Weekly Winners: St. Louis Trip edition

This wound up being a longer post than I originally planned, so I made many of the pics small. As usual, click on them to embiggen. With that detail out of the way, let's get on with the show:

We got a much earlier start and even with the I-40 shut-downs and detours, we still made it to the Arch around 9 a.m. It is way more massive in person than I thought it would be:

Also, it's heats up on the outside pretty quickly-OW!

I was a little iffy on whether or not I actually wanted to go up into the Arch, but I knew I could handle the Riverboat. So, Dave walked all the way down there and back, little knowing that we could have purchased everything inside the Arch itself. Oops!

Meanwhile, we watched the security line going inside the Arch get longer and longer. Dave made it back and we joined the line. By the time we got inside, the soonest ticket time to go up in the Arch would have conflicted with our cruise tickets. So, we toured the museum and bought tickets (in yet another line) for a later time to ride the elevator of 'death.' I was very impressed by the museum. Here are some highlights (for Libby, if no one else):

There were dioramas AND a continual loop DVD. Libby and I could have been mesmerized for hours!

There were also animatronic characters, I want to mock them but the picture on the right makes that impossible (and I wish I were a better photographer to have captured that moment properly):

There were a lot of exhibits that looked like they came from where Mom works:

and I personally loved the detail added to the wagon display

Before long, it was time for our hour-long cruise on the Mississppi

We took the Tom Sawyer, this is our view of the Becky Thatcher and the Arch as we pulled away from the dock.

I fell in love with St. Louis architecture while I was there. It truly is "where East Meets West" I can see why Rose, Esther, Lon, Tootie, and Agnes didn't want to move to New York City.

This pic is very misleading. Within 5 minutes of snapping it, they had all trooped below deck for the air-conditioned refreshement area. I stayed outside and took more pictures:

In one picture, an operational grain elevator is loading a barge and a partially submerged, retired military submarine is in the other. They have been trying (unsuccessfully) to raise it for years. According to the non-canned narration. (Our Tahoe boat tour was amusingly pre-recorded)

This is just a bridge I thought was pretty, and the other one is the only photo Natalie has consented for me to show from the boat ride. She cracks me up!

Once the boat ride was over...there was no more avoiding it. It was time to go to the top of the Arch. I am both clausterphobic and nervous in crowds. Labor Day weekend was a swell time to attempt this. But, we were here, so what could I do?

It turned out that by the time it was our turn, I no longer cared. Tristan had spent our entire half-hour in line throwing a fit because he had to ride up in the same tram as his sister. A few park rangers asked if he was scared of the ride. Nope! Just being cooped up with Natalie. He was NOT a happy boy!

He perked up considerably when it was our turn to go up...

(the rest of us just coped as best we could)

Once we got to the top, we were all the best of friends, even Tristan and Natalie

Here is what we saw:

Busch Stadium

The Mississippi

And also that it's good to stay at The Hyatt

As soon as I snapped those pics, I was ready to go back down. The ride and the height weren't bothering me, but the massive crowds were. Sheesh! If it's not one phobia, it's another. Still I'm glad I did it. It was actually fun!

As usual, a big hat-tip to Lotus at Sarcastic Mom for hosting Weekly Winners!