America 2023 – Day Twenty-Three

Three tours of duty and a Silver Star
They brought him back home with his battle scars
He stopped off the plane in his combat boots
And he saluted the red, the white and blue

And the whole town cheered
And his mama cried
Another hometown boy
Made it home alive
Got his picture in the paper and the headline read
“Welcome Back, All-American Kid”

Yeah, this song is for those who never did
Come back all-American kids

– Garth Brooks

Friday 9 June 2023

Another beautiful day for our last one in St Louis. I had a great night’s sleep last night and was up ready for a walk at around 7:00am. My 7km tour took in the Gateway Arch – I will never not be in awe of the amazing structure on the banks of the Mississippi – and the parkland that surrounds it, before walking along the river for a while, and back to the Airbnb. As always, a perfect way to start the day.

Speaking of the Arch, we went up in it today, on the 11:30am tour. A very cramped box-like tram capsule transports you to the top, but there isn’t a whole lot of room inside, so if you’re tall like me, you need to do your best origami impersonation and fold yourself inside for the thankfully-short journey to the top. Watching people get out at the bottom or top reminds me of those clown car skits where a dozen people climb out of a small car!

Thankfully, Mother Nature turned on a good day for us, and the views in both directions – west across the state Missouri and east across the Mississippi, which is kind of muddy and bleak here, with a lot of factories around, not the clear water image you see sometimes in documentaries, to Illinois – were sensational. It’s worth the effort, if you’re ever in this picturesque city.

Continuing our tour of the St Louis sights, we met up with Jaimie and some of her kids and toured the St Louis Zoo in the afternoon, despite the warm temperatures. I have often heard that it’s one of the best zoos around – though not as good as Taronga back home, of course – and nothing I saw this afternoon persuaded me otherwise: good-sized enclosures and lots of different animals in a nice parkland area.

About the only downside was that because it was warm in the middle of the day, a lot of the animals were lying around in the shade rather than walking around and doing things. I’d like to visit again, earlier in the day or in cooler weather to try and remedy that, but the zoo is still worth it.

So, on to the final chapter of our day: St Louis Cardinals baseball at Busch Stadium downtown, with a great dinner at a sports bar across from the stadium beforehand. Busch is actually one of my favourite sporting venues anywhere. The fans are always passionate and the atmosphere, even when the Cards are getting beaten, is brilliant. The park itself is well designed, with no really bad seat in the house, and if you’re sitting behind home plate, you are treated to an amazing view of the Gateway Arch beyond the stadium – really cool.