Our Farewell To St. Louis Tour: The Arch

We have got a little behind on our farewell tour. I guess part of it is the lazy days of summer combined with all of the things you have to do to move a long distance away. And since moving day is fast approaching, we realized that we needed to hit the Arch pronto! I had secretly been waiting, hoping for a cooler weather day, but it just didn't seem like that was going to happen. So yesterday was the day. In the scorching, humid St. Louis heat. 

I will share a little secret on Arch visiting. The earlier in the day the better. If you wait until the afternoon, the lines get really long. Yesterday we arrived a little later than I wanted, but the wait wasn't too bad. About an hour or so. 

Here is where we wait to get into our little pods to take us to the top. It takes 4 minutes to get to the top and 3 minutes to come down. And once you are up there, you can stay as long as you like. 

The boys inside the pod on the way up. When the pod first starts to go up, it kind of clicks back and forth a little. I took this picture right as we started to go up, and Spencer grabbed onto his chair holding on for dear life! He was a little nervous. The ride smoothes out after the first 30 seconds or so. And then it just feels like an elevator.  

At the top! I know you can't tell from this picture, but it was really crowded. I didn't know that we picked a day that the Cardinals were playing a day game. We saw lots of people in their Cardinals gear hanging at the Arch before game time. 

Speaking of the Cardinals, here is a picture I took from the top of the Arch of downtown and Busch stadium.

One last picture of the boys under the Arch. I'm not sure when we will be back here. So I decided to go ahead and pay for the picture they take of you before you go up. 

It is kind of pricey and I normally don't buy these things, but since this is our last time for a very long time, I decided why not.

Plus it actually shows that I was there! 

Since moving day is coming pretty fast now, I am not sure if we will get to much more in our St. Louis Farewell tour. I am hoping to squeeze in the City Museum next week if possible. 

Thanks for visiting me! 

Our Visit to the Arch.

WARNING: This post is extremely photo heavy, but it does have a bonus video at the end!

So today the boys and I decided to take a mini field trip and head to downtown St. Louis. We were going to visit the Arch. Now I have been up into the Arch, but the boys have never gone up. We have taken them to see it, but just never wanted to wait in the line to take the trip up. I think it is one of those things when you live here, you always think, "Oh we can do this whenever. We don't have to wait in the line right now." But today we decided to go for it! And we didn't even have to wait in line. I think the trick was getting there early. We arrived downtown by 9:30, got in the line to go through security to get inside, bought our tickets and were in the line for the 9:55am Ride to the Top. It was perfect timing!
And I will say that this post is picture heavy because taking pictures of the Arch is so much fun! I just love how they all turn out!
And yes, I was laying on the ground to get the above shot. I was trying to take the picture by squatting down and this woman walking by yells out, "You need to lay down on the ground to get that picture!" So I did. :-)
Here are the boys in the little egg-shaped pod thingy that takes us to the top. It only seats 5 and they have 8 of them. So we did a quick math problem to figure out that 40 people could go up at one time. See, isn't learning fun?! And here we are at the TOP!

It looks like Connor is trying to crush that building with his finger. Ha Ha!
And this the shadow of the Arch from up top. And those little white specks are people. We are way up high!
In the base of the Arch is the Museum of Westward Expansion. This is us taking a self-portrait in the museum. The next two pictures are just a couple I took while we were there.

The next two pictures are what I call my "artsy" pics of the Arch. It was such a beautiful day to take pictures of it. I love the clouds behind it. Just beautiful!

And this last picture of my two boys is my favorite picture right now. I just love this picture. They look so handsome! This was taken on the Arch grounds. I took quite a few shots here, but this one turned out the best.
And now if you would like a little bonus to the many pictures you have already looked at here is a video I took with my Flip camera. I love that little camera. So handy! The video starts off in the waiting area before we get to go into our pod thingies (I'm sure there is a technical term for them, but I like calling them pod-thingies.) The next shot is of the boys going up into the Arch in the pod-thingies (I told you I liked that word!). Then the rest of the video is shot while we are at the top of the Arch. I will warn you that both boys took the camera for a short time and shot some of the video. If you get motion sick, Connor's video may not be for you! (Just giving you fair warning. ;-D)
Enjoy!



The boys loved our little field trip to the Arch today and can't wait to go back again!

Thanks again for visiting me!