September 17, 2007

We found a campground in Granite, IL. which is close to Pat and Larry's place and a lot of the things we want to see and it is a SAFE area of town!!!!! We are actually in St Louis, Home of the famous " St. Louis Cardinal's baseball team and the "Cardinal Hall of fame." The new "Busch Stadium" built in 2006 provides the fans with a beautiful view of the "Gateway Arch" and the downtown skyline. We went to the "Gateway Arch" known as the "Gateway to the West". It was built 1963, finished in 1968 with the cost of 11 million dollars. It is made of stainless steel and is 630 feet tall or 10 stories tall with18 windows that measure 7" By 27" that you can look out when you're at the top of the dome. There are trams to take you to the top and it takes 4 minutes to get there. It can hold 160 people in the dome. You get the most beautiful bird's eye view of the city from the top,(picture) and you can stay up there as long as you want to but there are no other facilities. The one picture has the shadow of the dome across it. We would have spent more time up in the dome if we hadn't been invited for dinner at Pat and Larry's house and with the heavy traffic, we couldn't spend the time we would have liked to in the museum there. The dinner was great, with corn bread, ham hocks & beans, fried okra, potatoes, gravy, corn, pork loin, salad and the best apple crisp we have ever ate with ice cream. Lance, Kathy and Mike were there for dinner and everyone took a part in preparing the meal. It was sure fun watching them all take turns cooking their part of the meal.(pictures)