At one point — I think it was about halfway through climbing the twisting warren of dark staircases and pipe organ parts that leads to the top of the 10-story slide — I turned to my husband and asked, incredulous, “Why the hell wasn’t this place in American Gods?”

This weekend I went to St. Louis to experience two family-friendly temples of merriment. The first was Busch Stadium. The other was the City Museum. The name makes it sound like a generic monument to the Gateway to the West, but it’s actually a wild, singular vision of an oddball artistic mind; the only thing I’ve ever seen like it is the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, made famous by Lawrence Weschler’s Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder.

Fifteen years ago, City Museum debuted to big crowds dazzled by its magical mishmash of architectural relics, pop culture ephemera, carved critters and secret passageways.

But another anniversary looms large in the minds of City Museum artists and builders — the one-year anniversary of the death of co-founder and creative mastermind Bob Cassilly. Staffers have no plans to publicly recognize either milestone — but don’t think they’ve forgotten their leader.

In 1995, artist Bob Cassilly set out to create an all-ages funhouse by showcasing quirky objects he found around the city. The result: eclectic City Museum. You’ll know it by the functioning Ferris Wheel on the roof, a 1940 model found in a barn and restored to glory five years ago.

On our recent trip to St. Louis, the City Museum was our first stop. We had such an incredible time, my daughters were begging to return every day… even if that meant sacrificing other favorite things like seeing horses, butterflies, and unraveling a mystery (all of which we did as well, and all of which were fantastic too). In a nutshell, if you can only do one thing on a trip to St. Louis, our family’s top pick is the City Museum.

The City Museum is spectacular for many reasons, but one of the most remarkable things is that I can honestly say my husband and I had just as much fun as the kids and I don’t mean, “Parents having fun watching their kids have fun.” I mean we had a BLAST!

Intertwining tree branches, dark damp caves and a metal jungle of scrap parts, including a school bus and two airplanes, take shape at St. Louis’ City Museum to create a playground that can be intimidating to an adult visitor, especially with hundreds of youngsters scurrying through tiny passageways and climbing like chimps high above the city streets.

The City Museum, a vision of the internationally acclaimed sculptor Bob Cassilly, was built in 1997. Cassilly and his crew create the attractions in the museum from reclaimed building materials no further than the city’s municipal borders and donated souvenirs. The City Museum now is opening the minds of approximately 2,200 visitors daily.

A recent trip to St. Louis to talk to a group of students about the “alternative art movement” — I modestly cast myself as an emblematic figure in the transition from the artist-run nonprofit spaces of the 1970s through the ironically commercial East Village storefront gallery scene of the ‘80s to the all-out commercialism of today’s robust art market — provided a welcome opportunity for a quick survey of the local art scene.

What’s happening in St. Louis? Not a lot — my whirlwind tour was completed in a day and a half without too much trouble, and meter parking was readily available at every stop — which makes the place a welcome contrast to traffic-jammed New York.