The Gateway Arch

We stopped in St. Louis on our way from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Evansville, Indiana. It was huge! Very cool. We parked down by the Mississippi River, climbed a ton of stairs up to the ground level of the Arch, then went underground to enter the National Park. We bought tickets for the tram, then headed further underground to board it. I thought it was funny that we went so far underground before going so high up in the Arch! The tram is crazy. It is a little train made up of these small round cars, each with 5 seats. We all fit in one, because Rachel sat on my lap. The little doors had windows in them, so we could see all of the cables and wires inside the shaft. Grace was certain we were all going to die, and though I didn't think we were going to die, I was a little nervous at first! Rachel kept calling it the alligator ride...we still haven't figured out why! At the top, at the center it is 680 feet high, and we could see pretty far. I bet it is really cool on a clear day...it was pretty overcast when we visited. We learned it was built as a monument to expansion, and is called the Gateway to the West. For us it was the Gateway to the East...we did it wrong.