The Arch

Anyone who has talked to me about our stop in St Louis knows I was really excited. Not just about the conference, or the award I would be accepting for my NJHS chapter, but also about our hotel's location. The Hyatt Regency at the Arch- that HAD to be close to the arch, right? I was really looking forward to going up in the arch.

We finally got our chance on Sunday the 26th. The long lines and my tight schedule had kept us away until then. One glance at the long line, and we were wondering if we really wanted to do this. But then we spotted a sign that said "alternate entrance", and we decided to check it out. We walked along a winding path that led us to the service entrance- and no line! We made it through security in no time- and got some advice from the guards on how to make the most of our time inside.

The guard told us to buy tickets up first, since the wait could be a while. He was right- our time to go up was an hour and a half away! So we watched a movie on Lewis and Clark, then checked out the "Westward Expansion" museum. Both were really fascinating- even the girls found things that caught their interests.

Bella in the museum

Finally, it was time to head up. That was 5:40. We stood in line for another 20 minutes, wondering what we had gotten our selves into.  Then, we were told we'd have to split up our group or wait 20 more minutes. So we split up for the ride upwards.  We rode in these little "trams". Five people were crammed into a windowless space that was MAYBE 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep. (Rick compared it to Kaya climbing into the dryer and shutting the door)

Thankfully, our ride was only about 4 minutes long. The top of the arch is actually a space about 4 feet wide and maybe 20 feet long. People were crammed on each side, looking through window slits on the side. It was basically a "butt buffet" -since everyone's rear pointed to the middle as they climbed toward the viewing area. We spent about 5 claustrophobic minutes up here, and then made our way to the line to tram back down. We got to ride together down, which was nice.

All in all, I don't think I ever need to go up in the arch again. It's beautiful from the outside, and that is all I need to see.

Sharing a window view

The western side view

Shimers in a "tram"

Bella posing at the arch