Home Sweet Home Chicago: Don't you have an elsewhere to be?

362 Days to go: 355 Things to Do: In St. Louis

I do have an elsewhere to be. St. Louis, MO. I took a train. I enjoy traveling by train. There's a snack car. You can go to the bathroom whenever you want - no keeping your seat belt fastened. And you can plug in your laptop and do work. Watch a movie. Whatever you want. No lost time due to powering down during take off and landing. And the seats are bigger. There is no bad.

I've been spending a fair amount of time in St. Louis over the last few months for work, but I haven't really hung out in St. Louis. So, in the spirit of my new challenge, I snuck away for an hour to go see The Gateway Arch!

Here's what I learned about the Arch. It's 630 feet high and is the tallest man made monument in the US. The span at its legs is the same as its height (630 ft). It sways. No really. It does.

I took the little tram to the top. These little cars are just that - little. It's not a very comfy ride to the top but only lasts for 4 minutes. Then you can check out the view and head back down - which only takes 3 min. The Arch itself I thought was totally cool, but I don't think I'd pay to go to the top again ($10). I'm glad I went once. So, you know, if I ever make a bucket list that won't have to go on it. But I didn't really think the view from the top was nearly as cool as the view from the bottom.

There's also a little museum and a couple shops at the bottom of the Arch that are worth checking out. The Museum of Westward Expansion has excerpts from Lewis' and Clark's journals. I'm not sure if they were really bad spellers or if language here has evolved that much in the last couple hundred years. Probably a bit of both. Inside there's also a little homage to baseball - St. Louis was after all, baseball's gateway to the west. (who knew?) And the Levee Mercantile - where you can purchase old school candies, fudge, even glass quills and ink. I got milk chocolate fudge. Really, you can't be surprised, and I'm happy to report it is delicious. If you go - fudge it up.