St. Louis Gateway Arch!! ~ updated

We loaded up the car early this morning stopped off for some breakfast and headed out. It was about 3 hours from Galesburg to St. Louis and I was stuck in the back with two love sick kids. Crystals brother & her brother in law 18 & 20. It made for a good drive though we all made the most of our time with jokes, pictures, and good stories.
Back up to yesterday, I was talking to Crystal when something came up about going up to the top of the arch. WHAT, I had no clue you went to the top and you could see out of it. I didn't even know there was a museum or gift shops below either. Talk about a sheltered life lol, yes you can laugh because the husband did.

I was in "awh", when we got there it was so unreal. It was never on my top places of must see's & do's but once we were there I was so excited to finally see it in person. I've seen many pictures before and always though it would be neat to see but never put any effort into it.

The Gateway Arch is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States.
A few fun facts about the Gateway Arch~
* Construction began February 12, 1963 and the last section of the Arch was put into place on October 28, 1965.
*The Gateway Arch is the tallest National monument in the United States at 630 feet.
*The Arch weights 17,246 tons. Nine hundred tons of stainless steel was used to build the Arch, more than any other project in history.
*The Arch was built at a cost of $13 million.

This is a picture of all of us before we went down into the Arch.

Testing out the midget size elevator that we were going to be sitting in. There's 5 seats in side and 6 of us, thankfully Chy is small enough she was able to sit in her daddy's lap so we could all ride up together.

This crazy swing / seat thing gave everyone in the waiting area a good laugh when I sat down. I wasn't paying attention to Chy on it and Crystal called me over to have a seat so I went. I quickly plopped down in the seat and felt like I was going to fall to the floor. It's made to be like a lever or scale almost, so because I clearly weight more than Chy, when I sat down she went up and I went down. It literally scared the crap out of me. Little did I know that wasn't the only thing that would scare me during this little excursion.

Shortly after we watched a mini movie that I honestly don't remember a thing about we loaded up in the tiny elevator. I some how got stuck on the outside which really wasn't a big deal to me, well at the time any ways. That was until the door shut and we started moving. They had apparently changed the doors since C&A had been there last because now they had windows on them. You could see straight down to the bottom all the way to the top, you could hear every little crick and feel the cart moving back and forth as it went over the curve. Let me just say it scared the living crap out of me. A few tears may have been shed and a few laughs were made from the peanut gallery I was with but I know it was all in good fun. Needless to say I ended up sitting in the middle on the way back.

Here's just a few of the 100 plus pictures I took while at the top of the arch. It was really neat to be so high up and see all of the city. The one looking straight into the city with the grassy area in the middle has to be my favorite I think its so pretty. Also I can officially say I've see the St. Louis Cardinal stadium. Not that it was a big wowzer moment or anything. 

This was a first for Crystal and I, we've never been on a road trip together. I had a awesome time and I'm so glad I got to experience this with her. I only wish my love would have been here to go with us as well.

We went down and met some of the horses that were waiting to take people on a carriage ride. These two pictures were taken from the stairs down near the banks of the Mississippi river. The one below is one of my favs.

I had a lot of fun and I'm really glad we were able to go. Something like this is a once in a life time kinda thing, meaning I don't think I'd be jumping up and down to go again. I enjoyed it, had a great time and glad I was able to experience it but I wouldn't be butt hurt if I never went again. Thankfully the hubbs has been there already.

After our lovely adventure we walked around the stadium a bit and then went to Union Station for dinner. Our goal was to make it to Chick fil a because these crazy fools have never eaten there before but for some reason the one there had closed down. :( Bummer. All in All it was a fabulous day. This Spring Break by far has been great, I don't want it to end but at the same time I'm missing my love like crazy. 

~DAY 176~