After completion of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition set off from St. Louis up the Missouri River to find their way up and over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
This September, many NASA competitors will be trundling through Missouri, from all different compass points in an expedition to find Ozarks International Raceway, home of the 2025 NASA Championships. Lucky for them, they will find that traveling is much easier than it was for Lewis and Clark.
One of the neat things about traveling to the NASA Championships is taking your family with you and, if possible, adding in some time before or after to make it a much more family friendly event.
Regardless of where the NASA Championships are being held, there are so many great things to see and do all across this country, and rest assured, Missouri is no exception. Whether you are coming in from the east or west or any other direction, there are a number of things that you can check off your bucket list before or after this year’s event. We’ve found several of them that might be of interest, but what follows is just a small segment of great things to see and do in Missouri
Check out our list below and begin your travel planning now.
St. Louis Gateway Arch National Park
There was once was a time when St. Louis was one of the United States’ major metropolises, a bustling city and an important stop on the Mississippi River shipping corridor. It n was known as the “Gateway to the West.” President Franklin Roosevelt designated the grounds where the St. Louis Gatewaty Arch now stands as a national park in 1935.
In 1947 a nationwide design competition was staged to decide on the design of the new memorial. By 1948, the arch design from Finnish architect Eero Saarinen was chosen.
If you are not an architecture buff, it might help to know that Saarinen was a prolific designer who also penned the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Mich., the United States Embassy in London, Bell Labs in Holmdel, N.J., the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., and the CBS building in New York. These are his standout works.
The Gateway Arch is especially notable because it required new methods of construction and assembly. Constructed of sandwiched triangular sections of regular carbon and stainless steel, each leg of the arch was built independently and simultaneously using two cranes that climbed the structure and added the next piece as construction progressed. Finally, in 1965, the last of 142 sections was fitted and the 630-foot-tall structure soon opened to the public.
Transport to the top of the arch is done in small cylindrical capsules that hold five people. The capsules change horizontal orientation as they rise to the top of the arch so that passengers maintain a level setting. If you are large in stature or claustrophobic, you might not be comfortable in the elevator capsules. If you can get past that, the top of the Arch is a must-see.
Reservations are recommended because tickets often sell out early and often.
National Blues Museum
The day you go to the Arch, you can also sneak over to the National Blues Museum on Washington St.
Essentially the basis for all American music, the blues reached all the way across the Atlantic to influence British bands as far removed from the Mississippi Delta as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Cream and the Yardbirds. There is a universality to the blues that has allowed the musical style to inspire musicians the world over from the time of their creation to this day.
With exhibits from the early days of the blues, the National Blues Museum highlights the trailblazers and the names we know in addition to some of the unsung heroes of this musical genre. The museum has exhibits that span the entire 20th century, and it even offers live music at its doorstep and on the grounds of the Gateway Arch during summer concert season.
Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for children. No reservations necessary.
Anheuser Busch Brewery
Taking a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis is one of the best ways to get the freshest beer you will ever taste. Oh, and it’s also a pretty good way to see how the beer is made.
Guests can choose from different kinds of tours and events within the facility. For example, you can take the Day Fresh Tour, which takes just 1.25 hours and ends with a taste of the finished product. That’s just the basic tour. You can also get the Clydesdale VIP Experience or the new Beer School or the Day Fresh Tour, the brewery’s most popular offering. It also offers another new program, the King of Beers, which is a tour that lasts four hours and consists of following in the footsteps of an Anheuser-Busch brewmaster. Open to guests 21 and up only.
Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks is the place Missouri goes to play for the weekend during the high season. Once you experience a weekend at “the lake,” you’ll understand why it’s the place to be.
Created when construction of the Bagnell Dam across the Osage River was complete in 1931, the Lake of the Ozarks covers 54,000 acres and boasts more than 1,150 miles of shoreline. That’s more than the state of California.
Home to one of the largest concentrations of high-performance powerboats in the United States, Lake of the Ozarks is a veritable go-fast boat show every weekend. Whether you bring your own, or rent one from of the many vendors on the lake, you can get out on the water and get in on one of the best inland boating experiences anywhere.
Once you get your boat, you can navigate to Bridal Cave, an underground wonderland of stalagmites and stalactites created over the millennia. The formations are as delicate and detailed as they are fascinating. If you get the caving bug, you can also visit Stark Caverns just a few miles from the strip at Bagnell Dam.
What a boat allows you to do is cruise the lake from waterfront grille to watering hole to yet another and another. There is no better place for waterfront dining than Lake of the Ozarks.
Get a map of the lake and choose from places like Papa Chubby’s Food and Booze or The Boathouse or Dog Days or the legendary Big Dick’s Halfway Inn. It’s hard to go wrong at any of them, and live music and dancing are often part of the attraction when the sun begins to set.
Kansas City Chiefs Game
The 2025 NFL schedule wasn’t ready as of press time for this story, but if you like football, it would be hard to beat watching the Kansas City Chiefs play in their home stadium.
The NFL regular season begins Sept. 4, so you couldn’t sneak in a game before the NASA Championships, but maybe afterward. According to the Chiefs website, the team’s 2025 schedule will be released May 14 and tickets go on sale May 15.
Dates and times are still being determined, but the Chiefs’ first opponents for 2025 include the reigning Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens. If one of those is your team, it might be a fun side trip after the NASA Championships. Even if they are not your favorite teams, there will be some good football on the Chiefs’ early season schedule.
You can find what you’re looking for at the Kansas City Chiefs’website
Kansas City Barbecue
If you are coming in from the West, you might try stopping somewhere in the Kansas City area for some of the region’s signature barbecue.
Any region famous for barbecue has a certain distinction, and Kansas City has a style all its own. Applied to a variety of meats, from turkey to pork, beef and chicken, Kansas City barbecue begins with a dry rub. The meats are then smoked slowly over a variety of woods. When it comes time for sauce, KC style barbecue is notable for its thick, sweet sauce that begins with a blend of molasses, brown sugar and tomatoes.
If you enjoy barbecue, it’s worth stopping somewhere in Kansas City. If you don’t know of any places, Kansas City magazine published a list of the 10 best barbecue spots in the city and each vignette will have your mouth watering. One of restaurants to make that list was Scott’s Kitchen and Catering at Hangar 29. I have eaten there, and I can tell you first hand that it’s delicious and worth the stop. It’s also easy to find.
“Get off the airport, search for ‘restaurants near me,’ and I’m the closest to the airport,” said owner Scott Umscheid in the Kansas City magazine story. “I just am.”
For the best variety and bang for the buck, the sampler platter at Scott’s is the way to go. It’s got all the meats and sides, including Scott’s coleslaw, which is as delicious as it is unique.
Branson, Missouri
Branson, Mo., attracts millions of visitors per year, so it might be a nice respite for NASA Championships competitors to unwind after the event with “dinner and a show.”
On the other hand, Branson is a great family destination nestled between three lakes, Table Rock, Lake Taneycomo and Bull Shoals. In addition to dozens of attractions and museums, the Branson area boasts a historic downtown, the Silver Dollar City theme park, lots of dining options, hotels, resorts and RV parks.
If you haven’t been to Branson in a while, they appear to have been busy adding new things. There’s more to the place than a Yakov Smirnoff show these days, including the Aquarium at the Boardwalk; and the Shepherd of the Hills adventure park. Dolly Parton’s Stampede has elaborate dinner shows and there’s also the Pink Jeep Adventure Tours and the Titanic Museum
After sitting around at the Championships all weekend, your family might welcome a getaway to Branson.
