When we think of National Parks we always go for the big ones, Zion, Bryce, Glacier, Acadia, etc.  It is hard to remember(at least for me) that there is a little guy nestled in the heart of a city.  I don’t know why either, because if you are rolling down the interstate, or driving through St Louis, this landmark is a dead giveaway.  That’s right, this week we are talking about Gateway Arch National Park.

When I was a little girl we made several trips to Oklahoma to visit my Aunt and Uncle.  Now I had no idea how to get there, but I did know we were on our way as soon as we saw that Arch in the sky welcoming us to the west.  Oh, we NEVER stopped, the closest I got to that Arch in my childhood was plastering my face to the window taking it all in with childlike wonder while doing 70 down the interstate.

As an adult I decided it was in my own hands to make my dreams come true.  The first time we stopped was post Covid.  You had to buy a timed entry and I, like many, thought who is going to buy up all the tickets on a random Tuesday?  Well, everyone.  Tickets to the top were all sold out. What the….  

We did, however, get to take in the 91 acre park.  That’s right, it’s a biggin’.  The park itself is really beautiful.  As previously stated, it is so weird to be in the heart of the city.  There are a few sights you may want to check out while you are there.

While walking the grounds you can visit The Old Courthouse(currently outside only).  This courthouse was built in 1839. If you are into architecture, you will want to check it out even if it is temporarily closed inside.

 The Arch is on the Mississippi River, so where there is a river, there are river cruises.  These tickets for river cruises are extra, but if you have time at the arch it may be something cool to do. We did not do a cruise, however we walked the banks and checked out the old fashioned riverboat.  You can also get some great pictures of The Arch from this vantage point.

Learning my lesson this past spring, I knew we were going to be in the St. Louis area, so the first thing I did was buy our timed entry tickets to the top of the Arch.  In typical Gadabout fashion, it was a really crappy day when we went.  It was misting rain and there seemed to be gale force winds(in our mind).  We tried to talk ourselves out of the excursion all morning because our body weight, the rain mist, and the wind strength combined would equal the perfect storm and would bring the landmark crumbling down.  This thing has survived years of weather, people, and other bothersome events since 1965, yet we were going to be its demise.

Our ride to the top was at high noon so we had time to pursue the museum on the bottom floor.  I did not know this museum had this many exhibits!  I feel like we failed on our last visit because we did not venture downstairs and explore all that the Gateway Arch had to offer. You get a chance to step into history and explore westward expansion from 1765 to 1965 when the arch first opened.

There is also an exhibit that is about how the arch became what it is today.  The arch is really an engineering marvel that started out as a contest in 1948.  Eero Saarinen was the victor and in 1963 construction on his 19th century modern design started to take shape. Speaking of shape, the arch still is the subject of discussions of what  the shape  is actually.  It has in the past been referred to as a Parabola, when actually it is a Weighted Catenary.  If you enjoy math I have included the link to one of these articles.  I also called my son who is in the engineering program to get his take on this as well.  My brain is now mush, I don’t remember our geometry class covering different types of arches. I must have been sleeping.

After looking at the museum it was time to line up and get in line for our ride to the top.  We will see how good this sucker is made.  We start our adventure by getting assigned to pods.  There are 8 pods on each side and they hold at capacity 5 people each. Thanks to Covid, these pods on the day we went were not filled to capacity, and only one side was running,  and I was STOKED!  It was only Korey and myself in pod 7.

Let’s talk about the pod itself.  If you ever looked at your dryer and wondered, “I wonder what it would be like to get in that drum and take it for a spin,” then you are in luck because all your dreams are about to come true!  These things are small too!  If you are claustrophobic you might sit this one out.  There is a sample pod you can test out in the lobby to make sure you will not freak out.  There are 5 of us counting my husband and adult children and I cannot imagine all of us in this thing. The arch would crumble for sure!

After you are assigned to your pods you watch an introductory video telling you about the arch etc.  Then, showtime!  You will walk on stairs to get to your pod so beware if stairs are hard for you.  Once the doors open we have to step aside to let the returning group leave.  Now we are in the dryer drum.  Like I said, there are 5 seats in this thing, we were pretty comfy with only 2.  The doors are glass-ish so you can see on the way up.  It is a pretty cool 3 minute or so ride to the top, you are going up 630 feet. Once you step out it is pretty trippy.  You have to walk up a few steps before getting to the observation platform. You feel drunk.  At least we did as it was a super windy day. Our group has 7 minutes at the top to look through the windows, take photos, and ask the Ranger stationed up there any questions.  

Now according to the Ranger in the sky, the Arch can withstand 18 inches of sway before it becomes unsafe to be at the top.  I thought for sure we were pretty close as we were weeble wobbling all over.  But we were informed we were being a bit dramatic and we were only experiencing about a ½ inch of sway,  WHAT! The most our fearless leader at the top had experienced was a two inch sway and he could barely stand.

“What do you mean by sway you ask?”  Well the Arch moves!  The sway is contingent on wind speed. It can withstand an impressive 150 mph wind speed.

Speaking of weather, what many of you may or may not know is that the Gateway Arch is at the center of a conspiracy theory.  I must have been living in a box my whole life because I never heard of it until I watched The Unexplained on the History Channel.  There, on my T.V was William Shatner telling me that there is a conspiracy theory that the Gateway Arch controls the weather.

What in the tin foil hat is going on here!  Upon further research the interweb is littered with sites claiming the same.  WHAT!  Some of these theories include the Arch keeping bad storms out of St. Louis.  Apparently severe thunderstorms, like the Red Sea around the city and the Arch are the cause of this phenomena. 

This now has me thinking.  As some of you may remember, my husband and I were thunderstruck over the summer in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ever Since we may have experienced a lightning strike we have been patiently waiting for our superpowers to spring forth.  If the arch can control the weather and keeps St. Louis safe from doom, then maybe we need to go back up for our superpowers to activate!

In closing, the Arch should be on your National Parks check off list.  Many people know of the Arch, however some might not realize that it is a part of our National Parks system.  It is a unique park, an engineering marvel, a possible(not) device used to control the weather, and it could be my ticket to morph into Storm from X-Men. Everyone needs to experience it at least once in your lifetime.