After picking up Starbucks, we set off for St. Louis, MO. Our trip was about 125 miles so should take about 2 hours. The weather forecast was predicting rain for the 2 days we would be in St. Louis. Leaving Columbia and driving to St. Louis, the rain was very heavy so it made driving a challenge.
State #19 - Illinois
National Historic Site #33 - Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
The rain was now just a sprinkle so we decided to go ahead and head downtown. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial area is under construction so a lot of the roads were detours. The dedicated parking is now gone during construction so we found a parking garage about 2 blocks away. The problem was it was directly across from Busch Stadium and the Cardinals were playing later in the day so the parking was event parking at $20. We parked and were able to take a good look across the street at the stadium.
With rain ponchos on, we walked the 2 blocks to the Old Courthouse. This was where the temporary National Park Visitor Center was located. Dean stamped our passports there. We purchased tickets to go up the Gateway Arch and to take a riverboat cruise down the Mississippi River.
We walked through the Old Courthouse and looked at a few areas, but wanted to do the Gateway Arch while the weather had let up.
When we got back outside, the rain had stopped so we took off our ponchos since they were hot. We had to walk around the construction area and across one of the closed roads in order to get to the Gateway Arch. We walked down a long ramp that led underground, went through security screening, and then continued down the ramp to the inside lobby. We went to the Information Desk where Dean added one more stamp to our passports. He didn't realize that the whole area was considered the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Our tickets were stamped for the time we chose to go. We went to the next ramp and waited for our time to be called. Then we were given a group number and waited in line to get our picture taken in front of a green screen. We continued down the series of ramps until we reached the loading doors to the tram. It was finally our turn to board. This was quite the experience. There were 5 people to go in each pod. Inside a pod, the people could not sit up straight and had to sit knee to knee in a horseshoe arrangement of the 5 seats. Fortunately, the ride to the top only took 4 minutes. Since the Gateway Arch is curved, the pods clicked every few feet to keep the pod leveled as it ascended. We finally reached the top and got out of our pod.
We moved to the viewing area of the Arch. The windows were tiny but did allow you to see some amazing views, especially of the Mississippi River and downtown St. Louis. Dean, being afraid of heights, had to prove it was 630 feet in the air and looking out windows. We were expecting to feel the Arch swaying in the wind, but actually, did not feel it.
In the lobby, we looked at some of the displays and did a little shopping before walking back up the ramps to the ground level. As we were walking back under the Gateway Arch, we saw a young man down on one knee, proposing to his girlfriend. Their families were standing nearby, watching as she accepted. Hopefully, someone captured it in pictures, but it wasn't us.
It was almost time for our riverboat cruise, but we were hoping to pick up something to eat before boarding. We had gotten some crackers and a candy bar just in case. The little cafe by the dock was closed so we ate our backup food to tide us over until we got on the boat. We watched logs and barges travel up and down the Mississippi River as well as a train cross the bridge.
It wasn't too long before we finally boarded our riverboat, the Tom Sawyer. We quickly went to the air conditioned room with the snack bar. We got hot dogs and popcorn, then found a window seat. We were ready for our cruise. We went up the Mississippi River, turned around, rode down river, past the dock, turned around, and docked. The cruise was very enjoyable!
Our Fairfield Inn for the night was in Fenton, MO. It was about 25 miles away. We arrived at our hotel. We were to spend 2 nights here, but weren't very impressed with the staff immediately upon check in. They gave us a hard time about our discount and weren't friendly at all. Once we got everything settled, we went to get dinner.
We found an O'Charley's and love those in Georgia so we went. Our meal was very good, especially the rolls. We saw a very unusual sight inside O'Charley's. Right behind our table was a group of ladies who had 2 tables. Obviously, one table they used to eat. The other table was now the location of their tile game. They had been playing for awhile and no one was rushing them to get the table. Apparently, they do this regularly. They certainly were having a great time!
On the way back to the hotel, we saw a beautiful sunset. We settled in for the night. After talking about the day's events, Robin worked on the blog while Dean watched TV. Finally, we called it a night and went to sleep. The weather forecasters were calling again for more rain tomorrow. Hopefully, we could see the sights in between the showers.
