July Car Trips

It was on a hot humid Sunday afternoon when we took a drive to Graham State Park.  My sister Julia and her husband had camped in a park near Graham that week-end and a picture on Facebook of Cal standing by a beautiful cool river bank (the Loutre River flows through the park) prompted me to suggest a road trip there.  The park is 2 miles west of Danville, Mo on state highway TT, just off of Highway 70,  about one hour drive west of St.Louis.  John thought he had visited the park in the past, I was sure that I had not. 

The cave has an enormous entrance which is 120 feet and 16 feet high.  It extends into the hillside behind it for about 100 feet.  Walking into it is forbidden as more research is needed for the cave as deciphering and recording.  Graham Cave is listed on the National Registration of Historic Places and considered a National Landmark.  There are many interpretive signs in front of the cave explaining why it is so historically important.  It is a Pre-Columbian archeological site dating back as early as 10,000 years, this was proven by the artifacts of bone, stone and clay excavated in the cave.  It is thought that the people living here were hunters and gatherers; hunting game, and gathering fruits and nuts.  There were streams in the area for fishing also.  Speaking of streams, as we walked away from the cave, setting out on a trail nearby, we found ourselves in a beautiful forest glen with a small stream.  Other features of the park include sandstone cliffs, bottom land forest and open rocky glades, none of which we had the time to explore that day.

The other interesting piece of history regarding this park is that Daniel Boone’s two sons Nathaniel and Daniel took out claims in an area south of the park about 1800.   Dr. Graham bought land from Daniel in 1829 and built a home, also later expanding his holdings to include the cave.  In 1964 a Graham great-granddaughter donated 237 acres around Graham cave to Missouri. 

On another hot day in July Melissa and her three children joined us for a trip to Columbia Bottoms to see a field of sunflowers in bloom.  Sadly, we were about a week too late, and no blooming flowers could be seen from the road.  But then we saw some people walking out of a field of sunflowers onto a very muddy path.  We were informed that there were sunflowers in bloom, and walking on that muddy path was necessary to see them.  I was about ready to head out on that path, except for the fact that I encountered a woman who had slipped and fallen.  Her white capris were now a very muddy brown.  She declared that it was worth it.  I lost my courage to embark on that path into the field, but our daughter Melissa offered to go.  She removed her shoes and I handed her my camera.  She was successful with no muddy mishaps and we all got to see the flowers on my camera, which miraculously did not meet up with a muddy bath either.