Go to the top of the St. Louis Arch.

Just about everyone who lives in the midwest has done this at least once. I never understood why it freaked out some people – even as a little kid it wasn’t even remotely scary.

I was very afraid of heights. Somehow, I made myself ride to the top of the arch. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be. The ride up made me the most nervous, but that was it. It was nice and I’d do it again.

its high up.

The view from the top of the arch is beautiful, especially at night, and the ride up in the little pod car is pretty cool too.

We don’t have a lot of money so when it came time to plan our vacation this summer (2005) we decided to visit St. Louis, which is about 4 1/2 hours away from us. My husband wanted to go up in the arch, and I thought, “Great idea!”

Our hotel was right by the arch (great view from the window) and the night we arrived we walked to the park and bought our tram tickets. When I saw it up close and in person I realized how crazy the whole idea was (as well as how impossible and dangerous it looked) and was quite nervous when we were in line to get in our “pod.”

My little daughter clung to me during the very short trip up and I was happy to have someone to cling to. Getting out and going to the windows was pretty nerve-wracking and leaning to look out the windows caused me to have an unreasonable fear of somehow causing the whole arch to become off-balance and fall, but I really enjoyed the view.

It really is an amazing structure and I am glad we went, and am very glad our children got to experience it.

I enjoyed this, but if you are scared of tight spaces, you aren’t going to like going up. You’re in these Mork from Ork egg pods that send you and 3 others up.

I have been several times, and the last time was the summer before I moved.