The Portal of Doomsday?

The next stop on our Great Tour of the Midwest was St. Louis.  God gave us the most perfect weather that day.  Seemed much too pretty for the predicted Doomsday.  :)

Since it was the end of the world day, security was beefed up.  The line for the ride to the top was, we were told, a two hour wait.  And by golly, we came this far, we were going up in that thing!
My adorable small town man didn't think twice about sticking his pocket knife in his pocket that morning, but as we approached the security checkpoint, he got a funny look on his face.  No weapons are allowed on the arch.  We stepped out of line to ask a park ranger about the pocket knives.  She was so kind.  Maybe she was just happy to see a good ol' American family.
The kids and I went ahead through the security line as he hightailed back to the car.  Kind-park-ranger-lady then escorted my husband to the front of the line.  Our wait ended up only being about 10 minutes once we made it through security.

I had seen pictures of the Arch many times before, but I had no idea of the magnitude.  See those tiny windows at the top?  They were each about 3 feet long.  Here's the view from the top looking down on the Mississippi River:

See the little tiny people?  Yikes!  Underneath all that grass is an underground museum.  Or a good place to observe the human race. :)
If you ever get the chance, GO VISIT the St. Louis Gateway Arch!

It makes for some really great memories!