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| Aaron, Caroline & I look waaaaay up at the Arch |
For anyone who's been there before, you know that the Arch has a large underground museum and visitor center. It's really quite amazing. We were some of the first to arrive, so had no problem collecting tickets and making our way to take our "egg" to the top. We were all gung-ho except for Caroline, who does not like heights.
The inside of the egg doesn't have much room (and we had it full to capacity with the 5 of us), but you don't have to be in it for long. It also does this sickening kind of a rocking back-and-forth motion that's a little unnerving. But it was worth it - at least to most of us. Caroline ended up feeling sick long after we came back down. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Inside the egg
The view from the top was amazing. I love seeing so far into the distance from high places - it makes you feel as though you can do almost anything. ;)
We would've loved to tour the Old Courthouse (slightly left of center), but time did not allow
St. Louis stretches on for miles
If you look closely you will see a man lying on his back taking a picture (over the word "back" in this sentence)
Outside the door (#8) for our ride back down
When we'd arrived, we had been informed that this was the "birthday" of the Arch and that the builders would be on site for two hours. Once we came back down, Aaron & Laura decided to stand in line & talk to them. We'd bought postcards, books, & posters that they took with them through the line to get autographs. This picture shows them chatting with the photographer - he carried that big old camera up the outside of the arch to the top. Wow.
(not the greatest pic due to low lighting)
Caroline, Samuel & I toured the museum, did some shopping, and just sat there for a while as we waited for them to get through the line. (It took a while.) When they finally got done, we headed outside to see if we could get some pictures with the Arch.
Laura took this of us while getting the camera settings where she wanted them
Laura then asked a man to take one with all of us. He had a British accent and lay on the ground to get everything in. Before he snapped it, he says "just pretend you're laughing at a crazy Englishman lying on the ground". Well, we didn't have to pretend - and he set us all to laughing!
Walking through the grounds
Beautiful bridge in the background (learned an interesting story about that bridge while waiting for our egg).
Laura's shot of the Arch
We set this up using our jackets & bags to balance the camera - then set the timer.
We loved the results!
St. Louis
My shot of the Arch
Once we'd seen all we wanted to see, we set about finding a mall where we could do a little shopping. We got to see a lot more of St. Louis along the way and couldn't help singing "Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis". :) We found some gifts at the mall, along with food for lunch and cheesecake (from Cheesecake Factory - yum) for dessert. Then it was time to make tracks for home.
We took a slight detour through Arkansas to see my cousin Danielle, husband Brad, and their new baby. She is such a cutie! My uncle & cousin Jordan came over too & brought pizza with them (thank-you Uncle Richard). We only had a little time to stay, but were glad we could make it. Olivia Jo (named for my grandma) is so adorable.
With Olivia Jo and cousin Jordan
Once we were back on the road we had four hours yet to travel before reaching home. We made it safely (of course) and arrived home around midnight. And that finally wraps up my posts on our trip which ended over two months ago! But what an ending. We've already talked about going back to St. Louis - wouldn't that be fun?
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