Trip Day 15: The Gateway Arch

On Thursday afternoon Ben finished up with his conference, so we gratefully checked out of the Ritz (it was nice, but too stressful!!), and checked into the Fairfield Inn, much more our style. The boys loved this hotel because it had a) a pool, and b) 2 cute little bunny rabbits that lived out on the front lawn. Joseph tried mightily to catch them every time we went to and from the car, but never quite managed to make the grab.
On Friday we decided to do the St. Louis tourist thing and see the Gateway Arch. I had thought we could drive out there, spend a couple of hours going up and down the arch and checking out the grounds, and then maybe hit a museum or two in the afternoon. HA!!!
It took us nearly 30 minutes just to get IN to the visitor's center. Blasted post-9/11 security. Ben and I were there about 12 years ago, and we just walked right on down, no security at all. Well, that's the world we live in I guess.
Anyway, we did get tickets, but they weren't for another 2 hours. Luckily there is plenty to do in the visitor's center. There is a great little museum chronicling the history of the exploration of the west. We also got tickets to see a documentary about Lewis and Clark, which was fascinating. I had forgotten about what an amazing person Sacajawea was. Ben came out of the movie with stars in his eyes, thinking how great it would have been to be on that expedition. I on the other hand, came out of it thinking how it must have been the most terrifying and unpleasant experience of their entire lives!! Funny how our perspectives are so different.
The arch tour was pretty cool. They load you into these tiny egg-shaped tram cars for the ride up and down. They are tiny!! And NOT wheelchair accessible. However, I managed to make it down the stairs to the loading platforms, and on the way back up, Ben carried me up the stairs. What a man. :-)

Here are Joseph and Brigham in the tram car. It was a little nerve-wracking going up. This monument is 630 feet high!!



At the top is the viewing area. The arch is shaped so that the windows are actually tilted downward, which gives a great view, but was also a little stomach-lurching for me. The boys didn't care though, they thought it was awesome. Even more awesome because we have recently read the Percy Jackson books (finished the last one on this trip), and there's a great scene in the first one where a monster blasts Percy out of the top of the arch and he lands in the Mississippi River.






This is the view facing west, toward downtown. There was a Cardinals game going on that day, and we had a great view of the stadium (just to the left of this picture).


And the view facing East, across the Mississippi into Illinois.



After the Arch tour, we went out and wandered the grounds a little. The Mississippi was really high, flooding the street area down by the shore. We had wanted to take a river boat tour, but the tours were canceled because of the flooding. So instead, the boys went down and waded into the extremely muddy water. Their shoes got soaked, and on the way out, absolutely covered in sticky, black, river silt mud. Nice. :-)



Mosey was "too tired" to make it back up the stairs, so Ben gave him a lift. :-)



Here's Joseph, happily clutching the Boysenberry candy stick we got at the Old Tyme candy store in the museum. We bought way too much candy there, and Ben bought a sausage-making book. Kinda random. Now he's all wanting to make sausage, but is being foiled by the lack of sausage casings to be found at any of our local grocery stores. Ewww...



Brigham liked this place.



I couldn't even begin to get the whole arch in one shot. This thing is incredibly massive, it's hard to imagine unless you're actually seeing it.



After our tour of the Gateway Arch, we drove back towards my sister's house. I made the boys all strip off their muddy socks and shut them in the windows of the van so they could dry on the way back. I bet we looked really classy, driving down the road with 4 pairs of muddy socks hanging out the windows. :-)
We wanted to go see Grant's Farm, but got there just after it closed to visitors. Grant's Farm is this sort of wildlife preserve on what was President Ulysses Grant's Farm. I guess there are lots of wild animals to see, and wagon rides through the park. We drove around the outside and did catch a glimpse of some Elk enjoying some fresh green grass.


We met my sister and her kids at Steak-n-Shake (my boys still remembered going there in Florida!), and then she and I ditched the kids with their daddies and went back to downtown St. Louis to see a production of Chorus Line. I loved the dancing in the show, of course, but more than that I loved being with my sister and gossiping about our siblings and fixing everyone else's problems.
What a great day.