St. Louis Staycation with St. Louis Zoo and Drury Hotel

A couple weeks ago, we had a fun family overnight staycation hosted by Drury Hotels and the St. Louis Zoo. It was A LOT of fun and we had such a beautiful day for it! This was our second stay with Drury Hotels, you can see my FIRST post about staying at Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch, The City Museum plus several local restaurants HERE. We started the day early with a stop at Starbucks for a little fuel before we headed over to the St. Louis Zoo.

We arrived at the St. Louis Zoo at opening and the entire Zoo was decked out with their Animals Aglow Lanterns Event. Even though this is something they host in the evening when the lanterns are lit up, they were quite beautiful in the daylight. Once we got inside the St. Louis Zoo, we picked up our gifted Adventure passes, so that we could ride the Zooline Railroad, see the Stingrays at Caribbean Cove, ride the Conservation Carousel and more. There is so much to do at the St. Louis Zoo!

We started with the Zooline Railroad, which takes you to four different areas of the zoo. You can get off at any of these stops, or stay on line we did until you arrive back at your beginning stop. It is relaxing and you’ll see some animals (we loved the elephants!), go through some tunnels and different sections of the zoo.

Here I am posing next to one of the Animals Aglow lanterns, I just love frogs!

We had lunch at the zoo (which included ice cream!) and then before we left, we stopped by to see the new polar bear twins. One of them was out and he was in LOVE with his purple ball. He even dove into the water to get it.

Later that afternoon, we headed down to the Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch. This is in a prime downtown location, with the arch BEHIND the hotel and Busch Stadium (Go St. Louis Cardinals!) within walking distance.

The lobby was really inviting and I got a photo of Nathan and Autumn by the waterfall/sculpture. It was easy to check in to the hotel and the parking is indoors and secure. The hotel staff was so kind and they always said, “Hello!” when walking past you.

Once I arrived in the hotel room, I noticed I had some gift bags from the Drury Hotels and the St. Louis Zoo. It was such a kind gesture for them to leave us some small gifts, snacks and drinks.

Our room at Drury Hotel was cozy and the perfect place to relax for our staycation away. The room was clean, spacious and I loved the view we had out into the atrium. Some of the rooms even have a St. Louis Arch view! There is also an indoor pool and hot tubs, which we enjoyed on our last visit.

Drury Hotel does not skimp on the extras! There is a 5:30 p.m. Kickback with wine, beer, cocktails and soda with warm appetizers and snacks. The teens loved the free popcorn in the lobby!

I couldn’t resist a selfie! Unfortunately it started to rain, so our visit to the St. Louis Arch was cut short.

We thought it’d be fun to go down to The Hill (the hot spot for good Italian food in St. Louis) for a nice family dinner. I hadn’t been to Charlie Gitto’s YEARS and thought it’d be a fun place to have a relaxing and delicious family dinner.

The lasagna. Just get it. SO good!!!

When we got back to The Drury Plaza Hotel, we just loved the nighttime view of the St. Louis Arch and Mississippi River. We watched the sunset before calling it a night.

Drury Hotel has a hot breakfast EACH morning and there is A LOT of choices. You will not be disappointed! They have a waffle making station and healthy options, too.