We left Kentucky behind this morning, driving through Indiana and Illinois to St Louis, MO. Along the way we gained an hour, had to stop along the highway to fix a leaking valve, stopped for gas, and finally made our way to the St Louis NE KOA, which is actually still in Illinois, just across the river from St Louis. Our early arrival at a little after 1 pm gave us time to relax, enjoy some munchies, and get freshened up before heading into the heart of St Louis to the Gateway Arch National Park. It is a beautiful park situated on the river, with lots of paved paths leading to areas surrounding the Arch. Our reservations included a 30 minute movie on the construction of the arch, followed about 40 minutes later by a ride to the top of the arch from inside the arch. Each car of the tram holds 5 people, so the 4 of us were packed into a car with a small entrance door and low ceiling. It took about 4 minutes to get to the top where we had some terrific views of the city, followed by a 3 minute ride back down to the visitors center underneath the Arch.
The photo above shows the entrance to the visitors center underground where you see the circle.
Jim is trying to capture a picture of the view out the small windows at the top of the arch.
These are 3 shots of the mural in the visitors center that compares the size of the Arch to other historical structures.
Afterwards we looked for a place to eat, but many restaurants are closed on Sunday in this city. We finally opted for BBQ back at the campground.
