Today we drove from Blytheville, Arkansas to St. Louis, Missouri.
We had a nice breakfast in the lobby of the hotel. Clean up our rooms and packed everything back into the van.
We made it to St. Louis by mid afternoon. We had debated whether to stay at an RV park in St. Louis 5 minutes from the arch or at a State Park 50 miles away. The girls hesitated when they saw the parking lot RV park, but then they saw the pool. We made some quick calculations. The cost of gas makes the extra expense of the RV park well worth it and that includes free showers and a laundry.
The nice lady who checked us into the park had lots of information about what we could see. She recommended that we go see the arch tonight both to avoid the crowds as well as see the arch for sunset.
We still had some time so the kids and Mom spent some time in pool while Dad finished some more work (did you forget that I'm working? I haven't!).
We had some dinner and headed off to the arch. I always just associated the arch with St. Louis. We were excited to find out that it is called the Gateway Arch and is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The memorial celebrates Jefferson's active part in the expansion of the United States, with the Louisiana Purchase and the travels of Lewis and Clark.
There is a tram inside the arch that goes to the top. We get tickets to go to the top before sunset and tickets for an IMAX movie about Lewis and Clark for tomorrow.
The tram ride was interesting. The tram cars are very small; I barely fit into them. The cars travel up 630 feet to the top of the arch. There are small viewing windows where you can see Illinois across the Mississippi River and all of St. Louis. We catch a bit of the sunset and the lighting of St. Louis.
We went down the other side of the arch. It's late now so it's time to go back to the trailer.
Tomorrow we'll see more of St. Louis including the IMAX Lewis and Clark Movie and Forest Park.
4:25 travel time for 222 miles.
