While visiting family in St Louis, we all went to visit the Saint Louis Science Center with my aunt and uncle. It is a complex with over 300,000 square feet, 750 exhibits, it is among the largest of its type in the country, and according to the Association of Science and Technology Centers, is one of the top 5 science centers in the United States.
We were happy to learn that general admission to the Saint Louis Science Center is free, however, as an FYI, not everything is free. There are charges for parking, tickets to shows in the Omnimax Theater and the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, tickets for the flight simulators, admission to the Discovery Room and admission to special exhibitions in Boeing Hall. It is still a great deal and a great way to spend part of the day.
When walking in you can’t miss the Energizer human hamster wheel that powers the Energizer Ball Machine, It is interesting and just the start of a fun afternoon. Eventually we made our way around, checking out all of their interesting exhibits. Here is a list of the said exhibits:
- Grow
- Math Alive
- Mission: Mars
- Life Science Lab
- Markerspace
- Discovery Room
- Ecology and Environment
- Structures
- Experience Energy
Although they were all enjoyable, I really enjoyed the Marker Space exhibit, and Gene really enjoyed the Experience Energy.
After we walked around for a while, we sat down and grabbed a quick snack at one of the food court areas before our Omnimax movie started. We were seeing the Rocky Mountain Express, which we thought was interesting as we live in Colorado at the base of the Rockies. However, we soon learned that the movie was about the Rocky Mountain Express train which propels audiences on a steam train journey through the breathtaking vistas of the Canadian Rockies and highlights the adventure of building a nearly impossible transcontinental railway. It was interesting and glad we were able to see it.
Sadly we didn’t have time to check out the James S. McDonnell Planetarium or their flight simulators. That would have been fun. Apparently they project more than 9,000 stars onto an 80-foot dome creating a brilliant star field. It would have been cool to see the night sky without the interference of weather, pollution or city lights. They also have a telescope viewing party on the first Friday of the month. That sounds like a fun thing to do and will have to remember that for a future trip.
Even though we missed a few things, we had an incredible time at the Saint Louis Science Center and look forward to visiting again one day in the future. We will we back! Here is a link to their website with hours, directions, parking, prices, etc.
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