By: Jeff and Noreene Totten – Adventure 18
With
the sun rising in a clear sky, we started another excellent day on the Great
River Road with more good spots to see in Saint Louis, Missouri. The temperature reached into the 80’s; some
of us were in shorts and some in longer ware.
Either way was comfortable. Our
bus picked us up at 9:00AM and we were on our way to our first stop of the
day: Grant’s Farm, the home of the
Clydesdales.
While
traveling to Grant’s Farm, we noticed that gasoline was selling for $3.099 per
gallon. For our readers in higher priced
states, we are sorry to bring you this news.
On another note, Christie, our bus driver both
today and yesterday, brought us up to date on an event we saw yesterday. Yesterday (Saturday) we saw a man riding a
horse under circumstances that just didn’t seem proper. On her way home last night, Christie noticed
the same man no longer riding the horse, and in handcuffs. We had apparently witnessed a modern day
rustling.
We
arrived at our first stop; Grant’s Farm which is the home of the Clydesdale
Horses. The farm is now an enjoyable
tourist spot and includes, along with the Clydesdales, a tour by tram alongside a 7 acre lake which
is a habitat for migrating birds and borders areas that are home to many types
of wildlife including Mustangs, Buffalo, Cattle, Deer and Geese. Trees in the area have ragged lower branches
because the trimming job normally done by groundskeepers has been taken over by
the wildlife and they don’t do a very even job.
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| waiting in line to get on the Tram |
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Left: Jim and Lela Grime, Dave and Hazel Crowder
Right: Jeff and Noreene Totten, Bill and Marilyn Kern |
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Wild horses adopted and brought here
from the West |
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| Beautiful grounds of Grant's Farm |
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| Buffalo herd - all the animals roam free |
As we
travelled on by tram, we came across a restored log cabin that was the
childhood home of Ulysses S. Grant. By
the cabin were wagons and a canon that were both from the same time.
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| Childhood home of Ulysses S. Grant |
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| Covered wagons |
Our tram
tour ended at the beginning of a walking tour to a feeding pen where children
were given the opportunity to feed young wildlife with baby bottles.
The
walking tour then took us to the hospitality area. Did we say that this is the home of the
Clydesdales? Must be associated with
Budweiser. If we had not had enough free
beer as part of our Budweiser brewery tour yesterday more was available now! Soft drinks and snow cones were also
available so all could enjoy the moment.
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FREE BEER!
|
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10:30? Well, it must be 5:00
SOMEWHERE!
|
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| Madi prefers a snow cone |
With
the tour part of Grant’s farm over, we went on to the Clydesdales. Here were both full grown and colts. These horses at birth are about 3-1/2 feet
tall and weigh about 120 pounds. They
gain about 4-1/2 pounds per day in the first year. Beyond that, it takes about 2 years of growth
before they are ready to begin training in order to pull a wagon.
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| Marilyn Kern pets one of the Clydesdales |
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| Young Clydesdales |
The
Clydesdales rounded out our visit to Grant’s Farm and we were off to Hometown
Buffet for lunch. Plenty of well
prepared food put us in a position where many may have skipped dinner this
evening.
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| Enjoying our meal at Hometown Buffet |
After
lunch it is time for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, commonly known
as the Gateway Arch or just, The Arch.
The Arch was designed in 1947. Construction started in 1962 and was
completed in 1965, a 2-1/2 year construction project. Construction completed in 40 degree weather
on October 28, 1965. The Arch is 630 feet high and 630 feet wide at the
base. It is the tallest structure in
Saint Louis and will continue to be such as there is an ordinance limiting
building height to less than The Arch height.
Included in the project are 900 tons of stainless steel, 165,000 square
feet of ¼” thick steel plate, 500 tons of tie rods and braces, and 200 tons of
additional carbon steel. All of this
sits on a foundation made up of 26,000 tons of concrete. The Monument, a phenomenal example of
construction, is a salute to Western expansion in the 1800’s and a salute to
Thomas Jefferson who, as President of the United States, pushed for expansion
to the Pacific Coast. The Arch complex
includes a museum of early Western expansion with very informative displays, a
short but very good film on the arch construction, and rides to the top of the
arch, all inside the arch, with an opportunity to view Saint Louis from that
vantage point. Each of these is absolutely
worth the visit. In this day’s blog, you
have seen numerous paragraphs about Grant’s Farm and one paragraph about The
Arch. The only reason for such a use of
words is that this writer simply cannot find the words to describe such an
awesome project as The Arch.
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| Lee takes a cat nap |
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| Waiting for the movie to start |
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| The Museum of Westward Expansion |
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The 3 Scaredy Cats
Carole, Beverly and Madi |
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| Waiting to get on the Arch Tram |
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| 630 feet up in the air |
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| The view was worth it all! |
With
our visit to The Arch concluded, we returned to our campground with a great day
of memories and for Ira and Beverly, a celebration: Bella, their puppy is 6 months old
today. Happy half birthday, Bella!
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| Birthday girl, Bella |
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