Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch is the newest National Park, granted the title in 2018. While certainly a worthy monument, the designation of National Park -- in my opinion -- dilutes the name of National Park. National Parks are designated such because of their natural beauty or unique ecosystem. The Gateway Arch National Park is neither. It is a monument built on an extremely nice "city park". To further the confusion, the Arch itself is a National Historic Landmark. But enough on politics, we would have gone here either way, both for the Arch itself and for the nostalgic trip to Stacy's teenage home.

We arrived at downtown St. Louis at around 10:00am. Which led to the first problem, finding a parking spot. Since the Arch is right next to the Mississippi river in downtown St. Louis, the only parking to be found is in parking garages. We eventually found one after Stacy tried to get us to go over the river, not once, but twice. As we were driving in the parking garage, we found that our van is exactly the right size to fit -- only our antenna hit the bars crossing the ceiling.

Once parked, we made our way to the Arch and learned of our first mistake. We didn't order tickets ahead of time. This meant that the next tickets to the top would be at 2:00pm. Originally, we had wanted to go to the Saint Louis Science Center as well. But that plan just went out the window. We went through the metal detectors and Matthew Jr survived the ordeal even with his large pocket knife. Thankfully, we went there on one of the few weeks were the mask police weren't walking around. This meant we were able to spend our entire vacation without being molested by the Covid Tyrants.

The museum under the Arch gives a history of the Louisiana Purchase, the Westward expansion, and the role that St. Louis played in that exciting time. The museum was sectioned off into 6 "rooms" each dealing with a different time period, but while it was roughly earliest to latest, I couldn't quite figure out the flow. It was mostly a celebration of the American Spirit, but the liberal bias did manifest itself occasionally.

Once we had seen everything in the museum, Matthew and I ran back to the car to get lunch. Everybody else went to the entrance where there was a nice fountain area. I call it a fountain, but while there was water coming up from the ground on a concrete pad, there was no actual water spraying into the sky, which made a slightly more boring version of fountain. Julia still enjoyed it along with many other kids. Lack of planning on our part, meant that Matthew and I had to wander around aimlessly for several minutes before we found were they were sitting.

Once lunch was over, Elisabeth and I returned everything to the car and it was time for the movie. The movie was a documentary on the building of the Arch. It briefly went into the design of the Arch, but spent the majority of the time talking about the workmen who built the Arch. Showcasing what overcome to get this enormous structure off the ground. It was a marvel of engineering and while some of the kids (not Rebekah) probably found it on the boring side, I enjoyed it a great deal. A grainy version of the documentary can be found on YouTube. 

With that out of the way, we still have about 30 minutes before we could take the tram to the top, so we wandered around the gift shop for far too long, but we did find our penny and magnet. We then took the South Tram to the top, but before going, we were entertained by a tribute to the 1960s in all its psychedelic glory. The kids were thoroughly weirded out. Since the tram's only have 5 seats, we had to go up in two trams. But luckily for us, we didn't have to share with anybody else, so Elisabeth, Matthew, and I got a single tram all to ourselves. Covid meant that we were only allowed on one side of the top of the Arch, in case our southern side germs mingled with the northern side germs. Pandemonium would ensue, I am confident. After a few minutes of looking out and taking pictures, we went back down (significantly faster descent) and it was time to leave.

We went the long way, first stopping at the Catholic Cathedral. If I am not mistaken, that is the only building in the Park that predates the Arch. Everything else in the area was torn down to accommodate the enormous structure. We visited briefly, and walked back into town to the Old Courthouse. Technically, that is also part of the Park, but its location makes it feel more a part of downtown than the park, so what I said earlier is technically not true, depending on your definition of park. The Church is the only building in the park older than the Arch, but not the only thing in the Park -- if that makes sense. Anyway, it didn't matter. The Old Courthouse was closed for renovation, so we only got to see the steps anyway.

From there, it was time for dinner. Well not really, but since we were going to a very special place it would be an hour drive which was just about right. Krumbly Burger, Stacy's first job as a teenager. Basically, their burgers are not patties, but instead that serve ground beef burgers all broken apart. It is an interesting concept. Stacy enjoyed seeing her old workplace, even if it had moved across the street since she worked there. After dinner, we stopped by her old house and the Church that Larry used to pastor. Stacy had a grand time seeing all the old places and how they had changed (or hadn't) since she lived here.