A Trip to Grant's Farm

A week ago, Tony and I spent our Saturday at Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm was originally owned by Ulysses S. Grant. Him and his new bride received the 80 acres of land as a wedding present in 1848. In 1855, Grant began building the four-room, two-story cabin that sits on the land. It took only three days to complete! In 1907, the land was purchased by August Busch Sr and is now open free to the public. Zagat actually rates it as the seventh best family attraction in the U.S. All I can say is that we had a blast! It's easily my favorite thing that we've done so far here in St. Louis. Also, and what it's best known for, it's home to one of only two breeding grounds for the famous Budweiser Clydesdale's.

When you first arrive at Grant's Farm, you come to a cute old-fashioned train station where you board the train. The train takes you all around the property and you see a variety of things including Grant's original log cabin, Texas longhorns, buffalo, etc. The land itself is filled with lakes and small ponds and is absolutely gorgeous. The train ride takes approximately twenty minutes and then it drops you off in an area where there is a small zoo. They have miniature horses, elephants, a variety of birds, giraffes, etc. The first thing that we did was go watch the elephant show that was just beginning. It was adorable! It was entitled Man vs. the Elephant and the trainer asked a variety of multiple choice elephant questions to three little kids. The winner got to move on to the next round. The two little kids that did not win were then set up in an area in front of the elephant for their parents to take pictures. Unbeknownst to them, the trainer had given the elephant a bucket of water to dip his trunk into and then sprayed the little kids with water! The little boy thought that it was great, but the little girl completely freaked out! It was adorable! We also learned that an elephant can relax all of the muscles in his trunk and stretch his trunk out eighteen feet! It was kind of neat to watch!

After the elephant show, we then walked around to see all of the animals and then ventured over to the town square area. It's so cute! Along the sides there is a room where one of every carriage that Budweiser has ever used is stored, a small stable area, and then the Budweiser bar where every visitor is welcome to two free beers. Inside the quad area is a large fountain and tables for everyone to sit and drink. Once we finished eating lunch, we caught the train back to the station and then walked across the street to view the Clydesdales.

I had to use a picture of Grant's Cabin from the website, because Tony was too busy looking at the fences which were made from old Civil War guns to take a picture of it!