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The City Museum of St. Louis is definitely not your average museum. Instead of tiptoeing around and speaking in hushed voices, visitors to this unique destination can get loud and rambunctious as they explore amazing interactive exhibits made out of recycled materials. Zoom down a three-story slide, climb through a giant Slinky, or take your rightful place in the center ring as you become a circus performer. There's something for everybody at this top-rated attraction, including rotating exhibits of historical objects, art, and unusual things like the world's largest pencil. The 76-foot-long pencil, which was made to the same specifications as a regular pencil, recently arrived at this eclectic museum where it will reside for the foreseeable future. You've just got to see it to believe it. In addition to zany attractions like the Enchanted Caves and MonstroCity, there's also the somewhat more traditional World Aquarium, with more than 10,000 creatures like sharks, stingrays, and seahorses. You can pet a stingray if you're so inclined. Starwood has five properties in St. Louis, including the Westin St. Louis.

One of the most popular attractions in Missouri is actually under Missouri. Meramec Caverns, a 26-mile labyrinth of subterranean rooms and passages, was formed and shaped over the course of 400 million years (give or take a million years) and the caverns and a surrounding park have been a public tourist attraction since 1935. Today, Meramec State Park boasts all sorts of modern amenities to make the caving experience a pleasant one, including well-lighted walkways that wind past limestone formations such as an extremely rare three-legged natural "wine table," a sheet of limestone formations known as the "stage curtain," and a huge vaulted ballroom in which concerts and events are held several times a year.

Throughout history, Meramec Caverns has served several different purposes. Local Native American tribes used the cave as a shelter and revered it as the home of their god, while outlaw Jesse James and his gang used it as a hideout from the law. Today, however, visitors from nearby St. Louis and across the Midwest come to admire the spectacular limestone formations and seemingly endless passages. But it's not all stalagmites and stalactites: up at ground level, Meramec State Park offers canoe and raft rentals, riverboat rides on the Meramec River, and even the chance to pan for gold. Maybe you'll strike it rich like a 19th century prospector. Meramec is a one-hour drive from the Westin St. Louis.

The city of St. Louis, Missouri was founded by in 1764 as a frontier trading post by Pierre Laclede, a Parisian businessman who exported pelts to Europe. As the Louisville Courier-Journal points out, St. Louis has come a long way since those humble beginnings, but the French influence can still be found in food and culture, if you know where to look. The St. Louis Art Museum will host an exhibition on Napolean Bonaparte this summer, including his armor and weaponry as well as his stylish wife Josephine's dresses and accessories. The Missouri History Museum in Forest Park is a great place to learn all about the St. Louis French Connection, with exhibits highlighting French fur trading in the New World, as well as French fashions and customs. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis has an amazing portrayal of Saint Louis IX, the city's patron saint, on the walls of the vestibule. For some delicious French cuisine, have dinner at Chez Leon in the Central West End neighborhood. With appetizers like seared diver scallops in shallot beubrre blanc and entrees such as beef tenderloin medallions in roquefort and cognac sauce, you'll be glad that this is a walkable city. Guests at the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites can enjoy the best of France in this classic American city.

[image via Louisville Courier-Journal]

The American writer Mark Twain moved with his family to Hannibal, Missouri when he was four years old, and he lived there until he was 22, gathering experiences that he would later turn into his classic novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Those books put Hannibal on the map in a big way, and this tiny town on the Mississippi River has never forgotten him. As the Washington Post points out, Hannibal is still celebrating its connection to this master of American literature. The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is comprised of eight buildings in downtown Hannibal, including six historically significant buildings which help visitors imagine what life was like for Twain (née Samuel Clemens) and his family in this small river town in Missouri during the 1840's and 1850's. The museum, which is in the midst of an $8 million renovation, boasts a modern interpretive center as well as a gallery housed in an 1850's-era deparment store. After browsing through Twain memorabilia, grab a coffee at the Java Jive coffeehouse across the street, the first coffee shop west of the Mississippi. Java Jive has an ongoing live music series called Live at the Jive, featuring "the best of America's traveling singers and songwriters." Twain might have enjoyed it. Hannibal is a two-hour drive from the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites.

[image via the Washington Post]

St. Louis is truly an American city on the rise. After years of declining fortunes, several big projects and a host of smaller endeavors are returning this Mississippi River city back to its original glory and then some. As an AP item in Yahoo! News points out, the downtown area, which was a bit of a ghost town throughout the eighties and nineties, is now hopping with action during the day and sizzling nightlife after hours. If art is your thing, drop by the Philip Slein Gallery on Washington Avenue, a bustling street with plenty of food and wine options. If live rock 'n' roll is more to your liking, the Way Out Club on S. Jefferson Avenue is known as one one of the city's weirdest and wildest music venues. But the best is yet to come in this charming city, as work gets underway on three new entertainment districts along the Mississippi waterfront, featuring a casino complex, Ballpark Village at the new Busch Stadium (home of the Cardinals), and the Bottle District, where many of the city's famous breweries were located. Guests at the Westin St. Louis can enjoy the best of St. Louis today, and know that things are only getting better.

[image via National Park Service]