Diamond Jubilee: Gateway Arch National Park

July 2021

I was never compelled to visit the Gateway Arch. Built to impress, it always looked out of place in photos. In my case, it is a monument that needed to be visited in person. It IS impressive and overwhelming. I am so happy my travels led me to it.

Beyond its memorial significance, the arch is something that can be photographed multiple angles at various times of day to yield very beautiful (and different) results. I became an arch fan shortly after walking under and around it. I did not go to the top, however. The view did not appear compelling and we were in a COVID lull - getting in a small box with others (even masked) to ride to the top seemed like a poor choice. In fact, almost all reviews of people riding the claustrophobic elevator to the top were negative anyway.

A sad note on the arch: A large portion of "old St Louis" was raised to construct it and the approval of that demolition smacked of corruption. Although I like the arch, if much of Old St. Louis was destroyed to make it, then that was a terrible loss. St Louis surely had other land that could have been used. The other end of the mall, perhaps?

I spent a lot of time crisscrossing the park under the arch admiring it from different perspectives. It certainly was big. Given how close St Louis is the to the New Madrid Fault, I wondered how earthquake-ready the arch was. That series of earthquakes nearby in the 1800s were some of the largest recorded in US history.

I continued on from the arch to the tiny remaining portion of Old St Louis - at least some part of it had been spared.