After we left Keokuk, we drove down to St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch. My, what a place. The bad thing was that it was so humid we about died. They were having a heat wave the three days we were there and the humidity was about equal to the 90+ temperatures. The arch involves lots of walking and lots of stairs. We bought a combo ticket that gave us a riverboat ride tour of the riverfront of St. Louis plus the tram ride to the top of the arch. As always, there were great crowds of people all wanting to do the same thing we were. We walked a long distance and went down a huge flight of stairs and finally ended up on the riverfront in time to get on board the riverboat. We opted to watch it all from the large windows in the air conditioned dining room. No hot sun and humidity on the outer decks for us. We enjoyed the narration and stayed cool for the hour we were out on the water, then we had to get off. Here are some of the pictures we took.
We went on board the “Tom Sawyer”
Base of the Arch from out on the river
We went under many bridges
Saw a barge being loaded. Notice how it is tilted in the water as they are loading one end first
One of the many bridges with Arch in the background
Another bridge with Arch in background
Arch and St. Louis downtown
Tiny windows of the observation deck
Best view of the Arch is from out on the River
We had forgotten something so we had to walk all the way back to where the truck was parked and we also had to climb back up all the stairs we had gone down earlier. When we finally got back to the truck we sat in the air conditioning and ate our lunch, then we had to walk most of the way we had walked before for the second time. Here are the pictures we took of the arch as we approached and stood near it.
That’s a long way up
As we approached the Arch along a tree lined (thank goodness) walkway
Hard to fit the whole thing in the view finder
We finally made it to the arch and had to go through security, just like at an airport. Bob had more trouble getting through than I did with my hips. We finally got inside the visitor’s center for the arch. The Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and is under the direction of the National Park Service. There is a Museum of Westward Movement as part of the Visitor’s Center that focuses on Lewis & Clark, Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase. We were so pooped from all the walking in the hot sun that we just had to sit down and soak up the AC. We bought tickets for 1:30 and had to wait until our time was called to board the tram. It was quite a long wait but we really didn’t mind since there were places nearby to sit down.
The tram was something else. To get to the loading area for the tram, we had to wait in line down a long ramp. Then we had to go down stairs and then some more stairs and then wait some more. We were divided into groups of not more than 5 people each. We stood in front of these little doors in groups and when the little doors opened, the people coming down got out and we got in. Crowded and squeezed in was more like it. They are not made for handicapped or large people, so we did the best we could.
Here are some pictures.
We had just gotten out and others had gotten in. We took these pictures before the doors closed. We had to step up as we turned sideways and bent our heads to fit through the narrow door. The inside of the module is round and we couldn’t set up straight. Definitely not a place for someone with claustrophobia
After the doors were closed. The doors inside the module were clear so we could see all the stuff passing by as we went up and down. It took about 4 minutes to reach the top, then the doors opened and we climbed out and went up yet a few more steps then walked a few yards up a slop to the observation deck. The observation deck is shaped like the arch at the top so it was very uneven and a little hard to balance and walk around up there. Here are some pictures we took from the top.
Old courthouse and St. Louis downtown
More St. Louis downtown with Cardinal’s Stadium
Zoom in of the courthouse
Mississippi River and Illinois
Inside the observation deck. We only had these small windows to look out of and we had to lean over to do it. This sign marks the center of the curved observation deck and thus, the center of the arch.
Mississippi River and Illinois. I thought the shadow of the clouds on the water was interesting
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