St. Louis MO.

Growing up in small town Kentucky, a place like St. Louis, in my mind, was about as foreign as any place not in our solar system. I had no concept of a place like it.

I went there twice at different times growing up. I went there once with a friend's family to watch 4th of July fireworks. It was exciting to see them with the Arch in the background.

Another time I went with some friends to a concert.

Other than seeing the Arch the first time, I don't remember a lot of site seeing. In fact, especially when I went up with my high school friends for the concert, I remember feeling a bit intimidated by the place. I had nothing in my mind that I could compare it to.

Years (OK, decades) and more experiences later, the city doesn't seem so tough.

It is still big and there is a lot going on, but it felt pleasant to me this time.

We didn't have a lot of time, and we had a couple of very specific things we wanted to do. We were downtown next to the Arch the entire time. We parked at our hotel, walked to the Arch and walked to Busch Stadium.

See the photo of the Arch that looks boxed in? I took that one out of my hotel room window!We left our blinds open all night with that view. There is another photo with the Arch and the road next to it. That one was also taken out of my window. I stayed up one night just admiring the view. The stadium was also in view, to the left.

We went to the Arch and took the ride to the top! It is $10 a person to ride one of the egg shaped pods to the top and back down. It is something that must be done in a lifetime. The visitor center is under the Arch. They do have airport like security when you go in but it was quick. It was not that big of an issue.

The visitor center is busy and full. They have a couple of gift shops that were very nice. I got my National Park stamps and postcards at one. The other gift shop was pretty much a candy shop. I did find a cute replica Frozen Charlotte doll there. I also found some cool modern linen postcards here too.

The grounds under the Arch are maintained perfectly. We walked over the morning before we left to get some more pictures, and there were only a few other people walking around casually. It was relaxing.

We walked from the Arch area to the Stadium for a game. We had lunch at Joe Bucks which was great. The area has a lively but not rough game day atmosphere.

There was a great band playing at a bar (I did not catch the band's name but they sounded better than most bar bands. They were in tune!).