St. Louis and Then Some

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The iconic site (and sight) in St. Louis is the Gateway Arch. We saw it about ten miles away, but it didn’t show up in my photo. I’ll substitute a picture taken in 2012 when grandsons David and Nathaniel were with us. John and I went up in it when our daughters were young.

St. Louis Gateway Arch

We left St. Louis through a sad part of the city, a wasteland of burned out buildings. That gave way to a halfway area where several houses in a block would be in shambles. Finally there was the outer suburb with lovely homes set in manicured lawns. Wouldn’t it be great if the bad parts were razed and a new city raised up from the ashes? Guess they’d have to rename it Phoenix.

As we crossed the Missouri River, John spotted a flood wall holding back the river. It’s left of center in the photograph, if you can see it through the bridge.

Railroad cars and buildings on the left are many feet lower than the water.

We ate lunch in a former KATY train station in Columbia, Missouri. John liked the sign on the fence of the outdoor eating area. It said, “Please, NO EXCESSIVE NOISE.” I’m laughing as I write this, because all caps denotes screaming.

In Kansas City we drove by Union Station, so named because several rail lines converged on it. Most of the building is used for educational purposes now, although the train station is still in use.

Union Station

John had fun driving the route of the trolley line in Kansas City. The city center seemed to be a thriving place with very few empty storefronts.

Kansas City from our car, driving on the trolley route

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

20 thoughts on “St. Louis and Then Some”

  5. Anne, how many places you passed through on one day. I had never seen or heard of the Great Arch of St. Louis- I will look it up. Following the trolley path must have been fun.
    How do you manage to post while on the road trip?
    Susie

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    1. I have a small laptop, and motels have free WiFi. So far everything is working well. I take photos as we travel and download them at night. As we drive the next day, I write the post and publish it at night. It’s not going to work this weekend when we are at the family wedding.

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  6. My daughter lives in St. Louis (near the botanical gardens downtown). I was worried about her living there, but the downtown area has so much to offer and is near where she works. Wish I’d known, I would have asked you to wave as you went through. I miss that girl! We’ll be headed that way in a few months. Safe travels, Anne!

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  8. I’ve never seen the Arch … not sure if I’ve been to St. Louis when I was younger, though I know I traveled through Missouri years ago with my parents. I was not aware that you could tour it … that is amazing. I would enjoy doing that. You are seeing a lot of things on your trip and if the blue sky is any indication, looks like you have good weather to boot!

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      1. That’s great that you’ve had fantastic weather. We had a beautiful day today, tomorrow very nice and Sunday til late afternoon. Happy about that. You were right on the money about the Arch – not revealed to the public until 1967. We were there in the early 60s.

        Googled and it said:
        The Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947; construction began on February 12, 1963 and was completed on October 28, 1965 at an overall cost of $13 million (equivalent to $80.6 million in 2018). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.

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