Day 36 - St Louis

"Supposing is good, but finding out is better"

Mark Twain

My second last stop of the trip took me to the opposite end of Missouri to St Louis.  I departed Kansas City, poorly fed by a terrible continental breakfast and made my way east along I-70.  I must admit I did not have much planned for this last leg of the trip.  I figured I'd just show up at cities and find stuff to do.  In regards to St Louis, all I knew was that I should see the arch.  I made good time into the city, stopping only once to fill gas and get lunch, which happened to be at the Wendys of the future.  I know most people do not care to hear about a fast food establishment, but this Wendy's had a fireplace, a computerized soda dispenser, 2 story ceilings, fancy mood lighting, and couches.  Not that any of that made a difference, my Baconator was as delicious as ever.  

After 4 hours I made it to the Mississippi River and sat in a line of traffic to the parking lot for the Gateway Arch.  Prior to getting there I had been warned it'd be anti-climatic, but it was still a pretty impressive structure.  The arch stands at 630 feet and is the tallest national monument in the US.  It was built as a symbol of westward expansion and, as is St Louis, considered the gateway to the west.  For me it was the opposite, a bit of a welcome back to the east.  St Louis actually had the feel of Philadelphia in many ways and I felt more at home here than any of the other cities I had been to on this trip.  The arch is part of the larger Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and is operated by the National Park Service.  This was great news to me, as my America the Beautiful Park Pass got me to the top at a discounted price.  The lines were very long though and when I got to the ticket booth, the next available spot was not for another 2 hours.  However, when the lady found out it was just me, I got sent to the very front of the line.  Single people are apparently much easier to work with.  For those who have never been here, the way up is via a tram.  This is quite a process, as they take up to 4000 people a day in the summer to the top, a space only 7 feet wide that can fit 160 people at most.  The ride up takes about 4 minutes.  It is not meant for the claustrophobic types as the tram is a collection of capsules each with only a 5 foot diameter, and fits just 5 people sitting with knees scrunched together.

Capsule to the top of Gateway Arch

I made it up to the top only 20 minutes after parking and quickly found hell on earth for someone not crowd friendly.  Imagine being 630 feet in a room only 7 feet wide with 160 people, many of which do not understand any English or general rules of society for that matter and kids.  I like kids, but not ones who are scared out of their mind and scream bloody murder than entire time in a very confined space.  I took a few pictures out of the tiny windows and then got in the first line I could to get down.  Fortunately not being part of a group allowed me to squeeze onto the first tram down.  After getting down to the ground, I wandered around the area and over to Busch Stadium where a game between the Cardinals and Cubs was about to go down.  This town loves its baseball team.  A pending baseball game, meant more crowds, so I decided to head to Forest Park about a 5 minute drive from the Arch.

Forest Park is considered the "heart of St Louis" and rightfully so.  There is a ton of stuff to do here and most of it was free.  The park has a zoo, art museum, science center, golf course and lots of space for other recreational activities.  Since I had not seen as much wildlife as I had hoped during this trip, I opted for the zoo.  The zoo, free due to public subsidies, is a top-notch zoo.  Again I was impressed.  The only struggle I had was trying not to look like a creep, wandering around alone in a hat, sunglasses, creepy beard and camera.  I wanted to take pictures, my hair was crazy without a hat, and I was about to shave the beard, so sunglasses had to go.  I squinted my way through.  It was getting late, so I called it quits and headed to my hotel in the Southeast area of the city.  I used Trip Advisor to find an awesome Pizza Bar in Kirkwood, a wealthy suburb of the city.  Another Trip Advisor success.  If you do not have this App, get it, it'll change the way you travel.

It was another satisfying day.  Tomorrow I head to Chicago, the final stop of this 40 day voyage.  

Stats:

Miles Driven: 8,964

States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL, MI, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR, ID, WY, MT, CO, KS, MO

Baconators Eaten: 4

Grizzly Bears Seen: 1 (FINALLY)