Draft Kings At Casino Queen RV was the ideal spot to camp near the St Louis Arch! We had full hookups for two nights here. A code is needed to enter or exit in a vehicle, as well as to access the showers/restrooms, so we felt pretty safe. The showers were great!!
We started out to ride over the Eads Bridge to check out parking for tomorrow. This bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River. It connects East St Louis, Illinois to St Louis, Missouri. Completed in 1874, it was the world’s first steel-truss bridge, and was the first bridge built across the Mississippi at St. Louis! I didn’t realize it was also a railway bridge till we were on our boat ride and saw a train on it!
We stopped just outside the gate of he RV park for our first picture of the St Louis Arch.
We weren’t sure if bicycles were allowed on the bridge with cars. One side appeared to have a walk/bike area, so that made us think we had to use it. As we were trying to get to it I discovered my rear break wasn’t working! A really nice cyclist stopped to see if we needed help. He assured us that bikes were OK in the car lanes, and NOT to try to use the walk area. It was only meant for pedestrians, It is too narrow to pass someone or if there is an object on the path you are screwed. I wasn’t comfortable riding without my rear brake, so Barry and I switched bikes after I tried his bike on some level ground.
We went up and over Eads Bridge. At the end of the bridge was a traffic light where we simply turned left right into the Gateway Arch National Park! Wow! That couldn’t have been any easier! No need to drive Sadie tomorrow! We will ride our bikes and be free of any hassles and fees for parking.
What a gorgeous park!!
The sunlight was perfect to get pictures of the Arch.
The windows to look down through when up inside the arch! These are both sides of the arch.
The St. Louis arch was referred to as “The Gateway to the West” due to the importance of commerce along the Mississippi River. The arch was constructed on the 1764 site of the founding of St. Louis on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. It was completed October 28, 1965 and is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide. It is the tallest National Memorial. Initially, in 1935 it was to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent westward expansion by American explorers and pioneers, being the first civil government west of the Mississippi, and the debate over slavery that was raised by the Dred Scott case heard right here in the St Louis courthouse.
I did not realize the St Louis Arch had become the Gateway Arch National Park. It does not exactly meet the typical attributes of our other National Parks. Evidently, President Trump signed the reclassification making it officially a National Park in 2018. Seems ironic since this time in office he is trying to get rid of the Federal Rangers, and significantly reduce the protected size and/or the number of our National Parks. But Gateway Arch NP is not about conservation of the natural landscape and the preservation of wildlife therein. Some have said the change was done to promote tourism. It is the smallest U.S. National Park. The next larger one is Hot Springs NP in Arkansas. Gateway Arch is only 2% the size of Hot Springs!
I can’t believe how different this area seems to be from my original visit in 1970 or ’71. I don’t remember there being the circular entry area, but I love how it compliments the arch. A grand entrance could easily have detracted from the arch itself.
1970’s pic (postcard)
The Old Courthouse -is incorporated within the Gateway Arch National Park. The lawn extends to the brick plaza that leads to the entrance of the Arch. This courthouse was where the trials of the Dred Scott case were held, and where Virgina Minor sued to achieve voting rights for women!
1770 Catholic church close to the Arch:
We rode down by the river.
Unique musicians we came across going a longer way to the bridge.
We made it back to the RV Park and can’t wait for tomorrow!
JUNE 9, 2025
Let today’s adventure begin!
Locked up our bikes.
Access to the grounds and the museum is free. A National Park Pass gets you a discount to the tram ride, documentary, virtual experience and paddleboat ride.
As you enter the beautiful entrance, you head downstairs. There are a couple of fun screens to stand in front of to take a picture.
As we continued on we were “in” the museum. It is set up chronologically to the left and right of this wide walkway. A model of the National Park sits in the center of walkway.
Our entry time for going up in the Arch wasn’t till 11:00am, so we immersed ourselves in the museum. It gives the history of St. Louis and the vision of the Arch.
Love Scott Jopin’s music and the books of Laura Ingall Wilder (and of course the series based off them – “Little House on the Prairie”!
A really cool relief sculpture mural gives information from an idea to concept to the construction of the Gateway Arch.
Close-ups:
FACTS about THE ARCH
- The height and width of the arch are both 630 feet.
- Was designed to withstand earthquakes and lightning strikes.
- It can sway up to 18 inches in 150 mph winds!!
- The legs of the arch extend underground 60 feet. 30 feet into bedrock!
- There are 1,076 steps in each leg of the Arch. (some are visible during the tram ride, but are not accessible to the public.
- Presidents are not allowed by the Secret Service to go up the Arch since it is such a small space.
This was a great interactive display where you move the slider to change the width, and you see the length/height of the chain automatically changes to that equal to the width.
This is a FULL-SIZE replica of the last triangular section of the Gateway Arch. It measures 17 feet on all triangular sides, and 8 feet across. It is one of the two smallest pieces of the structure.
The aircraft warning light required on the apex of the Arch has transitioned a couple times to its current LED technology. Today’s warning light cannot be seen from the ground!
The Tram
The tram ride system is very unique to keep all passengers upright. The pods must adjust one at a time to the curve of the arch and to the change in volume at the various leg heights. The tram consists of 8 pods. Each pod has 5 seats that are in a U-ish-shaped arrangement with all feet to the middle. There is a north and a south tram that operates up and down each leg of the arch.
OUR RIDE UP the GATEWAY ARCH!
Waiting to board the tram, each pod group stands on separate stair-stepped platforms numbered 1 through 8.
While the pods are fairly small, it wasn’t claustrophobic for me with just the two of us. The door has two full length windows which helps immensely. The ride up takes about 4 minutes, and the ride down takes about 3 minutes.
At the top: You lean over to the window to look down and out at the view. Each arrival group has about 10 minutes to enjoy the views and take whatever pictures you desire. (It was ample time.)
Views west to the city:
Key buildings to the west…
View east across the Mississippi River to the Draft Kings at the Casino (and the RV Park beyond the Casino parking lot.
Stairs down to the waterfront:
Following the tram ride we watched the 35-minute documentary about the constructing of the amazing arch. It was so interesting. We both highly recommend including this. It is definitely worth seeing!! (Barry bought a package online for the tram, the movie, a virtual experience, AND a boat ride!)
Virtual Reality Experience – This was kind of cool as it transported us back in time to the busy waterfront of St. Louis.
Barry got these cool pictures as we left through the main entrance to get our bikes.
Just a couple more pictures…This underground “entrance” by the base of the arch leg is where we entered back in the 70’s. It is now just an additional exit.
To our paddle boat ride…
It has been a great day…time to get our bikes and ride back to Sadie across the river into East St Louis, Illinois. 🙂
As we were approaching the RV area Barry spotted a guy with a tortoise. It was an African Spurred Tortoise. Ironically, we met someone a few years ago in California who had one. This was NOT the same guy or the same turtle! What are the odds!?!
He had just spent the last 2 or 3 hours over on the grassy hill with him getting his outdoor exercise-play time, and were making their way back to their RV. This turtle is a full lifetime commitment because they live 50-100 years!! They have a younger relative who has agreed to take him when they both pass away. I don’t recall the tortoise’s current weight or age.
We decided to go to the Casino hotel where we could go swimming and have dinner. Well, the pool was gross, so we passed on that. We went into the casino to find a restaurant.
Tomorrow we leave for Chicago for three nights!
It’s great to hear that East St. Louis is safe now! Twenty plus years ago, when visiting my company’s headquarters in St. Louis and a manufacturing site on the Illinois side south of East St. Louis, I was told to never exit at East St. Louis even if I was having car trouble. Since I was alone, the advice was certainly cause for concern. Sue (Pierce) Green
Wow! Glad you heeded your company’s advice. All we did was go from the Casino RV park over the bridge to the Gateway Arch Park. So I won’t say all of East St Louis is “safe”. If I didn’t need the address of the RV park for our GPS to get there and again for our emergency info update that I do every time we arrive at a new place, I wouldn’t have realize we were parked in Illinois. (Always a pleasure to read your comments!)