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St Louis, Missouri – 9/6/2016

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September 6, 2016 (Tuesday)

We had thought we would be able to get tons done in St. Louis today (Top of the Arch, Old Courthouse, trolley tour, zoo, etc.) but….we didn’t leave the resort until 9:30 AM. As we were on the highway about 15 miles from the resort, there was a horrible accident and it looked like a trailer or motor home had turned over.  (The drive was about 60 miles.)

Most dangerous thing we do.
Most dangerous thing we do.

Traffic was backed up for miles. (The most dangerous thing we do is drive.) We keep reminding ourselves of that and try to be careful.”

Nasty backup on the other side for some miles.
Nasty backup on the other side for some miles.

We got into St. Louis and had a hard time finding parking as the first place we found was perfect, right near the Old Courthouse but we used the wrong ticket machine and it wouldn’t accept anything from us. We talked and Michael moved the car into a very expensive parking garage and I went into the Old Courthouse to get tickets and my old person National Park Pass. I’m 62 now and I was so excited to finally get my own parks pass. I probably don’t need it but it’s such a great deal at $10.00 and I wanted my own. Michael’s has saved us so much money at many National Parks during our travels. We also got a discount on the tickets to the Top of the Arch tour ($10.00 per person).  I purposely asked for a later tour (2.00 PM) because we were told we could get on the 12:00 trolley tour of St. Louis.

By this time it was close to noon so we headed a couple blocks to the pickup location (in front of the Hilton Hotel near the ballpark). The driver, Larry, was pretty old and was born and raised in the St. Louis area.  He seemed a nice guy.

Here comes our bus.
Here comes our bus.
The sandwich board marking our pickup point.
The sandwich board marking our pickup point.
Pretty woman climbing on board today's tour bus.
Pretty woman climbing on board today’s tour bus.
Larry driving his trolley.
Larry driving his trolley.

He kept telling stories about his grandfather and stuff and not enough information on the buildings we wanted to hear about. Oh well, it was fun but we just didn’t get the history we were hoping for. We did get to see quite a bit of the city – Lafayette Park, the Anheuser Busch beer building, lots of old buildings and churches – stuff we wouldn’t have seen on our own so we were glad we did the tour.

Stone face over brick implies wealth.
Stone face over brick implies wealth.
Worth about $750,000.
Worth about $750,000.
Old police station turned into a restaurant.
Old police station turned into a restaurant.
Name of the police station barbecue.
Name of the police station barbecue.
St Louis, very big in the beer business history.
St Louis, very big in the beer business history.
90% of the buildings I saw were made of brick. Shot gun house, long and lean.
90% of the buildings I saw were made of brick. Shot gun house, long and lean.
New federal courthouse.
New federal courthouse.
The Arch complex is officially called the: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
The Arch complex is officially called the: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Dome of the old courthouse.
Dome of the old courthouse.

The tour lasted longer than we had anticipated and when we finally got off, we had to quickly get to the Arch to catch the elevator up. It was quite the walk and the weather was very hot (even though it had rained for awhile while we were in the trolley). I guess it would have been much hotter had it not rained. There was a lot of construction around the Arch area and we had no time to spare when we finally got there. The ride up was a bit claustrophobic but fun. It took about three or four minutes to get to the top (630 feet) with no windows. You’re basically in a little capsule and only see the wall side of the arch.

In the squirrel cage headed up.
In the squirrel cage headed up.

Once we got into the Arch, so beautiful. The windows are so small but it was fun to look out for miles and miles.

The Arch windows.
The Arch windows.
Looking out across the Mississippi.
Looking out across the Mississippi.
Looking out, Old Courthouse lower center.
Looking out, Old Courthouse lower center.

After we left the Arch, it was basically too late to go to the Zoo so we went into the Hilton hoping to go to the 360 Restaurant up on the top. It was closed until 4:00 PM, so we walked over to Caluso’s Restaurant (a local) and had linner. Michael had a pork steak with American potatoes. I had the fried ravioli that we had last time we were in St. Louis (at Angelo’s restaurant) and a chicken salad. It was okay. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again but the atmosphere was great. We had a wonderful view of the Arch, and near the ceiling they had a little train that would go around and around. At first we thought we were hearing rain, then we realized it was the train. Kinda fun.

We were worried about leaving during rush hour but it was not a problem (at least not like Los Angeles or Chicago rush hour). We stopped in Festus at the post office then headed home. That was our day. Hope yours was great!