THE GATEWAY ARCH OF ST. LOUIS MISSOURI

The Gateway Arch is the tallest national monument in the United States at 630 feet; it is the city's best known landmark and a popular tourist attraction.

 The Tram to the top takes five people - knee to knee.

 The view of St. Louis from the top of the Arch.

A boat on the Missippii River that the Arch overlooks.

Here are some facts about the Arch.

•Construction began February 12, 1963 and the last section of the Arch was put into place on October 28, 1965.

•The Arch is a structure known as a catenary curve, the shape a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends, and considered the most structurally-sound arch shape. The span of the Arch legs at ground level is 630 feet, the same as its height.

•Each year, approximately a million visitors ride the trams to the top of the Arch. The trams have been in operation for over 30 years, traveling a total of 250,000 miles and carrying over 25 million passengers.

•The Arch weighs 17,246 tons. Nine hundred tons of stainless steel was used to build the Arch, more than any other project in history.

•The Arch was built at a cost of $13 million. The transportation system was built at a cost of $3,500,000.

•In order to ensure that the constructed legs would meet, the margin of error for failure was 1/64th of an inch. All survey work was done at night to eliminate distortion caused by the sun's rays. Since the Arch was constructed before the advent of computer technology, relatively crude instruments were used for these measurements.

•The Arch sways a maximum of 18" (9" each way) in a 150 mph wind. The usual sway is 1/2".

ST. LOUIS CAROUSEL

 Built about 1920 by the Dentzel Company the St. Louis Carousel is housed in a building at Faust Park.  It was a main feature of an amusement park until the park burned down in 1963.  The carousel was saved and later purchased by Harold Ohlendorf who donated to St. Louis County.

Also, in Faust Park is the Sphia M. Sachs Butterfly House.

NASHVILLE TN to ST. LOUIS MO

Our strategy for going home was to go to Tennessee from North Caroline, the hit Highway 29 up through Kentucky, Illinois, Missour and into Iowa.  Then in South Dakota turn west on I-90.  

Nearly all the way through Kentucky we had rain.  There was a lot of flooding around rivers and lakes clear up into Iowa.

 There was a terrible one car accident on the way.  It is hard to believe anyone survived. 

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME

There was an exhibit for Tammy Wynette.  This is in commenoration of the sound track for Sleepless in Seatle in which Tammy Wynette sang.

 One of Tammy Wynnette's dresses

 Minnie Pearl

 Brenda Lee

 The Everly Brothers

 Buck Owens' guitar he used on Hee Yaw. 

There was a documentary on country stars in television and the movies.  I guess I was far more country than I realized.  I watched a lot of them.

 Johnny Cash

 Hank Williams awards

 One of Carrie Underwoods' dresses.

 Taylor Swift's dress.

DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE TN

HELLO TENNESEE

Knoxville's Sunsphere Tower Constructed for their 1982 World's Fair

CORALEE IS GETTING REAL SMALL

 And, that's the truth!!! 

AVA GARDNER MUSEUM

Not far from us in Smithfield NC there is a museum for Ava Gardner.  She was born in a town nearby and her grave is also in the area.

 This is from her original screen test.  Someone had seen her picture in her brother-in-laws photography shop window and recommended she take a screen test.  Her southern drawl was so bad they told her not to talk on the screen test.  She was signed to MGM based just on her beauty.

 Ava's first marriage was to Mickey Rooney.

 Her second marriage was to Artie Hall.

 Even though her last marriage to Frank Sinatra only lasted a little over a year they remained friends.

 A couple of costumes.

 Ava reportedly had a 18 inch waist.  This jacket really shows that.

 A fan - Bert Pfeiffer was captivated with Ava in her 1948 movie One Touch of Venus.

He vowed to paint a picture of her every year which he did.  There are 26 of his paintings in the museum.