2/7/18: After we returned to Minnesota from Arizona, we planned on making a trip to New Orleans. Neither of us had been there, but we had heard a lot of good things about the city, so off we went! We also wanted to take our time and see some things along the way, and the first place we decided to visit was the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
On our way south, we stopped by Samantha and Brad’s in Rockford to drop off a few things for the upcoming baby shower. We also wanted to stop by the restaurant where we were having it to set up the menu, look at the room, etc… We left Scandia on Friday and planned to leave for St. Louis on Monday, but because of some bad weather we didn’t leave Rockford until Wednesday morning. Such is our luck with weather!
St. Louis is a 4 or 5 hour drive from Rockford. We arrived mid-afternoon, and figured we still had plenty of daylight to go see the Arch. It’s located right in downtown St. Louis, in a park on the Mississippi River. We parked just north of the park, down some cobblestone streets that were really rough and bumpy. As we walked in to the park, we were sideways to the Arch, so pictures were tough to get. They also had most of the Arch area cordoned off due to construction, so walking around the park near the Arch was impossible. We tried to get a few vantage points for good pictures, but with the construction it was difficult.
The Arch itself is pretty impressive. It’s 630 feet high and equally as wide. The cross-section is an equilateral triangle. At the base, each leg is 54 feet, and tapers at the top to 12 feet. It’s completely clad in stainless steel, so it’s dull yet reflective at the same time. There’s an underground visitors center between the legs of the Arch, but there really isn’t a whole lot down there. There’s a gift shop, 2 displays about the Arch and it’s construction, and the trams which take you to the observation room at the top. Security getting into the visitor’s center was tight. It was just like an airport, complete with walk-through metal detectors and conveyor belt x-ray machines with bins where you put all your belongings to be scanned.
We didn’t go to the top of the Arch, but we were still very impressed by this piece of modern architecture. It’s hard to look at something as monumental as the Gateway Arch and not say “Wow”!
Pics of St. Louis
