Meet Me In St. Louis

"Meet Me in St. Louis" was the first show I did with the Morehead Theatre Guild. I was finishing my 6th grade year, circa 1994. Holy crap I am old.

Anyway, that tidbit aside, this post is about the actual St. Louis, not the musical set during the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Three weeks ago my sister, brother-in-law and niece came out for the last couple of days of their spring break to see us. Well, truthfully they came to see Will (and who could blame them) but they didn't mind seeing me and Eli too. Their visit gave me an excuse to do something I had neglected to do in the 8 months we have lived here- visit the Gateway Arch. I have driven relatively close to it several times, and seen it from a distance countless times, but before this trip had never actually seen it up close and personal.

Before I share my thoughts on this monument, let me say that my expectations of the Arch and adjacent park were not particularly high. Having had the opportunity to live in Washington D.C. or within a short drive, I have experienced some truly beautiful and meaningful monuments and memorials. D.C. is many things, including a den of political self-importance, but it takes its role of national capital very seriously, and as a result the monuments and memorials are incredible. They are surprisingly well-run, awe-inspiring and informative, and maintain a reverence that normally is lost whenever large crowds are involved. Sadly, my experiences with other monuments and national parks have never really matched up. So going in I was not hugely excited.

Our drive into the city was uneventful. I was sure I would get us lost, but the directions were clear and took us directly to the parking structure beside the park. Right off the bat this raised the experience in my opinion, because the design of the area was so smart, and the parking truly convenient. We got out of the car, got the baby situated into his stroller, and began the walk to the base of the Arch. This walk took us down a wide path through a park that was still a little dull from winter, but promised to be quite lovely in spring bloom. There was a large pond to the right where geese were lazily paddling around. To the left you could see the Mississippi River, wide and dark, flowing slowly but constantly. The walk was fairly short, and as we got closer the trees cleared to reveal a truly spectacular view of the Arch. The sun was shining and the Arch gleamed as if it had just been polished like my grandmother's silver. Any expectations I had were immediately surpassed. The view was incredible.



Between the legs of the Arch, underground, is the Museum of Westward Expansion. Centered primarily on the exploration of Lewis and Clark, the museum has an interesting design and flow, and a very good collection of period pieces and reproductions. For the kids, (and adults like me) they have several animatronic figures that tell stories from the point of view of various people from the period. Sadly, these figures were undergoing maintenance when we were there, so we didn't get to hear their stories. The museum also has two movie theaters that show films about the expedition of Lewis and Clark, and the construction of the Arch.

After we toured the museum, the Skaggs split off and took an hour-long riverboat ride up and down the riverfront while Will and I stayed back so he could have lunch and a nap. While they were gone I took a stroll with Will around the green under the Arch. It was a beautiful day, and people were scattered on the grass, lounging, eating their lunch, or reading a book. Looking toward the city from the Arch you could see the historic Old Courthouse, where the famed Dred Scott case was tried. After our walk, we settled on the grass and while Will napped I just sat and took everything in. It was a wonderful way to spend an hour.

The Skaggs returned from their riverboat ride and told me it was well worth the time and expense. I think its pretty neat that you can still take a riverboat ride on the Mississippi, and I know my niece had stories to tell, and plenty of information for the paper she had to write about her trip. I know I learned alot, but instead of cribbing the notes from the brochures, here are some tidbits of information from the website:


1. The 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.

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

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

7. 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.

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

Green Thumb???

I promised no excuses for lags in this blog and I will stick to that promise. The Roberson household has had an exciting and crazy few weeks. I will chronicle the highlights in the next couple of posts, but today I think I will share with you a new side project that we have begun.

When Eli and I lived in Baltimore we shared a 3rd floor apartment in a nice area. However, as any past or present apartment dweller can attest, your yard more often than not is a concrete slab balcony. We missed having green at our doorstep, so we decided to create a balcony garden. I originally envisioned a few planters with mixed flowers just to pretty things up. Eli however, had ambitions to grow vegetables, particularly tomatoes, though some other veggies were attempted. This garden had varying degrees of success. We actually did get a few tomatoes out of Eli's hard work, but dealing with less than ideal conditions meant only a few plants ever thrived.

Fast forward to last summer when we bought our house. One of the features we were attracted to was the decent sized front yard and large back yard. We immediately saw endless potential for flower and vegetable gardening. Of course, I was 7 months pregnant when we moved in July, and between unpacking and preparing for Will's arrival we were lucky to get the lawn mowed. So our dreams of gardening were put on hold.

I should stop at this point acknowledge an important piece of information. Neither Eli nor I have any real experience gardening. My Gran maintained lovely gardens around the house, but any lessons she attempted to give were wasted on my youth and then disinterest. Eli's grandfather did some farming, but he passed away when Eli was fairly young. So we are charging into this project largely uneducated. I checked out 3 books on gardening from the local library just to try and figure out some basics.

Despite our lack of experience, we have some pretty grand plans for our gardens. We actually started with some flowering trees that Eli received through a donation to the Arbor Day Foundation. We planted half of those last Wednesday, and will finish planting in the next couple of days. I have decided to try azalea bushes in the beds that run across the front of our house, with some perennial flowers in the front of those beds to fill in until the bushes get some growth. I am also going to plant a mix of perennials in the beds around our front tree and mailbox. I really want to plant all kinds of bulbs- tulips, daffodils, crocus, etc- but have to wait until the fall to do that. This is all very ambitious for me, so if I can manage to keep most of it alive I will consider it a major victory.

The backyard is going to be the main event. Eli has a huge vegetable garden in mind, and I am excited to see it grow. I know for sure he is going to try several varieties of tomatoes, sweet peppers and banana peppers, onions, and green beans. He has several other possible additions that I am not sure if he has decided on yet, but I know he is also planning to make me a little herb garden. I have dreams of these vegetables and the yummy things I can make with them. I think for both of us we are excited to have a project to work on. I have been looking for ways to feel more productive and active, and Eli has a strong desire to work on a project that has a clear end result. Hopefully between the two of us we have at least one green thumb.