#4 Gateway Arch, MO
INSTANT elephant in this room: Come on, how is this a NATIONAL park?? National Monuement? 100%! State park? I'll allow it! Yet even though there is zero nature, if any monument gets to deserve to be a National Park, I think it's certainly this arch in Saint Louis, and here is why:
Yea, I was skeptical at first, but no photos here do it justice: the park itself is tiny, but packs so much photogenic civic gradieur that, sadly, nature could never replicate in this case. And hey, the Midwest needs this okay? (and that's me in both the East and West USA!)
Inside was a massive free museum complex with all the history of St. Louis, Midwest, Lewis + Clark, and more -- my midwest dream, making this park so worthwhile. Now if you want to experience the elevator through this engineering marvel you can go do that, but I've been to at least 50th floor of any NYC building, so I'm good. That's for the Midwesterners to experience.
Out of all the parks on this list, I was most pleasantly surprised by the Arch. It's so recent, yet so iconic. Enjoy your National Park status, Arch, you've deserved it.
