Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

Cathedral
Exterior

On a recent visit to St. Louis, we stopped at my aunt’s house for a short visit. She recommended a place that I had not heard of before. I was convinced that if she recommended it, it was worth seeing. My husband wasn’t convinced but agreed to go along with me the next day. We aren’t Catholics and I’ve only seen the inside of a few Catholic churches in my lifetime and I didn’t find them very impressive. Those had definitely not been worth going out of my way to see. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, though out of our way, was an astonishing sight. My aunt had explained it, but until you walk through the doors, there is no way for you to imagine the beauty that is everywhere inside.

The exterior of the Cathedral is also impressive. It has a Romanesque style of architecture on the outside, with Byzantine style on the interior. It sits on the corner of Lindell Boulevard and Newstead Avenue in downtown Saint Louis. The Cathedral is a hidden gem in a city with many popular tourist attractions. There are many architectural features that make this building remarkable. It is a large building with three domes, half domes, arches, and barrel-vaulted ceilings.

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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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