1. Best Western Kirkwood Inn
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (314) 821-3950, (800) 435-4656
Address: 1200 South Kirkwood Road
Description: This Best Western is a small, comfortable hotel located in the southwest corner of St. Louis County, right off Interstate 44. It is convenient to the Magic House children’s museum, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Grant’s Farm, and the Museum of Transportation, and it’s only a 15-minute drive from Six Flags amusement park. The 114-room hotel offers free parking and free continental breakfast and has discount admission tickets available for Six Flags. There’s a Chili’s Bar & Grill on-site. Pets are allowed in certain room types, and there is a daily charge of $10 per pet.
2. Kirkwood School District R-7
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (314) 213-6100
Address: 11289 Manchester Road
Description: The Kirkwood district continuously produces students who consistently score above state and national standardized tests through personalized learning, smaller classes, and gifted and special-education programs. There are five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school in the district, which has been accredited with distinction by the Missouri Department of Education. In 1992 Kirkwood High School (KHS) became a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, a national educational communication network founded in 1984. KHS’s membership in this coalition stresses a more focused, community-based effort in the school district’s continuing efforts to improve the high school’s educational opportunities. The student teacher ratio is 17:1, and the demographic make-up is 75 percent Caucasian, 18 percent African American, and 7 percent Asian, Hispanic and Indian.
3. Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (314) 301-1500
Address: 11715 Cragwold Road
Description: Powder Valley offers 3 miles of paved trails through more than 100 acres of sloping, rocky woods filled with beautiful wildflowers, towering trees, and tangled vines. Located only 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis, the facility offers three trails of differing lengths and topography that can accommodate trailblazers of all skill levels. The Hickory Ridge Trail offers 1-mile and 1⁄2-mile loops through cool forested valley, hilltops, a pond, and seasonal creeks that attract a variety of wildlife activity. Tanglevine Trail is a 1⁄3-mile paved and level trail, dotted with wildflowers and wildlife, while the 2⁄3-mile-long Broken Ridge Trail takes hikers over steep hills and crisscrosses a creek lined with oak, hickory, and maple trees. The Missouri Department of Conservation also manages Emmenegger Nature Park, more than 100 acres of forested hills overlooking the Meramec River. Hunting and fishing permits can be purchased via the Web site.
4. Kirkwood Family Ymca
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 325 North Taylor
Description: The Kirkwood Y is focused on family fun and fitness, and its list of amenities includes two gyms—one full-size and one mini—along with a nursery, indoor track, indoor pool, free weights, cardio machines, Cybex Circuit and Arc Trainers, sauna, locker rooms, family changing area, and equipment checkout that includes weight belts, basketballs, and lap counters for use on the track. Free Child Watch play area for kids 6 weeks to 12 years old.
5. Cafe Provençal
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (314) 822-5446
Address: 427 South Kirkwood Road
Description: Cafe Provençal features a light brand of French cooking, concentrating on the foods and culture of the country’s Provençal region. The menu is subject to change due to the chef’s commitment to using fresh ingredients, but there are a number of items that are almost always available. Appetizers like the salmon pâté and escargots in garlic butter and entrees such as the mahi-mahi grille and the roasted pork with mushrooms have become favorites for restaurant regulars Entrees include specialties like Choucroute Garni (sausages, pork chop, sauerkraut and potatoes), Poulet DeBergerac (chicken breast in puff pastry), and Saumon a la Moutard de Pemmerey (salmon with coarse grained mustard). Open Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner; dinner only on Saturday.
6. Bethesda Gardens
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (314) 965-8100
Address: 420 South Kirkwood Road
7. Alpine Shop
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (314) 962-7715
Address: 440 North Kirkwood Road
Description: The Alpine Shop has been outfitting area climbers, backpackers, hikers, campers, paddlers, cyclists, snowboarders, and alpine and cross-country skiers for more than 30 years. Both locations carry every brand of gear imaginable—from Alps Mountaineering to Motorola to Yakima—and they offer how-to classes for beginner and intermediate recreationalists. In addition to a full-service bike shop, the stores offer a number of repair and fitting services, like ski and snowboard tuning, custom footbed fitting/production, and seasonal gear rental for skiing, snowboarding, and camping. Open daily.
8. Marianist Galleries
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (314) 965-0877
Address: 1256 Maryhurst Drive
Description: This gallery, located right next to Vianney High School in Kirkwood, features studio and exhibition space for three artists. Works displayed here include acrylics on canvas; handmade paper; painted metal; stone, brass, and copper sculpture; fresco; stained glass; watercolors; paper cut-outs; and ceramics. Closed Sunday.
9. The Magic House, St. Louis Children’S Museum
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (314) 822-8900
Address: 516 South Kirkwood Road (Lindbergh Boule
Description: The Magic House is a nationally acclaimed children’s museum that offers more than 100 hands-on educational exhibits for kids of every age. In 2008, the popular museum doubled its size, creating more opportunities for exhibits, exploration, and fun. This addition will include improvements to all aspects of the museum experience, including new galleries and permanent exhibits, interactive Play Garden and a Rooftop Garden complete with a grand spiral staircase that leads to a Fairy Tale Tower—the perfect spot for imagination to take flight. Explore the Children’s Village, Math Path, and a three-story slide in this participatory museum that is both fun and educational. Other popular exhibits include A Little Bit of Magic, designed exclusively for kids ages one to seven, and an area just for infants, toddlers, and parents called For Baby & Me. First Impressions, an exhibit that contains more than 75,000 plastic rods and is more than 8 feet tall, allows kids to make an impression of their hands, their head, or their whole body. There’s also a Lewis and Clark Adventure, a Water Works exhibit, and Air Power, where kids can experiment with various blasts of, well, air power. Recently, the Magic House was voted the No. 1 national attraction in terms of “child appeal” by Zagat U.S. Family Travel Guide. Children under two are admitted free.
10. The Magic House, St. Louis Children’S Museum
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (314) 822-8900
Address: 516 South Kirkwood Road/(Lindbergh Boule
Description: This nationally acclaimed children’s museum offers more than 100 hands-on educational exhibits for kids—and adults. Kids love the Children’s Village, Math Path, and the three-story slide, while new parents and their little ones enjoy the For Baby and Me area for ages two years old and younger. This special area includes a peek-a-boo house, baby gym, and a toddler-size school bus they can “drive.” Older kids (7–14) love the Fitness Safari, where they can swing on a vine like Tarzan, cross a river of balls by jumping from log to log, and explore a dark diamond mine. There’s also an area that uses the science of everyday objects to entertain, including magnets, a wind generator, and various pulleys. The museum doubled its size in 2008, which created more programs, exhibits, learning opportunities and hands-on fun. There’s a new interactive Play Garden and a Rooftop Garden, complete with a grand spiral staircase that leads to a Fairy Tale Tower—the perfect spot for imagination to take flight. Children under one are admitted free.
11. Culpeppers
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (314) 821-7322
Address: 312 South Kirkwood Road
Description: This Culpeppers location, one of eight in the bi-state region, is only a few short blocks south of the Kirkwood train station and welcomes families with children under 12. (The Central West End location caters more to the bar crowd.) In addition to the usual suspects on the kids’ menu, there is a good selection of burgers, soups, salads, sandwiches, appetizers, and desserts. Culpeppers is famous for its spicy chicken wings, but they may be a bit too hot for tender young taste buds.
12. Mike Duffy’S Pub And Grill
City: Kirkwood, MO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (314) 821-2025
Address: 124 West Jefferson
Description: Not far from the train station—walking distance, in fact—is this cozy Kirkwood eatery that offers good food at reasonable prices in a casual atmosphere. The menu includes sandwiches, excellent burgers, award-winning chili, soups, salads, appetizers, and other daily specials. On Tuesday nights, kids eat free with the purchase of two adult dinners. There are also a half dozen wrought-iron tables on a small patio for outdoor dining during warm weather. There are two additional locations in the metro area—6662 Clayton Road in Richmond Heights, (314) 644-3700; and 1024 Schnucks Woods Mill Plaza in Chesterfield, (636) 394-8855. Closed Sunday.