Christmas In July

I left off the last post in Kansas where there was, well, nothing, so we'll continue on to St. Louis, Missouri in my quest to have this blog home by Christmas. Here we have...
...the Gateway Arch.
Hiding behind an old Cathedral
630 feet high...
...and 630 feet wide.
The country's largest monument, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
This guy was talking to me in the Museum of Westward Expansion underneath the Arch.
Entrance to the tram that travels...
...from the base...

...all the way to the top.

View from one of the bases.

Panoramic.
The mighty Mississippi is still high.
The road is submerged here with barges in the background...
...and a couple that wanted to test the waters.
If you look close, you'll see the windows in the top.

Trying to be artistic.

Lay on the ground underneath the Arch and take a panoramic...

...with only mild distortions after piecing the pictures together.
I'm still amazed at the engineering that went into the tram design.

Sun shimmering off the stainless steel shell.
Another view.
Rising into thin air...

Of course.

Another view.
Now for the explanation...
...and the last piece goes in.
Door to the tram cab...
...where six people duck and squeeze into an oblong capsule for the quick ride to the top.
Sunset from the top.
Looking westward.
Heliport surrounded by the Mississippi
Stairs leading from the tram to the viewing windows on top.
Downtown St. Louis including the Cardinals stadium.
One more view as the sun neared the horizon.
Old Courthouse.
Leaning out the viewing windows on top.

Glamour night shots.
Courthouse lit up.
If you click on it, you'll see hints of the full moon rising between the clouds at the base of the Arch.
City lights reflecting...
The moon begins its ascent.
The shaky cameraman struggled to capture the beauty of the moon rising below the Arch, so just imagine.
Continuing on my journey home... are you having turkey for Christmas?
I tried to capture state signs along the way, but wasn't very successful.
I paid $2.15 in tolls to drive 3,000 miles from Idaho to New York and over $15 to drive 300 miles across New York.
Welcome home as the sun sets on another journey.
242,189... how far will it go?

One last handstand... but this isn't me... but it's got me thinking...

Home for Christmas!