Some people on the Internet seem to be surprised that I went up in the Gateway Arch in the Jefferson Expansion National Monument today when really they shouldn’t.  Perhaps they just feel like they need to spice up their part of the blog with a little “humor” at someone else’s expense.  

It may be true that I don’t like heights very much, but the Arch, at about 630 feet, is not as imposing as it looks on the television.  In fact it would fit nicely inside the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, whose high banks (1,000 feet above the river) we traveled along for some way without the benefit of railings.   That 1,000-foot-high path nearly did me in, true, but it also hardened me to mere 630-foot enclosed structures (on this day – read in this no assurances that I would go in any other 630-foot structures, enclosed or not enclosed at any time in the future.  Past performance is no guarantee of future activity.)  Other traumas that have hardened me to such experiences are the Unbelievably High Trail Road at the Rocky Mountain National Park and our visit to the Great Salt Lake.  Wait, that second one only hardened my sense of smell, not my sense of mortality.  Scratch that one.

Also, many of those tall structures, space needles and such, insist on putting the elevators on the outside with windows showing you how high you’re getting. The Arch pods have windows, but they wisely show you only the stairway you’d have to climb if you wanted to walk to the top.  Far from being a scary prospect, this makes you appreciate relative comfort and ease of the contraption, however wobbly it might be.  Moreover, those other tall structures are tall spindly sticks that poke right out of the ground.  The Arch, as anyone can tell you, stands on TWO feet.  This makes it twice as sturdy.

Lastly, since the Arch is part of a National Monument, it is owned by the people, including me.  I would be a lousy owner, indeed, if I didn’t go up and check on it from time to time.

There is actually nice museum under the Arch and pretty nice views from the top.  Looking west, I expected to see the Rockies, but instead there was just a just a grey gloom on the horizon that turned into the heaviest rain we’ve seen on our trip by the time we were ready to go back outside.  Also, from the arch you can see the Cardinals’ baseball stadium, the Mississippi River, a lot of buildings and some trains.  It is rather like being in an airplane, except the floor is curvy.

Although we were in the Arch too early to witness it, there was a baseball game at Busch Stadium this evening, and one whole section of the bleachers seemed to be on hand for our in-hotel dinner.  Once all the people in red shirts cleared out, there were plenty of hotdogs, chicken nuggets and baked potatoes for all of us.  Plus, our second helping of popcorn worked well with our movie night.  HBO was showing “Puss In Boots.”  As it was our first major TV experience in four weeks (The tv at the brewery in Estes Park didn’t count because it was really on in the background.  Also it was a little out of focus.), this movie was entirely sufficient.