August 7th, Gateway Arch and Riverboat Cruise

Monday, August 7, 2006
Day 43
Gateway Arch and Riverboat Cruise, St. Louis, MO

Today we drove about 40 miles to downtown St. Louis to see the amazing gateway to the west, the Gateway Arch Memorial. It is simply stunning! Everyone has seen photos of it, but to see it in person is amazing. Standing 630 feet tall, it is taller than the Washington Monument, and is, in fact, the tallest monument in North America. We were able to go up into the top of it on a tram ride that they have, and you can see out these tiny windows in the top. It was a nice view of Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Old Courthouse, and the rest of downtown St. Louis. On the river side, it was a nice view of the Mississippi and Illinois, but the Mississippi is not so “pretty” here, it is a working riverfront.

There is a beautiful and interesting museum beneath the monument. It is layed out in a circular fashion, with a statue of Thomas Jefferson in the center. The decades of the 1800’s span out before you with various displays. On the outer wall is the timeline of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was very educational and interesting. We also learned a bit about the design of the arch and how it was built. The kids got another Junior Ranger Badge, but the rangers here were really not as involved or as good as all the other rangers we’ve had at the many other National Parks we’ve been too. The ranger at the information desk did not even check the kids’ books, nor did he ask them any questions about what they learned. That seems to be standard operating procedure for the rangers at all the other parks we’ve been to, but not here. Well, they still learned a lot.

After the Museum of Westward Expansion and the Arch, we took a cruise on the Riverboat up and down a small portion of the Mississippi. There was a Ranger on the boat who explained a lot of things about the city and the Arch and other miscellaneous facts. We ate a snack on the boat and enjoyed the air conditioning for a while, but then I ventured out on deck because it was very difficult to hear the ranger from inside, even with the PA system. It was hot on deck, but I could hear better and I learned more that way. It was also a better view. I got several nice photos of the Arch, and I’ll attach one at the top when I get it onto the laptop.

Finally, after turning in the kids’ Junior Ranger booklets, we walked over to the Old Courthouse. This is the courthouse where the Dred Scott trials were held. It has been restored and it is gorgeous inside and out. We were able to see two courtrooms and various displays throughout the building. The rotunda is amazing and the old wood floors were so classy. There were American flags everywhere in there and intricate paintings on the ceilings. The rotunda has amazing acoustics and you could here every word spoken by people on any of the three levels that were open to the public.

On the way home we stopped to get the oil changed in the truck and also stopped at Super Wal-Mart for a few items. After returning “home” we went swimming in the pool and had supper. I did laundry. Yuck. Now we are going to bed and watching TV. We were going to have a campfire, but the day is just not long enough to do everything you want to do. I just realized we forgot to buy toilet paper. We’re down to one spare roll, so we really need to get some. These things just don’t happen at home where there is tons of room to store stuff! Good Grief!

Tomorrow we are off to Indiana! Brown County State Park in southern Indiana. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit with my friends Mike and Dayna in a few days.