The Chain of Rocks Bridge

Chain of Rocks?! What kind of name is that for a bridge? We'd have to do some reading and head out toward St. Louis and see for ourselves. 
The Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River from the north-end of St. Louis, MO into Madison, Illinois.
The bridge's name comes from a series of hazardous rocky rapids that are called the "Chain of Rocks".  They made this stretch of the Mississippi extremely dangerous to navigate. 
(In the late 1940's and early 1950's the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a 8.4-mile long canal to bypass this treacherous area of river.)

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It is definitely one of the more interesting bridges in America because it makes a 30 degree turn midway across its mile long stretch {as you can see in Aaron's photo below} and for more than 30 years it was a significant landmark for those traveling Route 66 across the Mississippi River!

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Originally a motor route, it is now used to carry walking and biking trails over the river.
The Chain of Rocks Bridge is one of the word's longest pedestrian and bicycle bridges.
Because of its significance and history the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

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The Chain of Rocks Bridge is a great place to view Eagles in the wintertime; especially January and February! Do you think a thermos of hot oolong tea would help in bearing the extreme wind and cold? Would like to come out here in better weather and relax more with the tea. {Shivering tends to interfere with the relaxing portion} .

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Happy Sipping,

Viktorija and Aaron




For you Trivia folks:

The Chain of Rocks Bridge was used as a filming site for Escape from New York in 1981.

More on the Chain of Rocks Bridge here.

More on Route 66 here.

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