Day Trip

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wednesday wasn’t a blogging day.  We went into town for a few things, Fred mowed, and Barney poured some concrete.

Today was a lot more interesting!  We got an early start so we could make a day trip to St. Louis.  Fred wanted to go in for the release of the Ulysses S Grant presidential dollar.  Barney has wanted to stop in at St Louis Metallizing for a while, so this was a good opportunity.  We made arrangements to stop there around 10 am.  Larry took Barney and Fred on a tour of the shop while Betty and Wilma waited in Larry’s office.  Barney had dealt with Larry and this company while still in the work force.

After their tour, we decided to stop at the Arch and get our stamps there.  We had to wait around for about an hour to go up to the top of the Arch. That is a very interesting trip. You cram five people into the small cave like cars, and it takes four minutes to make the climb, and three minutes to go down.

It's pretty tall

The St Louis Gateway Arch

Betty and Barney enjoying the view

Wilma and Betty at the top

The Old Courthouse from the Arch

Barney & Betty, Wilma & Fred at the Courthouse

You can stay at the top as long as you want. It was not windy, so we didn’t feel it swaying, but you can feel the vibration of the cave cage cars on their trips up and down.  There was a Cardinals game in progress, and we could see the stadium from the top.  It looked like they had a good turnout.

We went over to the Old Courthouse and got a stamp there, then we were off for the Grant home.  We got there after the speeches, but in time to purchase some of the new dollar coins and get our books stamped.  We met up with Betty’s brother and SIL there and we all proceeded down the road.  Stopped and had some dinner, made a stop at Lowes, and then headed for the cave houses.  A great day!

Today’s stops makes 18 park locations where we have gotten stamps on this trip, plus six other stops.  We have been getting around!