I'm Also a Big Athletic Supporter

(Tuesday, March 7th)

And now we find out if I went to the St. Louis Gateway Arch or not (drum roll please)...

The answer is...'Yes'. And I'm so glad I did.

I decided that I only had an 8 hour trip into Atlanta so I had enough time to get to the arch when it opened. It's pretty cool. It was built in 1965 and was designed by architect Eero Saarinen as part of a competition. There are two trams, on the north and south ends of the arch that take you up through the arch to the observation deck at the very top.

As I stood in line to enter the tram, there was a very attractive man in Army uniform directly in front of me. The uniform added to his attractiveness, but he would've been cute even out of uniform (especially if the uniform were laying on my hotel room floor). I surreptitiously took some video of him. I hoped he didn't realize what I was doing.

A woman in line in front of him struck up a conversation with him and I took the opportunity to join in the conversation and asked him if he had done any time in Iraq. He said he hadn't. I told him if he did, let the others know that there were some of us who, even though we didn't agree with the current administration, we still supported the troops.

The tram that you use to go to the top of arch is like a series of little pods. Kind of round little rooms with 5 seats in each of them. Well, the Army guy (his name tag read "Zimmerman") and I ended up in the same pod, just the two of us. We had a very nice conversation as we ascended the arch. The trip up is a little bumpy and you can watch the stairway go past the windows in the door of the pod. It looked a bit rustic, but then it was built over 40 years ago.

The observation deck at the top is smaller than you'd expect. Maybe 25 feet from end to end. The windows are about a foot high and maybe three feet wide and there are 5 of them (if I remember correctly) on each side of the arch. One set of the windows looked out over the big courthouse and the city of St. Louis, the other looked over the river and a floating riverboat casino, and (I think) out over the countryside. The problem was, it was raining and very cloudy so we couldn't see very far out the windows. That was a little disappointing.

So, I decided to leave, and though I purposely put distance between Army man Zimmerman and myself, we ended up in the same pod on the way down. I hoped he didn't think I was following him. At the bottom there was a museum that I went through, and when I went to leave the arch, the Army guy was like 20 feet in front of me. I think he saw me leaving. I really really hope he didn't think I was stalking him. I truly wasn't, at least not on purpose.

After that, I drove back to my hotel room, checked out, and hit the road. For the first hour-and-a-half or so, it rained. A lot. The highway was also under construction so I didn't make very good time. After that though, it cleared up and stayed cleare all the way to Atlanta.

Once in Atlanta, I found my hotel rather easily. The place was a bit rustic, however. After check-in I went directly to my room to check it out. Then I went back to my car to get my stuff. When I came back to my room, it had become its mirrored opposite. Apparently, my key opened up the room next to me as well. When I had checked out my room the first time, I apparently entered the wrong room. Glad nobody was in it.

After I checked it, I decided to hit Swinging Richards. SR is a gay strip club where the men take it ALL off. I enjoy giving naked men giving me attention, even if I have to pay them for it. There were a few I decided were worthy enough to give me a lap dance. I even got into a political conversation with one of them (off the meter though...I didn't have to pay to listen to him tell me how bad W was, especially when I already knew).

Honestly, I ended up not spending as much money there as I have in the past. I think I'm becoming a little more jaded in my older age. I realize they dancers only there for the money (they don't really LIKE me) and it seemed to have lost some of the luster it previously held. So I left, went back to my hotel room and watched a little television and went to sleep.