Places to Go, Things to Do

Christmas lighting spectacles; transport museum

Any list of Places to Go; Things to Do in December has to include the many dazzling holiday light displays in the St. Louis area. But, there are some new things that also provide fun for you and your family this month.

For instance, the St. Louis County Parks' Museum of Transportation had reopened its completely remodeled Earl C. Lindburg Automotive Center. The museum's vintage motor vehicles are back on display along with new interactive displays.

These displays help kids understand how a vehicle's engine, steering and brakes work.

Then Trailnet is providing a new internet directory of hiking and biking trails in many St. Louis area communities. That's perfect for kids and families who like to plan their own hiking or biking excursions.

Or, maybe you'd like to plan your own themed tour at the Missouri History Museum. That institution is beginning to offer tours to families or private groups of 10 or more.

Each month, Young Saint Louis.com looks for timely things kids and families can do together. We give details and also link you to other websites that tell more about each event or the community resource.

Here is a sampling of Places to Go; Things to Do during December:

Holiday Lighting Displays

Our Lady of the Snows Way of Lights Christmas Display

The St. Louis metro area is famous for dazzling holiday lighting displays. Some of them involve more than a million lights and you stay in your vehicle to drive through them.

The St. Louis County Parks has its "Winter Wonderland" lighting display at Tilles Park. This is one where you stay in your vehicle to tour the lighted landscape. Also, you can call ahead and rent a horse-drawn carriage for the viewing.

For details, visit www.stlouisco.com/parks.

The national Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows near Belleville, Ill., is a popular lighting display on the east side of the Mississippi River. That "Way of Lights Christmas Display" is another must see holiday attraction.

For details, visit www.snows.org.

Santa's Magical Kingdom in Jellystone Park

The St. Louis Children's Zoo in Forest Park has its "U.S. Bank Wild Lights" display during the holidays.

For times and dates, visit www.stlzoo.org.

Then there's Santa's Magical Kingdom in Jellystone Park.

For details, visit www.eurekajellystone.com/santa.

And the Anheuser-Busch Brewery has its Christmas Lights display. For information, call (314) 577-2000.

St. Louis County's Museum of Transportation

The St. Louis Museum of Transportation has completed its renovation of its automotive center. That's just in time for viewing by kids who will have a holiday break from school.

St. Louis has been a center for car building since the early 1900s. The Earl C. Lindburg Automobile Center gives kids a chance to sample that long history.

The automotive center has a new glass and steel exterior. That makes it look just like a contemporary auto dealership. Inside, there is a new exhibit titled "It's an Automobile Life: Car Culture in St. Louis and Beyond."

Among the displays is a 1901 St. Louis Automobile, made by the St. Louis Motor Carriage Company. That was the first successful automobile company west of the Mississippi River.

On the mezzanine floor, there are interactive displays that let you see how a car works. One display explains the principle of internal combustion and how an engine makes a car move.

A second display shows how the steering works. And, finally, there's another display on how the brakes stop the car.

Outside, there is one of the biggest displays of trains and other transportation vehicles. The Smithsonian Institution calls the Museum of Transportation "one of the largest and best collections of transportation vehicles in the world."

For information, call (314) 615-2840 or visit www.thetrainmuseum.org.

"Themed tours" at Missouri History Museum

St. Louis area kids have been taking school field trips to the Missouri History Museum for years. But, now the museum is offering some "themed tours" to families and private groups of 10 or more.

One new tour open to kids and their families is "Advertising as a Mirror of Society." The tour investigates the relationships between past events and trends in product design and marketing.

The museum also has "themed tours" on other subjects available. On a "themed tour," visitors make stops at various points in the museum's permanent exhibits. Each stop will show how something in one part of history is connected to another.

The first tour on advertising and marketing will include a look at St. Louis' beer industry and the 18th amendment on prohibition first paralyzed and then energized the industry. (In the This Month in St. Louis History section, YSL.com explains how prohibition played out in St. Louis.)

If you'd like to know more about "themed tours," call (314) 361-9017.

Trailnet's new Trails and Bikeways Directory

Trailnet has launched a new Trails and Bikeways section on its website. This includes an interactive regional map with details on more than 80 walking, hiking and biking trails.

The map covers a 5-county area. Included are St. Louis City and St. Louis and St. Charles counties in Missouri and Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois.

The map allows you to search for trails that match your needs. There are listings for paved and unpaved trails as well as those that are best for hiking, biking or horseback riding.

Contributing to the resource map were the cities of Belleville, Brentwood, Clayton, Eureka, Fenton, Highland, Kirkwood, Olivette, St. Louis City, Sunset Hills and Wentzville. Also included are trails of the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and St. Louis city and county. Stlbiking.com also added its listings.

To access the map, visit www.trailnet.org.