"Therapy" for Claustrophobics

I am claustrophobic...not "can't-get-in-an-elevator-claustrophobic"or anything drastic. It's more like mild versions of, "why are you standing so close to me-claustrophobic", "Don't tuck the sheets in-claustrophobic" and "is that the only way out of here?-claustrophobic" all combined into one. The St. Louis City Museum was not exactly a good choice for anyone with space issues to go for "fun". We did have a great time, but it must have been the fact that we payed 10 bucks a piece to get in that kept my anxiety level in check. The City Museum is an old shoe factory that has been shut down and converted into a whole bunch of things combined into one. There are thrift shops and gift shops, a night club, a circus show, a campfire, a cafe, an art room, a music room, a skate-less skate park, an aquarium, a fun house, a ball pit, an arcade, a pub, and beneath what you see in the picture above, HUGE indoor cavern full of caves and tunnels and secret passages to explore. It was NUTS! Some of the tunnels actually had little signs above them stating that they were only 18 inches high...just so you would know if you could actually fit, because once you're in...there is NO ROOM to turn around! SCARY SCARY SCARY! Plus it is pitch black inside, aside from glow necklaces on all the teenagers and the lights from our cell phone. It was too dark outside, and in the cavern, so some of these pics are from the city museum website.

I have never seen so much STUFF. The whole 2nd floor was an eccentric collection of bohemian carnival crap. We felt like we were in Pinocchio when he got stuck on Coney Island and any minute that donkey kid was going to pop out of one of the fun house mirrors and start laughing at us. Very cool, but very creepy at the same time!

Had your palms read lately?

Well, who doesn't want to dine beneath a collection of 12 disciple stained glass windows and a stuffed vampire?

yep, those are mannequin legs hanging from the ceiling...and the burnt out neon sign on the air stream trailer says, "Nougat"

At one point, Meg takes a wrong turn and gets pinned by a giant ceramic sumo wrestler.

Outside, is even MORE JUNK that has been used to create yet another series of tunnels and slides and a huge maze over buildings, in and out of windows and up along the side of the building 6 stories in the air. I CAN NOT BELIEVE no one has died...how do people not get stuck in these tunnels? How has nothing broken, causing someone to fall 10 stories to their death? Maybe that sounds morbid to you, but I have not been that scared in a VERY LONG time. I clung to Aaron's side the way Reese did at his company picnic when the elmo character got too close. Remember, we were there at night...so it was even scarier! Every path leads UP...and ends at a slide, that ends in an old school bus on top of the building, or in an airplane, or a ball pit or on a trampoline...or a dead end and you have to go on another trek through a cage suspended in air to yet another slide to get out.

Another slide hanging off the side of the building. I was actually shaking as I climbed into it. Mostly because we had just been at the other end moments ago, and had watched the 16 yr old girl come flying out of it so fast that she slid another 30 feet into the padded wall, where she finally stopped.

Fearless Aaron. I had to slither out of this one on my stomach to fit through the opening. I have no idea how he got out of there.

Back inside.....What you are looking at here the view from the bottom of a TEN STORY twisty slide. It was too far away and too dark-even with the flash, to get the top 3 stories in the shot. YES, the top is caged in so you have to lie down to fit in it, and YES, Aaron was lying (I made him go first) when he said it wasn't fast. Who needs RollerCoasters? At least you are strapped in with a harness at Great America!