Took a quick trip to St Louis last weekend with Mike, Hunter, Blake, Mordecai, and Alaina. It was a great weekend that was jam packed with all that we wanted to do in two short days. We left Saturday morning at 6am. First stop was the Delmar Loop area to do a little shopping and eat lunch at Fitz's Rootbeer.
Blake found another cool tshirt that he just had to have!
After we had lunch we continued our way downtown stopping at Union Station to hit the Cardinal stores and to watch the fudge makers at the Fudge Factory.
Next stop: the Gateway Arch.
•The Arch is the tallest national monument in the United States at 630 feet; it is the city's best known landmark and a popular tourist attraction.
•Construction began February 12, 1963 and the last section of the Arch was put into place on October 28, 1965.
•The Arch is a structure known as a catenary curve, the shape a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends, and considered the most structurally-sound arch shape. The span of the Arch legs at ground level is 630 feet, the same as its height.
•Each year, approximately a million visitors ride the trams to the top of the Arch. The trams have been in operation for over 30 years, traveling a total of 250,000 miles and carrying over 25 million passengers.
•The Arch weighs 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. The transportation system was built at a cost of $3,500,000.
•In order to ensure that the constructed legs would meet, the margin of error for failure was 1/64th of an inch. All survey work was done at night to eliminate distortion caused by the sun's rays. Since the Arch was constructed before the advent of computer technology, relatively crude instruments were used for these measurements.
•The Arch sways a maximum of 18" (9" each way) in a 150 mph wind. The usual sway is 1/2".
Mordecai, Blake, and Alaina looking out the window.
Mordecai checking out the view from above.
After the arch we walked over to Busch Stadium and watched the Cardinals play the San Fransisco Giants. The cardinals won, and Mordecai saw his first homerun!
After the game we headed back to the hotel and we were all fast asleep by 10:30pm. The six of us were up and showered, had breakfast, and were out the door by 9:30am. We headed to the St Louis Zoo and spent the next six hours enjoying all that the zoo had to offer.
Blake enjoying a funnel cake!
Hunter & Alaina taking a break.
Mordecai and the ape!
Another wonderful weekend spent in St Louis!
