Frontier Park- October 22

During the past two days we have been either walking or biking the Katy Trail,which is located behind our campground in St.Charles. One picture I have posted here is of the trail,with highway 70 located above it. It is the peak of the fall colors now here in Missouri,but as there as been no hard frost,we are still seeing the beauty of the summer flowers. I have also posted here a picture of a garden located in Frontier park,which runs along the Katy Trail. In addition I have posted a statue of Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark stopped here on their voyage up the Missouri river on May 16,1804. It was their last "civilized" stop on their way west. St.Charles at that time was called Les Petites Cotes(translated in English this means "the little hills"}. As you may guess,this area was mainly settled then by Frenchmen and native American Indians. They came to this land in 1760-the village was officially founded in 1787. Clark wrote that when they visited Les Petites Cotes the inhabitants numbered about 450 and he found them "to live in a state of perfect harmony among each other..they were polite,hospitable and by no means deficient in point of natural genius". What an interesting way to describe the first citizens of this area! This little village became the capital of Missouri in 1821,until 1826-by then it was known as the city of St.Charles.