The Gateway Arch, St Louis

Finally, before heading to Tennessee to hang out with the inlaws, we made our way through Oklahoma, to Kansas City, and then to St Louis to see the Gateway Arch. That thing is huge. I loved it! It was designed by midcentury architect Eero Saarinen (who also designed the iconic Tulip Chair) and sits at the starting location of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. On the opposite end of the grassy mall area is the Old St Louis Courthouse, which is also part of the national park. 

You can read all about the history on Wikipedia, but the visitors center is located underground under the arch with a huge museum, restaurant, and access to the gondola you can ride to the top (of which my claustrophobia was like, "no thank you" lol). The musuem was really well done and the architecture of the center itself echoes Saarinen's steel, curvy, minimalist design. 

I had done some homework and staked-out locations around the arch for the best IR photos, but they were setting up tents and stages for some kind of event on the east side where I really wanted to get the cool perspective shots. I was bummed to miss out on that, but got a few in other places that turned out alright. 

It was really super cool. I'm glad we decided to make the trek to see it.