Saturday, November 2, 2013

Getting Our Kicks~ Route 66 Vaca ~ Day 20~ The Last Day

Columbia, MO to HOME!
So good to start seeing more green, gently rolling hills and lots more trees.
       When we drove through St. Louis at the beginning of the trip, on Route 66, the Government shut-down had the Gateway Arch closed. This time, since it was the middle of the day, we thought traffic would be light and it was, so we took the opportunity to stop and check out the big arch.
        I have to admit, I was a bit concerned about the neighborhood we had to drive through, but look at the art.

Didn't realize they had beautiful cobble streets which were very rough.
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We had to park our tall van a couple of blocks away from the too short parking structure where you park for the Arch.
We walked through the parking structure, and as we walked up out of the stair case, this is what we saw.




 I ask you, "Could you have picked a more beautiful day?"
Mr. G and I were highly impressed with how our whole trip was full of perfect timing, and this was another occasion of that happening.  
We thank God for all the opportunities he gave us on this trip to see his great work of beauty.




 Above you see the underground entrance to the museum and the carts that carry you to the top of the arch.  You do have to go through security whereby you have to also remove belts.  Rather funny watching old men and some boys hold their pants up as they walked through the screening.
We walked through the museum which was a chronicle of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Even though the Expedition was a different trail than our Rt. 66 trip, it was like reviewing our trip.
Pictures of landscapes across the country were a part of the presentation.




Standing under the arch, I held my camera down in front of me and took a blind shot.

 On the walk back to the van.

 Back on the highway for the last miles home.
We arrived at my home a few minutes after 9.  Such a relaxing feeling to be home.
Oh what an awesome trip across our great nation!
I hope you enJOYed taking the trip with us.
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Start all over at Day 1?
Sharing at several Linky Parties.
Thanks to the FREE programs:
possibly used for this post
GIMP for cropping & other digital effects
 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo
PicMonkey creating collages used on this page

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful!
    Thanks for sharing!
    Have a wonderful day!
    Lea

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  2. You caught some gorgeous fall color there! Beautiful photos of the arch with the autumn leaves! Very impressive! My grandfather was part of the engineering team responsible for designing the elevator system in the arch.

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  3. Thank you for all your wonderful pictures on your blog. And for letting us travel with you.

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  4. Wow, gorgeous fall colors of a great midwest US city... Thank you for coming by sharing your creative photography on the Weekly Top Shot, #107!

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  5. We went through St. Louis on the 4th of July. We didn't stop, but I wish we could have.

    Royalegacy's Wordless Wednesday: Tarantula

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  6. Beautiful photos Joy! Sounds like a fabulous trip.

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awww, you traveled through St. Louis too! Gosh, I miss that city! We moved to WA from MO last November and your photos really made me miss our old home and friends. :)

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