The Arch: Gateway to the West

There's nothing that says you're in St. Louis like the Arch! It's what we're known for, right? Though I know people who live here that have never been to the top, I'm proud to say I've been up there several times. Twice in 2011! Now this isn't a regular occurrence, it just happened that Hailey chose this as her incentive to improve in Math and then her Girl Scout troop decided to go a few months later. I feel like I can't have a blog about St. Louis without a trip to the Arch, so here are some pictures from our trip in February.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the egg-shaped elevator type thing you take to the top. They aren't very big, but they do have seats for five. Here's a picture of Ethan and I on our way to the top. It's moves just like an elevator, but it moves sideways as well as up and down.

Once you're at the top you can can see out over the city and river through rectangle windows.

You're 630 feet up in the air. If you look through the window just right, you can see underneath you. Kinda crazy!

Here are Hailey and Brenton waiting to board the tram back down.

The Arch also houses The Museum of Westward Expansion showcasing Lewis and Clark's Expedition. I didn't take any pictures this time, but it has some fun things for the kids to look at. When we went with Hailey's girl scout troop we went on a short ranger lead talk (available to everyone at certain times of the day). I actually learned more then than I  have all my other trips in the museum, so I highly recommend it.

I think everyone needs to have at least one trip to the top of the Arch!