If you’d like a little background on what’s going on here, see the original road trip post. Otherwise, just enjoy the photos!
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO
This was the view from our hotel room. As you can see, the rising sun’s reflection off of the arch was very nice…blinding, but nice…wake up! That’s a piece of the Historic Old Courthouse in the lower left-hand corner…
This is the view looking up from the base of the arch. Amazing and dizzying… Do you see the faintly darker line along both sides of the narrowest part of the arch (click to enlarge)? These are the windows for viewing, from the inside, of course…heh…
Okay, we’re now inside the arch, at its base. The doors on the right side of the staircase are to compartments that seat five. There are eight compartments each on both the north and south trams that run up and down both sides of the arch. This area is actually located underneath the arch along with the Museum of Westward Expansion. It’s a whole other world down there!…
I don’t remember exactly, but it seems that there was a problem on the return trip and we had to walk down a short distance. I could be wrong. W didn’t remember any problems but I can’t imagine that this is the usual way to disembark! This gives you a glimpse of how the inside of the arch looks, minus the two guys, of course…
This is the view looking down from the arch toward the east and the city of St. Louis (is that trash lying on the lawn?) awful…
This is the view looking down from the arch toward the west and the Gateway Arch Riverfront on the Mississippi River…
This is a view of the Historic Old Courthouse and the city of St. Louis…
Here’s another view of the city showing the Historic Old Courthouse and the old Busch Memorial Stadium. To the stadium’s right is the new stadium that was in the works and was finished in 2006. Our hotel was located to the right of the old one…
This is the view looking west at the Mississippi River and the earthscape…
Another view of the Mississippi River and another earthscape…
This was part of the pre-game festivities for the Cardinals-Astros baseball game…
This was taken pre-game outside Busch Memorial Stadium, October 19, 2005. On this night the Cardinals lost in the NLCS to the Houston Astros 4-2. It was the last game played in the old stadium. No, we didn’t go to the game although we did try to find tickets…anyway, W’s a Yankees fan and me? I just loved all the lights and hubbub—had no idea what was going on baseball-wise…
This is the view from our hotel room of the Historic Old Courthouse at night…
The arch at sunset…
The arch at night. We had a hard time getting a good night shot. Actually, we never did get a good night shot!…
This is the view of the arch, I believe, through an alley in the Laclede’s District of St. Louis…
October 18, 2005
So, we left eastern Kentucky around noon on October 18 and for six and a half hours drove straight on I-64 through Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, and the southern tips of both Indiana and Illinois. We arrived at the Pavilion Hotel on South Broadway in St. Louis, that is located along the Illinois-Missouri border.
Since we planned to visit only the most popular sites during our five weeks on the road and would be in St. Louis for only a few nights, sightseeing was restricted to the Gateway Arch and surrounding area. We missed out on alot of sightseeing in the city, but we did spend a lot of time in the Museum of Westward Expansion that was educational and interesting.
W and I aren’t sticklers where time is concerned, so our method of booking reservations may not be for everyone. Realizing that even the cheesiest motel could cost $50 or more, we chose to book reservations on the fly, usually only a day or two ahead. Depending on how long we planned on staying in each city, at night we would troll Priceline on the laptop for accommodations at our next stop. This worked well and on average we probably paid around $40 per night, a lot of times for three-star hotels. If you’re not familiar with Priceline but like to save money, check them out. It’s definitely worth it!
If you are planning this sort of trip and intend to see a lot of national parks, you might want to purchase a national parks pass. The pass is good for a year from the time of purchase and will save you a lot of money. There’s a link below.
These restaurants were within walking distance of the arch:
Caleco’s: unmemorable pizza…it’s been awhile, so the food could have improved since then
Hannigan’s Restaurant and Pub: good sandwiches and brew…located at Laclede’s Landing, a popular nightspot
Charlie Gitto’s: excellent pasta dishes…I know it was only lasagna, but it was memorable!
Other interesting links:
The National Park Service
Gateway Arch
Gateway Arch Fact Sheet
National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass
St. Louis nightlife
Next stop…Kansas, uh, actually Denver, Colorado…
