Around 11 a.m. we left Walmart heading for St. Louis. Uneventful drive although I can’t say much about it as I was busy booking the tram, movie and riverboat cruise to the top of the arch and making a reservation at our next destination, Draft Kings At Casino Queen in East St. Louis, MO.

Although Rob had the Casino in the GPS, the roads coming here were a little confusing but we finally made it there with no screw ups. There were a few bridges along the way but thankfully they all had a clearance of at least 13’4″. We didn’t need to check in – we made our reservation on-line (or call), paid for it and received a confirmation via email which had a gate access code. When we arrived at the gate, the high keypad didn’t seem to work so I called and we were given a new gate code. Rob had to hang out the window to access the lower keypad which at first didn’t seem to work but eventually did.

Site 608 was a 70′ long pull thru but the view was of a telephone pole and a huge gray box probably housing utility stuff. Since this was not exactly what we expected, I called and asked if we could move to site 516 (only 50′). After sitting on hold for what seemed like at least 15 minutes, finally someone answered and said that we could move to that site. Much nicer view – we could see the Arch although through some trees but better than the first site. In general the park was not real scenic because it was located in a somewhat industrial area.

It was pretty hot that day with temps in the high 70’s, low 80’s and slightly humid. Glad we had a 50 amp electrical connection so we could run the AC.

During our drive to St. Louis, I made reservations for seeing the movie about how the Arch was built (10 a.m.), taking the tram up to the top (11:30 a.m.) and the Riverboat Cruise (1:45 p.m.). Since this is a National Park with the America the Beautiful pass, our total cost with the 50% discount was $77.

Once settled into our new spot, we drove over to the Mississippi River Overlook which is located at the western edge of the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, “the park with a view” and just a short distance from the RV Park.

 

Beautiful views of the Arch and the St. Louis skyline.

And then the fun began the next day! After parking in the Stadium East parking garage around 8:00 a.m. (Rob had booked parking using iParkIt where the cost would usually be $9 but with a 20% discount for signing up so our total for the day was $7.20.

At nearby Chili Macs Diner we had breakfast, about a 10 min walk from the garage. Greasy spoon with decent food. We both had two eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast. Can’t beat the price – only $6.10 for each of us.

After breakfast, back to the Visitor Center and Museum we went where we had to wait for a few minutes for it to open at 9 a.m. Once inside we had to go thru security before entering the museum.

Oh, my, the museum was totally awesome! So much to absorb and see – you could spend hours taking it all in. At 9:50 a.m., the Tucker Theater opened. Fascinating movie about how the arch was constructed.

The film lasted about 1/2 hour so after the film, we continued exploring the museum until it was time to go up to the top.

We learned so much of the history of the city and how the Arch was built not only from the movie but also by the numerous displays.

This was just the beginning of our very busy day at the Gateway Arch….more to follow!

Check out our photo album of our visit to St. Louis and the Gateway Arch here.