Surviving St. Louis

We spent an extra day in St. Louis after my digital publishing class and played tourist on Saturday. We started off the day by heading to the Budweiser brewery and taking a tour of the facility. Everything was amazing, from the over-the-top stable to the massive beechwood beer aging drums to the free drinks at the end of the tour. And then we headed to the Gateway Arch...

After waiting almost two hours for our journey to the top, we finally were on on our way. Have you ever been up there? The so-called tram is really more like a tiny, egg-shaped nightmare for five. I was relieved when we reached the top and could get out. However, it was so crowded in the arch, I may have been OK just staying in the tram. Then we fought our way to a teeny window and snapped a few pictures from the top. The view was amazing, even if there were crazy storm clouds moving our way.

Within minutes we were at the top of the arch in the middle of a hail storm. (We learned later that there was a tornado, too!) The arch was swaying back and forth, so I held on to Jeff to keep my balance. Between him and the 75 strangers packed in like sardines, I probably couldn't have fallen over anyway. The icing on the cake was the poor lady in the corner having a panic attack - tears, screaming, head in hands and all. We caught the next death egg down and were happy to have made it out alive. I'm glad I did it once, but I'll be fine if that's the last time I travel to the top of the arch.

Here are some pictures from the day.