An ACE Campground and a Visit to St. Louis

After several consecutive travel days, we decided to take a few days to rest and give us time to visit St. Louis and the Gateway Arch.

We found an ACE (Army Corp of Engineers) Campground just over the Illinois border called East McNair – Dam Campground in Carlyle, Illinois, about an hour east of downtown St. Louis. This was our first ACE campground, and it was a good one!

We booked through reservation.gov, just like national parks, and we even got our discount, so only paid $9 a night for an electric and water site (they only have a dump station, but do have nice bathhouses). This beautiful location has a beach, playgrounds, firepits and picnic tables at the sites, and beautiful views walking along the lake and the dam.

There are great spots for fishing, or just watching the fish jumping into the dam. As you walk along the top, there are historical markers and signs telling about the building of the dam, the town that is flooded under the lake, and how it works. It was pretty interesting.

The drive to St. Louis was not as bad as we expected, since we took Highway 50 instead of the interstate. We did some research and found out about a few different lots for oversized vehicles, since we don’t fit into their parking garage. We ended up choosing to park downtown by the shopping center and baseball field, instead of down by the river. Parking isn’t free anywhere, from what we found, so be prepared–they use an app and it makes it pretty quick and easy.

St. Louis is a very walkable down, and in spite of it being hot, it was beautiful. We enjoyed the Gateway Park, got ice cream in town, and of course we went to the Arch.

There is much to see as they have many rooms filled with history. The displays are well done and there is lots of information–it can be a bit overwhelming if you try to read everything, like most museums. We learned a lot about the Westward Expansion and the building of the Arch, which was an interesting process and many different ideas presented.

And, much to the excitement of our teen that had recently read and watched Percy Jackson, we rode to the top of the Arch. I’m not sure what we expected it to be, but the tram style ride was a bit claustrophobic, but I was able to manage. The national park is free to visit, but there is a fee for the tram ride, and it is time blocked, so either purchase online in advance and arrive plenty early since it’s a bit of a walk through. You can purchase when you get there, but be prepared that it may be a long wait, or sold out at certain times of year.

We splurged for lunch in the museum cafe and tried a local dish everyone recommended, the fried ravioli. It was good, but I’m sure, had we gone to an actual restaurant, it would have been much better.

By the time we worked our way back to the campground, our brains were full, and it was nice to stroll along the lake and watch the sunset.

There are a few other ACE campgrounds in the area, available to the public, and big rig friendly.

Be sure to check out the Travel Map on our home page for other campground and attraction reviews! You can also find FREE resources on the Printables page, or order your copy of Our Travel Planner to have all the resources conveniently at your fingertips!