The Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch

Over this past summer I stopped at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis while on my way home from Kansas.  Visiting at the arch was pretty amazing I didn’t realize how big the arch actually was until I stood underneath it. 

The Gateway Arch is the largest national monument in the United States.  It stands at 630 ft. tall and the distance from one leg of the arch to the other is also 630 ft.  The arch weighs a grand total of 17,246 tons.  It took 13.5 million dollars to build the Gateway Arch and another 3.5 million dollars to build the trams that are in each leg that brings you from ground level to the top of the arch. 

Inside the Gateway Arch there are two museums, a movie theater showing a movie on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and a gift shop.  For a price around ten dollars a person you can ride in a tram that takes you to the top of the arch.  Now although this tram is very old but still safe I was scared to death when I rode to the top.  You start out by walking through a door with your designated number on it that is about four feet tall.  After walking through the door that looks like it should be part of a horror movie you enter into a very tight small circle with benches only five people can fit in at a time and even then your knees are all touching.  Then you start slowly going to the top when you get to the top it opens up to a room with windows that allow you to see over the whole city and beyond that.  If you are even a little afraid of heights do not go to the top of the Gateway Arch.   While you’re at the top of the arch enjoying the scenery you can actually feel the arch swaying in the wind.  The arch usually sways around a half inch both ways but can sway up to eighteen inches in one hundred and fifty mile per hour winds. 

I enjoyed the Gateway Arch although at times I thought I was going to die.  The Gateway Arch was a lot of fun and the tram for me was like a very slow moving roller coaster mixed with a haunted house theme.  If you are ever heading out west or passing by the Gateway Arch you should stop and check it out and if you are afraid of heights or claustrophobic you should stop and check it out from the ground.

 

You should also take a walk through the museums they got some pretty cool statues.