Our Second Trip to the Arch

When we told Connor that his Uncle Chris was getting married in Missouri, and that we would be driving past the arch, he said that he wanted to get out of the car and "walk under that arch again."

I guess that was his favorite part of our first visit to the arch.  So, he wanted to do it again.  It seemed like a reasonable enough request, and if it guaranteed his happiness on our long car ride to get to Missouri, it would definitely be worth it.  So, Kevin and I agreed that we would stop in St. Louis and he could walk under the arch.

Then, we got to the arch.  My parents were there, too.  So, we met up with them and did a little bit of exploring after a nice lunch at Caleco's.  (Yes, we ate at Caleco's for lunch before our first visit to the arch, too.  It was that good.)

First, we went into the Old Courthouse, which we skipped on our last visit to St. Louis.

The outside of the Old Courthouse is being renovated right now.

Inside the dome, looking up.



My Mom and I.


Kevin and I in one of the courtrooms.


Um, yeah.

After we got out of the Old Courthouse, we ventured over to the arch.  

It was a windy, wet day, but Connor and Lex were still ready to run under the arch.  

Only, they found out that it was really wet and muddy, which somewhat dampened their enjoyment of said activity.  So, Connor revised his request.  He no longer just wanted to run under the arch.  No, in order to be happy, he would have to go inside the museum under the arch.  This seemed like a reasonable request, given the threat of rain and the fact that we had plenty of time, and we had mostly skipped the Museum of Westward Expansion the first time we visited the arch.

Of course, you know what happened once we were inside the museum.  Once the kids got their foot in the door, they requested that we take them up to the top of the arch.  We did explore the museum for a while while waiting for our appointed ticket time for the Journey to the Top, though.

Photos from our tram ride to the top:

Kevin.

Lex.

Connor and I. 

And finally, here is our Official September 2012 Family Photo at the Top of the Arch:

We had a dandy time, and then we got caught in a huge downpour as we were going back to our car in the parking garage.  We were waiting to cross the street at a light, and then we saw a huge wall of rain coming at us across the park.  It was solid, and we got drenched.  That was why we had cancelled our camping plans for that weekend, and that was a good decision.