Gateway Arch National Park

It's Labor Day and we head our early to reach St. Louis by mid afternoon. We park by the Hyatt across the street from the Gateway Arch and, National Park Passport in hand, we walk up to the building to purchase our tram tickets. We have a little over an hour wait, so we hit up the gift shop for a magnet for the van and a stamp and sticker for the book. Then we look at the museum exhibits. Our tram leaves at 3:55 pm.

We check in on time and are given the number 7 for our tickets to the tram. Each pod can hold 5 persons, so we are paired with a little Asian couple that don't speak or look at us. They are wearing masks and he has a large bottle of hand sanitizer sticking out of his left front pocket. Doug tries to engage them into conversations a couple of times only to be shut down.

We sit in the pod. The door with open-view glass closes and we proceed to jiggle our way up the Arch to the top. There are 8 cylinder pods joined together by chains. It takes seven minutes to ride to the top at 633 feet. They can get 480 people to the top every hour with the pod leaving every 10 minutes from each side of the Arch. We reach the top to view the spectacular views of St Louis to the west and the Illinois River and Illinois to the east. It's not my first time visiting, but it has been 16 years. It's just as beautiful, and Doug's child-like delight is a joy to watch. "Thank you," he says, "Thank you for bringing me here." He did all the driving today, so tomorrow it will be my turn.Read more