If you are able to take a weekend road trip with your family and friends, I HIGHLY recommend St. Louis. Just four to five hours away you can see the City Museum, a really off-the-wall place put together by a bunch of artists in St. Louis. The museum is encrusted in mosaics made from traditional tiles to found objects, and there are wacky exhibits all over the museum, including giant slides, climbing tunnels (including steel-mesh outdoor climbing tubes four stories in the air that lead from found broken buses to airplanes to fire engines). On the premises, there is a glass-blowing studio, skate park, old pinball machines, the Museum of Mirth, Mystery, and Mayhem, thrift shops, "enchanted" caves, an aquarium, real ball pits, a shoelace factory, and other oddities. It is one of the most interesting stops in America. While you're in St. Louis, you can also see the St. Louis Museum of Art, which has an excellent collection of ceramics and crafts. And, of course, you should visit the Gateway Arch, designed by architect Eero Saarinen, where you can ride an egg-shaped elevator up 630 feet high for an incredible view of the city and the Mississippi River. Say "hi" to my grandma while you're in town.
