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Grants Farm Tours
Category:
Information & Referral Services Tourist
10501 Gravois Rd
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63123
(314) 843-1700
A wonderful place for a family visit is Grant's Farm. It is located just outside of St. Louis in...
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A wonderful place for a family visit is Grant's Farm. It is located just outside of St. Louis in Affton, Missouri. It was a one time home of our 18th President, Ulysses S. Grant. In the early 1900s, it was purchased by the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch, Inc. fame. It was their home for many years prior to opening it to the public. It is now a 281 acre wildlife preserve.
Although Grant's Farm is not as highly publicized as some of the other places to visit in the St. Louis area, it is one of the best! It is a wonderful place to spend a morning or even the day. Entry into Grant's Farm proper is free, but you must pay to park.
This wonderful preserve is home to hundreds of exotic animals from around the world, including several varieties of deer, horse and cattle, including my children's favorite, the Oreo Cookie Cow (actually a Belted Galloway). Upon entering the property through a covered foot bridge, you wait in line at Grant's Station for the next tram to take you on a tour of the wildlife preserve. The longest time I have ever waited was during the Fourth of July weekend -- forty five minutes. This, however, is a rarity, as the wait for a tram is generally only ten minutes or less.
On the tram ride, one of the first sites you see is Grant's cabin, called Hardscrabble. It is the only existing home that was actually built by a president. Although he only lived there a short time while his "real" home was being built, it is still an exciting piece of history. There are tours periodically throughout the year through the cabin, but these are few. If you do happen to be lucky enough to go into the cabin, you won't be allowed on the second floor; it is closed due to age, and is not considered structurally sound. It is worth visiting when the cabin is open for tours though, just to gain insight into that piece of history.
After passing through a gate that separates Hardscrabble from the actual preserve, the tram ride continues. The length of the ride varies depending on the cooperation of the animals who call Grant's Farm home. You see, if an animal decides to block the roadway, which does happen, you are stuck. During one visit, the tram my family was on was "held hostage" by the bison for about fifteen minutes! It was quite interesting though as there were deer on one side of the tram and a baby calf on the other licking the tram. There is no guarantee that you will see animals on your ride though. Of the dozen or so times I have been there, there was only one time that I consider the tram ride a failure, because we saw no animals except for ducks and the fish in the pond. A personal recommendation is to go during cooler weather when the animals are more active or in the early morning if you go during the heat of the summer.
After the ride through the preserve, you are dropped off at one end of the Tier Garten near the petting area for the goats. You can purchase a bottle to feed the the babies. There are also a variety of animal shows in outdoor theaters throughout the day. (Signs are posted with the times.) There are several other animal exhibits to see, including bald eagles, giant tortoises, and elephants.
After a walk though the Tier Garten, my family is always ready for a soda in the Bauernhof. This is also the area to catch a tram back to Grant's Station. After our tram ride out, we like the visit the General Store. There are several souvenir shops located throughout, but this is the largest -- and our favorite.
Once used by the Busch family as a stable, it is now a show area for their carriage and tackle collection. There are a variety of horses stabled there as well. This is also the area to catch the tram back to Grant's Station. After our tram ride out, we like the visit the General Store. There are several souvenir shops located throughout, but this is the largest -- and our favorite.
A final stop at Grant's Farm should be the Clydesdale training and breeding are located at the north end of the parking lot. Known as Label Stable, you are almost always guaranteed wonderful Clydesdale views.
For more information, check out the website at www.grantsfarm.com.
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White Castle
Category:
Family Restaurants
1111 Macklind Ave
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63110
White Castle is the pre-eminent global fast food restaurant. Where else with less than $10.00 can...
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White Castle is the pre-eminent global fast food restaurant. Where else with less than $10.00 can you sufficiently dine as a King with a few members of your court and have an enjoyable time as well.
Pros: inexpensive, enjoyable, excellent service
Cons: none, none, none
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MacHeadQuarters
Category:
Computer Repair
7120 Manchester
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63143
(314) 647-6647
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LoRusso's Cucina
Category:
Direct Selling Businesses
3121 Watson Rd
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63139
(314) 647-6222
Our group of 10 celebrated my birthday at LoRusso's at the end of September, 2009. What a great...
More 1 month ago
Our group of 10 celebrated my birthday at LoRusso's at the end of September, 2009. What a great way to start our evening with a dinner at this amazing Italian restaurant! From appetizer to after dinner drinks, everything was delicious and the servings generous. Our glasses were never empty, the meal was presented beautifully and the each course was brought out in a timely fashion. The cioppino was very nice, the mushroom ravioli to die for, the tenderloin melted in our mouth. You have to try this place. I can't wait to go back!
Pros: Delicious food, attentive and friendly wait staff
Cons: absolutely none
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Vintage Vinyl
Category:
Catalog & Mail Order Shopping
6610 Delmar Blvd
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63130
This is a great record shop located in the heart of the loop. Any time I need to find something...
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This is a great record shop located in the heart of the loop. Any time I need to find something that is difficult to find I have great luck here. If you are in love with music...and records...youc ould easily spend an entire afternoon just looking through all they have. Huge selection, fair prices, and great staff! Very pleased!
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Another one of St. Louis’ treasures. The Soulard market brings the country right into the city,...
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Another one of St. Louis’ treasures. The Soulard market brings the country right into the city, so you can get the best of both worlds. The food and shopping is wonderful. Not to mention the atmosphere is just so great. On a summer Saturday morning with all the hustle and bustle, it just makes you adore the city.
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Roto-Rooter Plumbers
Category:
Excavation Contractors
1234 Hanley Industrial Court
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63144
(314) 968-3534
Who knew a trip to the basement to check the dryer would lead to the rescuing efforts of the...
More 11 days ago
Who knew a trip to the basement to check the dryer would lead to the rescuing efforts of the Roto-Rooter knight in a white stallion (actually Chevy, I think). Anyhow, my roommates and I were frustrated and panicking with the backing up of water in the basement, because the water was coming IN/UP the floor drain... not OUT!? We were quite honestly afraid to use any water for fear that we would end up with a swimming pool in our basement (NOT what we wanted, especially at the start of winter)! Thank goodness for gas stations and hand sanitizer, plus the fact we only went 48 hours with out using water down the drain, you have to admit that is talent! We called Roto-Rooter and they were very helpful and friendly with our lack of knowledge on the drain/plumbing subject. On Monday our technician came bright and early, around 745 am. It was a very chilly morning for the last day of November. Talk about bright eyed and bushy tailed; the technician "Bill" didn't even finish his coffee before he got to my address. Now, how many people do you know that can function that early in the day without the assistance of their morning joe- what ever it may consist of? "Bill" was very helpful in explaining the problem we had going on. He explained step-by-step what he was going to do to fix our problem; he explained what caused these sorts of situations and showed me an example by viewing the neighbors drain trap; sure enough once he got started, with in about 20-30 minutes, "away went the problems down the drain," or should I say sewer line? "Bill" assured me that the problem was a "trap blockage" outside the house near the main sewer line. I admit, when he said "main sewer line" I was a little apprehensive about how much it could cost, and when he told me, it was not so bad. He "snaked" the line both away from the house and toward the house and then again away from the house. It was amazing; like someone just waved a magic wand and "poof" the problem was gone. Thank you Mr. Roto-Rooter "Bill" for rescuing us.
M. Kelsey
St. Louis, MO
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Staff is very friendly and the food is so good. I crave it at least once a week. Service is very...
More 9 months ago
Staff is very friendly and the food is so good. I crave it at least once a week. Service is very fast and the chinese portion of the menu is excptional as well.
Pros: Very Tasty and always consistent
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Favazza's Inc
Category:
Direct Selling Businesses
5201 Southwest Ave
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63139
While it is not as romantic or upscale as Giavanni's, Dominic's, Kemoll's, etc I would have to say...
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While it is not as romantic or upscale as Giavanni's, Dominic's, Kemoll's, etc I would have to say that Favazza's has my favorite italian food in all of St. Louis. Everytime we go there we are warmly greeted and the food is always top notch. Their wine list isn't too big but there are good ones on the list.
For food, to be quite honest I could just eat their bread for a meal it is that good. Besides soak it in butter I don't know what else they do to it but I would pay lots of $$ to find out!! It is amazing. Their dinner salads are always fresh and amazing and their house dressing is incredible. Overall I am not a big salad person but I would never not get a salad at Favazza's.
Favazza's for mail dishes has almost whatever you want. They have items ranging from: tons of pasta dishes, to seafood, to steaks (their sicilian steak is amazing), to veal, and on and on. If I had to recommend just one it would obviously be what I get most often and that would be the baked pasta. I get hte baked mostacholli with meatballs and it is truly spectatular and delicious.
I cannot comment on dessert because of the 20+ times I have dined at Favazza's, there is not one time where I had room left for dessert (and that is a milestone because I always have room). I think it goes back to the bread and that I eat a loaf before even the salad comes.
Overall HIGHLY recommended and on weekends I would recommend that reservations be made.
Pros: food, service
Cons: nothing
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Landry's Seafood House
Category:
Restaurants
350 Saint Louis Un Sta
Saint Louis,
Missouri 63103
(314) 231-4040
Located downtown in Union Station, this place is a decent place to go for seafood. However, be...
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Located downtown in Union Station, this place is a decent place to go for seafood. However, be cautious if you do not like seafood, as there will not be much on the menu for you. In addition, the kids items are extremely bland in taste, so your kids might not like the food. Service was really, really slow when we went, and they were not even busy. They also do not validate your parking, so you have to pay to park.
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