Road Trip Planner: A Quirky Missouri Road Trip Along Old Route 66
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- Family
Day One:
Spend your first day exploring St. Louis. The Magic House is a children's museum with a three-story slide and an electrically charged ball that makes your hair stand on end. There's also a special children's garden within the Missouri Botanical Garden where kids can climb into a treehouse or check out a 19th-century steamboat. And don't miss the City Museum, a wacky place constructed out of materials salvaged from elsewhere in the city. Our favorite part is an interactive play area called MonstroCity, which is a huge jungle gym made up of two Saber 40 aircraft fuselages, a fire engine, a castle turret and several 4-foot-wide wrought-iron slinkies. Overnight in the St. Louis area.
Day Two:
Drive west one hour to Stanton, where you'll see ubiquitous signs for the Meramec Caverns, where Jesse James and his gang supposedly once hid their loot. Families can go canoeing or rafting on the nearby Meramec River. Also in the area are the Riverside Reptile Ranch (where you can pet a snake!) and the Jesse James Wax Museum. Overnight in the Stanton area.
Day Three:
Drive southwest about 45 minutes to Rolla, where you can check out a museum full of colorful classic cars at Memoryville, U.S.A. And don't miss the Stonehenge Replica, which you'll find on the campus of the University of Missouri at Rolla. Overnight in the Rolla area.
Day Four:
Drive southwest about two hours to Springfield. You'll want to take a detour past the three-story Big Fork sculpture, located downtown outside an ad agency called Noble & Associates (on W. Chesterfield Boulevard). Have lunch and spend the afternoon at the Incredible Pizza Company, which offers a buffet of more than 30 varieties of homemade pizza, as well as the Fairgrounds -- a play land with miniature golf, go-karts, bumper cars and arcade games. Overnight in the Springfield area.
Day Five:
Drive south about an hour to Branson. Quirky attractions here include the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum, whose facade is purposely cracked as a reminder that Missouri, not California, holds the record for the nation's worst earthquake. Among the exhibits are a two-headed calf and the world's largest ball of nylon string. Also nearby is the Hollywood Wax Museum, showcasing famous faces from Tinseltown. Overnight in the Branson area.
Day Six:
Spend the morning in Branson visiting a few other quirky sights, including the giant banjo at the Grand Country Mall (on Highway 76) and the Titanic Museum -- a re-creation of the famous ship that sank in 1912. Then drive northeast an hour and a half to Lebanon area and stop off at Nancy Ballhagen's Puzzles, where you'll find thousands of jigsaw puzzles -- including one made of 7,500 pieces. Overnight in the Lebanon area.
Day Seven:
Spend some time hiking, canoeing or fishing at Bennett Spring State Park in Lebanon area. Then drive northeast about 2.5 hours back to St. Louis.