St. Louis sparkles from the observation area of the Gateway Arch. Take in the Mississippi River, downtown, and the Cardinals' Busch Stadium. Photos by EMILY GILMORE/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Solo in St. Louis

Solo in St. Louis

Date published: 5/6/2006

By EMILY GILMORE

The woman regarded me skeptically as I stepped up to the counter.

"Is there anyone else you'd like to travel with today?" she asked after I requested one ticket to ride to the top of St. Louis' Gateway Arch.

I shook my head no, and was issued a pass for the very next trip.

I appreciated not having to wait an hour for the next available space like some families in line in front of me. I did, however, have to endure quizzical looks from most of the people I encountered as I made my way to the tram.

Frankly, I was surprised that my status as a singleton was so unusual. Surely some people--business travelers, for instance--visit the arch by themselves.

I spent the four-minute ascent to the observation area with a nice, seemingly wholesome family from Minnesota, who also seemed surprised that I was on my own.

I satisfied them with my explanation that the friend I was visiting had to work that day, and this was how I chose to occupy myself.

And I would like to take this opportunity to issue a warning to claustrophobes: Though each egg-shaped car on the tram is designed to convey five people to the top of the arch, it's such a tight fit that I couldn't sit up straight.

Rows of windows on each side of the arch, a national park officially known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, offer views of downtown St. Louis on one side and a great expanse of Illinois just across the Mississippi River on the other.

High winds that day made the arch sway enough to give some people motion sickness, but I was content to gaze--from my vantage point 630 feet above the city--at the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott case was tried; check out the progress on the still-unfinished Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team; and more.

For those who are not as lucky as I and have to kill time before their trip up the arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion underneath the landmark offers an overview of the Lewis and Clark expedition and contains rare artifacts, eerily lifelike animatronic figures and an exhibit about the arch's designer, Eero Saarinen, who also designed my trip's starting point--Dulles International Airport.

ATTRACTIONS Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch): stlouisarch.com, nps.gov/jeff, 877/982-1410 Forest Park: stlouis.missouri.org/ citygov/parks/ forestpark Saint Louis Zoological Park: stlzoo.org, 800/966-8877 St. Louis Science Center: slsc.org, 800/456-7572 Saint Louis Art Museum: stlouis.art.museum, 314/721-0072 Missouri History Museum: mohistory.org/content/ HomePage/ HomePage.aspx, 314/454-3150 Delmar Loop: ucityloop.com Ted Drewes Frozen Custard: teddrewes.com INFORMATION explorestlouis.com visitmo.com stlouis.missouri.org

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Date published: 5/6/2006