Gateway Arch National Park

 We have one day at Gateway Arch National Park and we only planned this because of the

changes that they made in order to reopen during COVID.  Masks are required, times on trams are required, one leg is up and one leg is down, your family has their own pod in the tram and their own set of windows that you can’t stray from.  Disinfection happens between every group and a tram designed to take 45 people up to the top only took 9 of us when we went.  You only have 10 minutes at the top and they disinfect for the next group.  Between masks, sanitizer, social

distancing, and then large spaces that relieve the viral load that you would be subjected to, I feel like we were pretty safe.  We walked down to the levy and got on the river boat cruise that was next and again, masks were required for everyone and we were all out on an open deck, still socially distanced from everyone.  So, that felt good too, although colder than I had hoped.  Everything we and others have done makes

the anxiety lessened, but the dark of night is always waiting for you.  Every night as we go to bed and I look at the case numbers in the US and the case numbers in Michigan, I feel like an idiot for even doing this at all.  In the light of day, I realize that we are actually interacting with fewer people than we were at home and we are having a good time.  So, I guess I’ll choose to be an idiot and just hope to hell we’ve taken enough precautions.  Of course, the best laid plans and all that, means that I have to go to the store in Litchfield two days after arriving because I somehow bought and brought crunchy peanut butter….which Oscar will not eat.

So, I go with trepidation to the Walmart here in Litchfield. The Walmart at home is usually 50-50 people wearing masks, but here, everyone is wearing masks.  I didn’t see one person not wearing a mask….and this is a rural town with probably less people in it than Big Rapids….but they’re on it.  So, I left feeling even better and now we don’t 

    have to shop again for a while.  We found some great Chicago style pizza at Nancy’s Pizzeria and found that the only problem with take out food all the time is when they get your order wrong….I got home to realize that that our pizza was pepperoni and jalapeno, not green olive.  But they made me a new one, which meant that we had waaayyyyy too much pizza for us.  So, it became dinner or lunch for the next few days.