My family's visit to the St. Louis Gateway Arch (July 9, 2014)

We took a brief family vacation to St. Louis this week (July 7-10, 2014) and were thankful that there was a lot to enjoy that was free or very inexpensive. One location that our whole family enjoyed was the Gateway Arch.

I took my iphone out and enjoyed taking some pictures while I was there.

After taking some photos outside the arch and checking out the Visitor's Complex under the arch, Zach, Joseph and I purchased some tickets to take the ride to the top. Kim wanted to watch a movie on Lewis and Clark and Sean stayed with her.

Here's what the small, claustrophobic!!!, cars look like that took us on the 4 minute ride to the top of the arch:

The doorway was about 4 1/2 foot tall. Once 5 people got into this small space (with our heads hunched over), the glass door closed and we took the ride to the top.

Once at the top (630 feet up!), the doors opened and we got out to take a look.

Here's what we saw:

Finally, I took a video to give yet more perspective on how incredible this man-made wonder is. It's nothing fancy. It just pans over the whole extent of the arch and then focuses in on Kim, Zach, Sean and Joseph.