Visiting the arch

St. Louis was the only place on the trip where we had time to see the city other than the ballpark. So I spent my afternoon at the Gateway Arch.

It looks impossibly tall when you're alongside it. The wait for a trip to the top was two hours, and I was warned that the egg-like capsules that take you to the summit are not for the claustrophobic. But I wasn't going to pass it up. The fee was $14 and included a movie about the Lewis and Clark expedition. For $22 you could get the arch and a riverboat ride, but I was told that because of currents the boats weren't running.

I passed the two hours at the movie and browsing the museum under the arch devoted to the country's westward expansion. Didn't even know it existed. I found it interesting. They had a timeline with the developments every year from 1800-1900, stretching four full walls. Then they had artifacts from Lewis and Clark. And they had a lot more I couldn't get to.

The film was well done. Lewis took his dog on the trip, so an actor dog was portraying him, sitting on the bow of a rowboat. Didn't see the actor dog toward the end of the film, so I don't know if they were implying that the actual dog didn't make it.

You ride five to each egg heading to the top of the arch. I was alone and got moved to the front, getting the same break I always get on Space Mountain. The ride is four minutes. At the top is a corridor about eight feet wide, with maybe 50 persons there. There were about eight narrow, rectangular windows on each side, one set overlooking St. Louis, the other overlooking the Mississippi. Great view. I could see into the ballpark, where Cardinals Photo Day was happening -- I'd chosen to pass it up for the arch.

Coincidence: I rode down with the same people with whom I'd ridden up.