Day 2

June 12th
I really pushed JJ to visit the St Louis Arch and ride to the top. My sweetie said, “It’s really foggy Honey, we won’t see much.” He added, “The GPS is not finding the arch.” The roads were complicated, taking us one way this way and one way that way. “We’ll have to pay for parking. I wonder how much it will cost to ride to the top.” JJ was full of gentle questions leading to the idea that we should skip the kitschy arch. I was clearly not deterred saying, “Oh there it is I can see it from here.” It was easy to see the towering monument but it was not so easy to find our way through the streets to the parking area. JJ calmly let me lead him to the parking area, the park and to the arch itself. Tickets turned out to be $10 for each of us. We were guided through some museums, our picture was taken. We were directed by the guides to wait in front of door number 2, my favorite number. I hopped from foot to foot in anticipation about going up in the arch. A nice woman and 12 year old son waited with us. Then, a tiny door opened in the wall. When I say tiny I mean the size of a mall cup of tea. This was the door? This was the door to get up to the top of the arch? What kind of drink are they going to give me to make me small enough for that hole in the wall? We were directed to step in to an egg shaped compartment that was not much bigger than the ovoid it resembled. Maybe a rabbit could get in here but not me. JJ wriggled inside and beckoned me to follow him into wonderland. I crouched low and stepped inside the chamber. I quickly stepped out of the chamber. This is officially a cramped space. “Wait a minute, is this umm, where are the windows.” I looked for the guides and they had absconded to places unknown. They were probably sitting in some back room laughing at the monitors showing a crazy middle-aged lady in a purple dress jumping indecisively in and out of the tram ride. I was a hapless citizen who had no idea I would have to ride inside an egg a certain white rabbit would be to hurried to notice. With the Arch employees giggling in another room, questions were useless. I stepped back inside. JJ looked like he wanted to laugh but he was afraid, very afraid to laugh. “I don’t know if I can do this.” I stepped out. “ It is very small. Where is the guide? Are there any windows?” Some poor quiet woman and her son were condemned to ride the tram with a funny looking bearded guy in a skirt and a nervous pigtailed lady hopping in and out of the door. She was looking quite concerned. JJ said, “What do you want to do?” The nice woman said. “I think there are windows.” She paid her 10 bucks and was not too happy about being stuck in the egg with crazy woman. I said, “I teach people how to not be anxious, I can do this.” I squatted in a minuscule seat hunched over next to the door of the tram. Thankfully, there were windows and the ride was only 4 or 5 minutes.
The view from the top was fantastic. JJ got good pictures. One of the park rangers was very helpful and talkative and told us, “If you look out the window and straight down, you can see behind you.” You can! I could almost see back in time. Yes, there she was crazy hopping woman with braids. I hoped no one else saw her. The arch fans out and provides views of the Mississippi river and the National Arches Park. This is part of the Jefferson Nations park system. Which makes sense because; it was Jefferson after all who made the Louisiana Purchase and set Louis and Clark off to investigate the newly acquired land back in 1803.
Our travels continue northward. True to his character, JJ never commented on my moment of discomfort and he only slipped and called me “Alice” once.