My sister, niece and nephew, and I visited St. Louis this past weekend to take in a couple national parks along with some other tourist attractions. We visited the Gateway Arch on Saturday evening despite the chilly weather and occasional drizzle. The arch, sitting on the western edge of the Mississippi, serves as a monument to the rapid expansion of civilization toward the west. The movie played in the visitors center featured actual footage of the construction of the arch from 1963-1965, which significantly increased my appreciation for this monumental feat of engineering. Most shockingly, none of the workers shown were ever harnessed or attached to the structure in any way during the construction (yeeeek!).