10/04/07 St.LouisRV Park, Anhueser- plant–Grants Farm – Forest Park

Captain’s Blog
10/04/07
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis RV Park, Anhueser-Bush plant – Grants Farm – Forest Park
Odometer Reading 11130.8


Spent another restful night in preparation for the day’s adventures. Ron promised me he wouldn’t push it with sightseeing but he wasn’t exactly being truthful.

Started with a tour of the Anhueser-Bush plant where they make the most popular beer in America, Budweiser. The original owners were from Germany and the architecture of the buildings is reminiscent of old European styles. Although the buildings are at least 120 years old they look brand new. The place is immaculate and the interiors of the buildings have intricate stonework with lots of brass, copper and glass throughout. You could easily get caught admiring the details and workmanship of the building themselves and forget you were in a working beer manufacturing plant.

Part of the tour included a visit to the Clydesdale stables. Before entering there was what we thought was a statue of a Clydesdale but when we got closer realized it was the real thing. What a magnificent animal! The groomers spend over an hour a day bathing and grooming these horses. They own 250 Clydesdales and have them on two separate farms. In order to be considered a true Clydesdale the horse must stand at least 12 hands high with white hoofs and a white face with a black mane and tail. Those horses born without these features are sold.

There is a roundhouse stable that houses the Clydesdale horses that is beyond beautiful. It looked like it could be used as a small mansion, with chandeliers, sparkling clean shiny floors and absolutely no odors. These horses get the best of care.

At the end of the tour they served two free samples of any of the Budweiser products. Ron had a beer and I a diet Pepsi.

Next stop was Grants Farm named after U. S. Grant. He owned the property and his original cabin remains on the farm. Surrounding a section of the perimeter is a metal fence made out of 2500 gun barrels from the Civil War.

There are also stables on the property housing the Clydesdales and their foals. The ponies were anywhere from 6 months to just over a year and really beautiful. A tram tour of the wildlife park was fun, then it was off to our next destination.

Forest park is on the opposite end of St. Louis and was a bit of a challenge to get to. Within the confines of the park there are several attractions to see. Since we only had three hours before the park closed I opted to go to the Science Museum. We toured the museum and then watched a presentation in the Planetarium on the night skies over St. Louis and a short clip on why Pluto lost its’ designation as a planet. It was very informative and well presented.

When finished at the Planetarium it was 4 pm. I was tired and wanted to head out to the local diner for some smoked pulled pork. St. Louis is noted for its barbecue smoked pulled pork and Big Al’s Diner came highly recommended.

Well, Ron had other ideas. He wanted to go to the St. Louis Zoo. I wasn’t sure if I had anything left in me but did go. (no choices given) The zoo was nice and well maintained with many exotic animals. Unfortunately we ran out of time so did not get to take in all the animals. The Zoo closed at 5 PM and they actually took many of the animals inside and out of sight. I guess that was meant to encourage the people at the Zoo to leave.

Then it was on to Big Al’s Diner. Woah!! What a scary place!! But being daring we ordered anyway and the smoked barbecue pulled pork was delicious. Did I mention how cheap the food is? Two full meals with drinks for $16.00. Fuel is also quite reasonable – $2.37per gallon. Then it was back to the campground to prepare for tomorrow’s drive to Branson. Did I mention that the weather has been beautiful- Sunny and in the high 80’s to low 90’s.