Gateway Arch – An Unusual National Park

Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri, is not your regular National Park. You can’t go camping there. Neither can you see a natural wonder that has been there for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, or longer. Gateway Arch is man made. It is 55 years old (in 2020.) There are ninety acres of land included in this National Park, covered with a few buildings, a lot of grass, and over 4,000 trees. Plus 5 miles of trails.

Even though the Gateway Arch has only been a National Park since 2018, it has a large amount of history. Before becoming a national park it was known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Its location is near where Lewis and Clark began their expedition to expand our country to the West. It was also known as the Gateway to the West. The area was designated as a national memorial in 1935. In 2018, President Donald Trump designated Gateway Arch as a National Park.

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7 Steps to Plan Your Next Road Trip

In the past, planning a road trip meant figuring out the location, making the reservations, and planning the meals. Most of these trips lasted a weekend or maybe a week. These trips had one destination and it was drivable from our home.

This year I have planned a trip that will be over a week and will include three states. That was a little more complicated and required a lot of research. In the end, I think the steps I took will result in a much more interesting, less stressful, and more enjoyable trip. I’m about to share those steps with you so that you, too, will be able to plan and enjoy a great vacation, by avoiding as many stumbling blocks as possible along the way.

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