grains are grown and harvested, complete with big store, restaurant, and nice atmosphere - you can pick your own stuff!

Gateway International Raceway - If there's a race in town, you can go see it!