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The arch itself is large and just an oddity altogether, but carries itself in a very quiet manner. It neither dominates the skyline or imposes itself like other National Monuments - it just seems to exist. Walking from the train station, the side view recalled a misshapen Washington Monument, it seemed to sway recklessly as the clouds in the sky zoomed past as I looked up at it. The lines led downstairs, where they had a pretty comprehensive museum dedicated to the western expansion. There were
lots of displays, talking figures, and dead and stuffed animals. I snaked through the exhibits and noticed one of the TV displays was showing a History Channel program. There's nothing like cable TV to make the youngins learn. If only they were able to somehow follow it up with an episode of CSI or MacGyver, America's collective IQ could've been ratcheted up a couple of notches.
The elevator ride up was pretty surreal - five seats, in a circular pattern in a large, pillbox shaped gondola. There was a porthole to look out and see the structure's inner supports and stairwells as the gondola was herked and jerked all the way to the top. Once at the top, there was a forty foot or so observation deck with a noticeable lack of right angles. The ceiling was angled, the windows angled, the floor even followed the flow of the arch and rose to a crescendo in the middle of the deck - 630 feet up, with
nothing below.
Looking out of the arch was a treat - you could look down and see both ends of the arch, and you could also crane your neck and look a bit through the arch like you were looking through your own legs. I spent about a half hour upstairs, watched loads of tourists unload and load back onto the elevators while getting some clear views of the city. The arch did not sway, which was surprising on a very windy day. I started to become a bit disoriented after a while - standing on an arched floor with crooked walls that bent
into the ceiling. I made it out alright, unlike one of the women I rode back to the ground with, who was exasperated and declared with a huff in her voice, "Yeah, that was claustrophobic. Tight space, lots of people, no exits, damn right that was claustrophobic."
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