St. Louis - the Gateway Arch!

We arrived in Kansas City after an 11 hour drive and one stop for fried chicken.  It was Cinco de Mayo.  KC was a raging party when we arrived, with lots of people who can't dance dancing in the streets.  I'm not a big fan of Kansas City at this point.  It was pretty embarrassing.

After sleeping off the long drive, we piled back into the truck for another four hour road trip, and headed straight to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  Check out the toe nails on this horse!

After being stripped of numerous weapons while entering the Gateway Arch National Monument, we slipped into the coffin for the ferris-wheel ride up to the top.

After we climbed out of the coffin and into the mausoleum at the top of the Arch, here are the views:

Looking straight down like Percy Jackson in Rick Riordan's book...

...and looking towards the baseball stadium....

The most important thing about the Arch - it is a memorial to our hero, Thomas Jefferson, who had the foresight to purchase all of the land west of the Mississippi in the Louisiana Purchase.  

In 1789, he said "no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence."  Remember that line, it is going to become more important in the next few years (or next few months if you are Greek, Spanish, or Portuguese)!