Bright and early (we arrived at 8:15am) we walked through the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park to the St. Louis Gateway (to the West) Arch. They took our photo on the way in and we decided it was decent enough to save for a sourvenir....shows the park, the old courthouse and the arch.
Here it is and it's pretty impressive, 630 feet high and the same width, started in 1963 and finished 2-1/2 years later at a cost of $13,000,000. It's outer skin is stainless steel.
We rode to the top in this elevator pod...it's 1076 stairs. It took about 4 minutes. There are pods in the north and the south arms of the arch.
Here we are on the top of the arch....where there are 16 windows on each side to look out.
Looking to the west...the Cardinals' Stadium.
The Old Courthouse and downtown St. Louis
The Mississippi on the east.
Under the arch and under ground were gift shops and a large museum to learn about Lewis and Clark and Indians and buffaloes and stagecoaches and Teddy Roosevelt and pioneers and soldiers, etc. There were 2 movie theaters. We chose to watch the documentary film "Monument to the Dream" about the design and construction of the arch. Pretty amazing.
We took lots of photos...here are a few of our favorites. This was the 1st shot, early in the morning before the clouds cleared.
Stainless steel
Blue Skies
From the Park
I was standing near the river to get this shot with Dad in it.
Here's Dad at the Aloe Plaza Fountian "Meeting of the Waters" which depicts the union of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers represented by the two central figures. Accompanying them are 17 water spirits forming a wedding procession symbolic of the smaller streams that empty into the 2 major rivers.
Looking the other way is St. Louis Union Station behind the fountain, once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world, first open in 1894. Now it is one of America's great market places including a Marriot Hotel, offices, a lake and a plaza and over 80 shops and restaurants.
One of the bronze figures in the fountain.
We also visited the Cathedral Basilica a prominent landmark of St. Louis which took 75 years to complete.
The walls and ceiling and columns are adorned with intricate glass mosaics...lots of gold glass.
Millions of pieces of glass depict biblical scenes and the life of King Louis IX of France, the cathedral and the city's namesake.
Sculpture
The back of the cathedral showing its distinctive green-tiled dome.
OK, we made it to Nauvoo. We stayed at this historic hotel on the main street just a couple of blocks from the temple.
The first production we saw, by the young performing missionaries in the Visitors Center, was called High Hopes and River Boats.
Logan played a young rascal named Eli. He was entertaining to watch...did a great job. He was everybody's favorite character.
There were 20 young performers...great singing and dancing.
Elder Strasser with Mom after the show.
Next we watched Sunset on the Mississippi, outside.
It included the Young Performing Missionaries.
Logan did a great job dancing and singing. I'll try to upload a video.
The fiddlers.
The large troupe of Senior missionaries.
The senior men singing Grandma's Feather Bed.
The Nauvoo Band.
We enjoyed the skits, songs, dances, musical numbers and all the fun and talented performers.
The Pageant shared the story of Nauvoo in the 1840s, including the building of the temple and paid tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith on a big outdoor stage. It was a powerful and entertaining performance. Logan's group contributed to 2 of the song and dance numbers.
The finale included a lighting of the temple on the hill in the background.
The Restored Nauvoo Temple at night.
Bright and early (we arrived at 8:15am) we walked through the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park to the St. Louis Gateway (to the West) Arch. They took our photo on the way in and we decided it was decent enough to save for a sourvenir....shows the park, the old courthouse and the arch.
Here it is and it's pretty impressive, 630 feet high and the same width, started in 1963 and finished 2-1/2 years later at a cost of $13,000,000. It's outer skin is stainless steel.
We rode to the top in this elevator pod...it's 1076 stairs. It took about 4 minutes. There are pods in the north and the south arms of the arch.
Here we are on the top of the arch....where there are 16 windows on each side to look out.
Looking to the west...the Cardinals' Stadium.
The Old Courthouse and downtown St. Louis
The Mississippi on the east.
Under the arch and under ground were gift shops and a large museum to learn about Lewis and Clark and Indians and buffaloes and stagecoaches and Teddy Roosevelt and pioneers and soldiers, etc. There were 2 movie theaters. We chose to watch the documentary film "Monument to the Dream" about the design and construction of the arch. Pretty amazing.
We took lots of photos...here are a few of our favorites. This was the 1st shot, early in the morning before the clouds cleared.
Stainless steel
Blue Skies
From the Park
I was standing near the river to get this shot with Dad in it. 
Here's Dad at the Aloe Plaza Fountian "Meeting of the Waters" which depicts the union of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers represented by the two central figures. Accompanying them are 17 water spirits forming a wedding procession symbolic of the smaller streams that empty into the 2 major rivers. 
Looking the other way is St. Louis Union Station behind the fountain, once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world, first open in 1894. Now it is one of America's great market places including a Marriot Hotel, offices, a lake and a plaza and over 80 shops and restaurants.
One of the bronze figures in the fountain. 
We also visited the Cathedral Basilica a prominent landmark of St. Louis which took 75 years to complete.
The walls and ceiling and columns are adorned with intricate glass mosaics...lots of gold glass.
Millions of pieces of glass depict biblical scenes and the life of King Louis IX of France, the cathedral and the city's namesake. 
Sculpture
The back of the cathedral showing its distinctive green-tiled dome.
OK, we made it to Nauvoo. We stayed at this historic hotel on the main street just a couple of blocks from the temple.
The first production we saw, by the young performing missionaries in the Visitors Center, was called High Hopes and River Boats.
Logan played a young rascal named Eli. He was entertaining to watch...did a great job. He was everybody's favorite character.
There were 20 young performers...great singing and dancing.
Elder Strasser with Mom after the show.
Next we watched Sunset on the Mississippi, outside.
It included the Young Performing Missionaries.
Logan did a great job dancing and singing. I'll try to upload a video.
The fiddlers.
The large troupe of Senior missionaries.
The senior men singing Grandma's Feather Bed.
The Nauvoo Band.
We enjoyed the skits, songs, dances, musical numbers and all the fun and talented performers.
The Pageant shared the story of Nauvoo in the 1840s, including the building of the temple and paid tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith on a big outdoor stage. It was a powerful and entertaining performance. Logan's group contributed to 2 of the song and dance numbers.
The finale included a lighting of the temple on the hill in the background.
The Restored Nauvoo Temple at night.
3 comments:
The arch is REALLY impressive. And I'm sure Nauvoo is just magical. I can't wait to go there someday! :)
wow that picture of the arch with the stainless steel written under it is incredible...worthy of the title framable art. Good job dad! It would have been awesome to stay right in Nauvoo, how cool is that. I bet it was so fun to see Logan as well, I bet he was a great performer.
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