St. Louis

It took me two days to get from Roswell, New Mexico to St. Louis, Missouri. It's a long drive with nothing much I wanted to stop and see along the way, at least that I knew about. I pushed through to Joplin, Missouri the first day of driving, which is almost 700 miles. That gave me an easy day to St. Louis as a follow-up.

That evening, with some time to kill, I ended up first talking to, then wandering around downtown drinking with a fellow named Dan. Here he is:


Dan

He'd come to St. Louis to see the Rolling Stones play. Apparently, he and a friend go to see the Stones whenever they tour, although this time his friend was unable to get a ticket to the show, so didn't show up. Looking at him and hearing him talk, my first guess was that Dan was a musician himself (or perhaps a pirate?), but it turns out he's a retired social worker with an MBA. I love it when people don't look like what you'd expect from their careers. We did quite a bit of drinking and generally had a good time talking about music, the differences between St. Louis and other cities, and career stuff. I guess it pays to be naturally gregarious!

I'd gone to St. Louis because I'd always wanted to see the St. Louis Arch. St. Louis is also where the Lewis & Clark expedition set out from. Talk about an adventure! I would someday like to follow their trek on horseback if I could.

The Arch is an incredible structure and did not disappoint despite my high expectations. I took a lot of pictures, and I'll share below some of the ones I think are particularly interesting, leaving out the obligatory full view, as you can find many pictures of that on the Internet that are likely much better. I think the Arch is more interesting to photograph from odd angles and in parts. The first is the view from the one window in my hotel room where I can see any of it, the rest are from walking around near it, plus one shot of the Old Courthouse across the street from it.


Hotel Arch View


North Base


A More Interesting View


The Old Courthouse