Laurie and I just did a ten day trip through the Midwest. The trip centered around a place called Snake Road in Illinois. We planned the trip around going there. To give us more reasons to go, we planned on a few days at other places in the Midwest. One of them was the Gateway Arch. The Gateway Arch is now designated a National Park ( with a capital N and P). It was completed in 1965 after two years of construction.
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was our first real destination. We left home Thursday night and drove as much as we could sleeping at rest areas. We made it forty miles outside of St Louis Friday night and slept at a rest area until morning. We left for the Arch about 8 am.
Seeing the Gateway Arch is quite easy. It is 630 feet tall. It is the tallest steel monument in the Western Hemisphere and only the Eiffel Tower is taller in the world. We could easily see it as we we were driving in from Illinois. The view of it is spectacular as we crossed the Mississippi River.
There isn't a parking lot at the monument. You can either look for metered on street parking downtown a couple blocks away or use one of the parking garages also a couple blocks away. We used a parking garage that cost us about ten dollars.
You are allowed to go up the arch. We reserved tickets a few days in advance. There are little tram cars that take you to the very top. The cost is a ridiculous $19 for an adult ( Washington Monument is $1.50). You are only on top looking out the windows for seven minutes. None the less, this was a once in a lifetime trip so up we went. There is no arguing that the the tram to the top was fun. Being on top was also cool. As expected, our seven minutes flew by.
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| Looking west into St Louis |
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| Looking down and east at the Mississippi River and Illinois. |
Before our 10:30 tram ride we took photos of the arch as best we could. The morning sun comes from the east and the Mississippi River stops you from getting the arch in view with the sun at your back. I tried to take some of the less famous views of the arch such as standing directly under it. The truth was I was getting a little frustrated knowing I wasn't going to get a wallhanger photo of the arch. While the arch would be in perfect light in the late afternoon we wouldn't be there. We only had a few hours before we were going to our motel in Hannibal, MO. I was starting to accept that my photos were not going to be the postcard quality I imagined.
After we got down from the tram we were thinking about heading to Hannibal but decided to walk around some. The sun had made its way to the south and it was clear the light was different than when we went up. The arch is in the middle of a huge grass field. The legs of the arch are six hundred feet apart. On both sides of the field are walkways with small ponds and and wooded areas making the park fairly long. We walked toward the south side so the sun would be at our back when we turned around. As soon as we walked just a couple hundred yards we left the crowds behind. While there were hundreds of people under the arch, in line for the tram, and in the museum, we saw one guy on the south side of the park, a local exercising.
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| View from the South Pond |
We came across the South Pond and without a cloud in the sky, it made an amazing reflecting pool. We took a bunch of photos from different points on the pond then just sat in the grass for ten minutes taking it all in. I'd have sat for two hours if we weren't on a time restraint. I was much happier with my photos and when we left, I was in a much better place mentally.
Things to know-
You already know parking is not on site and you will have to walk a couple of blocks.
Besides paying to go up in the arch, there is also a movie that I believe costs seven dollars. There is also a riverboat ride. You can buy any of these three things or buy a combo ticket. We just went up the arch because we had a riverboat ride planned a couple days later.
There is a cafeteria which had decent food under the arch.
There is a great free museum that explains western expansion across the USA and also the making of the arch.
The National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/jeff/index.htm
The website to buy tickets ishttps://tickets.gatewayarch.com/webstore/shop/viewitems.aspx?cg=cat&c=gartkt
Many more photos below from different angels
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| A view straight down from the top I love the shadow of the arch |
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