Day 5 – St Louis and the Gateway Arch

Today, Sunday 6/4/2017, we left Cave City and Mammoth Caverns heading for St. Louis.  To get there we will retrace our drive along I-65 back to Bowling Green where we will head north on the William Natcher Parkway.  Reaching I-64 we’ll turn west and stay on the interstate until St. Louis.

Of course on the drive we have been passing many farmlands with corn and wheat.  This barn is in the middle of a corn field. 

We have also been passing a number of nice looking single trees in fields or in front of houses.  This one was near the road.

As usual we take pictures of barns when we pass them by and get a chance to take pictures.  It’s not often that we can because of the speed of the vehicle and the terrain.  This barn was on the driver’s side of the car and Carmen had to take the picture past me as I lowered the window. 

We travel from Kentucky into Indiana and some of the barns we pass happen to be in the best of positions without nearby bushes or trees for us to take a picture.  This one is right in the middle of a field which hasn’t been planted yet.

The closer we got to this barn the ground in front of it continued to rise up to block it.  We were able to get a picture before it was completely blocked.  You can see the vines growing up the side.

We leave Indiana then travel through Illinois and as we near St. Louis Carmen gets our last picture of a barn.

Before we cross over the Mississippi and into Missouri we go to a small park that overlooks the Gateway Arch.  We climb a 40 foot tower allowing us this view of the Arch and the buildings in downtown.  Just off to the right (out of the picture) is the football stadium and on the left (also out of the picture) is the baseball field.

We return to the car and drive across the river and search for a parking space.  Guess what?  There is a baseball game today and all of the parking is $30.00.  We drive around and ultimately find a free place to park on the side of the road not too far from the Archway Park.  As we walk to the Arch, we pass along the Mississippi river and see this paddle wheeler boat and a tug pushing barges.

As we near the Arch we can see it in its full glory.  The Arch is 630 feet high and 630 feet wide at the base.  The arch is the exact natural curved shape made by a chain when hung from two points of the same dimensions.  

Before checking to see about going up into the Arch, I get this picture of Carmen in front of the Arch.

To go up into the Arch, we would have had to wait 4 hours and neither of us wanted to wait that long.  So instead we walked around looking at the different views.  Here is the view looking up from the bottom of one of the Arches legs, we have a close-up view of the Arch.

I helped take a picture of a couple in front of the Arch and they did the same for us.

Carmen talked to one of the Park Rangers and found out that the train tracks that travel along the river could not be moved, so they put in under the arch park.  You can see the train tracks go into the tunnel and the arch above it.

Tomorrow we drive to Branson, Missouri where we hope to see one of the many shows available.  I think we might go and see the Eagles Tribute show as many of the others are closed on Mondays.  Until tomorrow.