Returning to Missouri

Once we were out of Florida we drove up to Atlanta to visit my sister Linda.  Our one day in Atlanta was not good- rainy and cool.  We drove to the Atlanta History Center.  In the past we have visited this museum, albeit not much time in the main building, but in the out buildings and gardens.  Remember when I wrote a posting regarding the Swan House?   That is a house built in the 1930s with a swan theme in many of its rooms.  It is located on the grounds of the museum.

There is much in the museum which is more on the serious side- as it has one on the nation's largest Civil War exhibitions.  And it was very interesting to spend time with that.  However, there is a current exhibit which caught my eye.  Pictured above is a barbecue cooker, and its claim to fame is that it has a 20 foot flame.  As the museum displays says, you can choose a cooker for purely utilitarian  reasons, or you can be intentionally artistic.

 

Pictured above is a map of the states with the best barbecue places noted.  Red areas denote barbecue heaven, the orange has really good barbecue, the yellow is for those places with good barbecue or some "funky sauce ideas going on" and the white states are for "despair".

We made it back to Missouri and drove to Farmington to catch up with John's side of the family.  About a dozen of felt the need to get out and hike, and this time the weather was cooperating.  We drove to Hickory Canyon, a place which is about as scenic as Pickle Creek.  One of its main attraction is the waterfall pictured above. The canyons in this park are carved from Lamotte sandstone (from sandy beaches of a shallow ocean which existed 500 years ago according to the Missouri Department of Conservation).  The trail leading into the canyon is narrow and rocky, constantly going up and down- John and I would rate it as being difficult.

 

  After going down into the first canyon, John and several others took a path which went over the waterfall.  Following that hike another number of us, myself including this time, hiked into another box canyon nearby.   It felt so good to traipse around in that park after our long car trip and eating too much holiday snacks!

Final Notes on Florida for 2018

On the evening after we toured Legoland John and I stopped for supper and before entering the restaurant I glanced at the moon.  I just had to look at it because earlier that day I had learned that this moon was special as it was a December or Cold Moon.  It will not be for another 70 years until a full moon will happen on December 21st- the time of the winter solstice.

When we visited St.Petersburg we also returned to the Florida Botanical Garden.  It was getting close to dusk and we figured that we might as well stay in the area to see the annual Christmas light display in the gardens.  The garden and lights had changed somewhat since the last time we had been there.  Some of the flowers in the garden were quite beautiful when back-lit by the lights.  Pictured below are a floral display of orchids and calla lilies.

Upon our return trip home we chose to take a different route, with the goal of taking a look at the damage Hurricane Michael wrought to Panama City and Mexico Beach.  Driving on Highway 98 toward those areas we happened to pass by a portion of the Gulf Islands Nation Seashore.

No, that is not snow but large white sand dunes.  This park is on a long sand spit that encloses Pensacola Bay.

We knew immediately when we entered the area hit by Hurricane Michael.  Palm trees had their tops sheared off, other trees were bent almost to the ground.  Billboards stood as skeletons with their innards blown out.  Whole subdivisions of houses had their roofs covered with blue tarps.  The Port Panama Distribution Center only had its concrete walls standing.  A sign by the road directed the public to go to a local elementary school for Christmas eve services.   Quite a few utility trucks could be seen on the streets, their crews filling the nearby restaurants for lunch.  I wondered how many of those men and women had to stay in this area over Christmas so the citizens could have some normalcy return to their lives,

Legoland and Cypress Gardens

Our daughter Melissa, husband Spencer and grandchildren arrived the end of the first week that John and I were in Florida.  They had plans to go to Legoland with Spencer's parents.  Our grandson Nathan is currently very much into playing with Lego blocks.  We were against paying the steep admission price- the one day admission fee is pretty much equivalent to Disney Land or Busch Gardens.  Also rain was in the forecast for the day they were planning on going there, given all the facts John and I still decided to put out the money and go with them.

Legoland was in the Christmas spirit, as you may see in the picture above.  Do note that all the pictures I have of this resort area (there is a hotel on site) depict a variety of assemblage of lego blocks.  So this was one awesome Christmas tree.

Legos built into a variety of forms are located through out the park, as pictured above.

The park was quite busy the day we were there, given that it was Christmas break for many families.  And we observed that the demographics were young families having at least one boy between the ages of 4 to 9 years of age.  However, there were some enjoyable sights for us older adults, as lego city.  This area of the park featured cities and sites located in Florida, as well as other cities of our nation such as New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C.  While walking around this exhibit we heard bells ringing.  The beautiful music was coming from Bok Towers, which was another structure built with legos.

 

A southern belle, built out of legos, greeted at the entrance of Cypress Gardens.   This section of the gardens was built 75 years ago.  Back then it was a botanical gardens and theme park.  It closed down in 2009 and was redesigned to appeal to families with young children, and is now known as Legoland.  In this section of the park it did retain some of its features- the topiary trail, gardens of azaleas and camelias,  and a very large banyan tree.

Some paths of the gardens were closed off because of flooding, Lake Eloise along its borders was overflowing her banks.  I must say that our walk through this section of the park made our trip to Legoland worthwhile!

Revisiting Our Favorite Sites

The first week we were in Florida it was rather cool, much as we would have liked to have some beach time, that just did not sound good given the weather.  And that was all right, as there were other places which we wanted to return to visit, as central St.Petersburg.  A couple of years ago I had written about this older area of St.Petersburg and showed some of the murals which can be seen on the outside walls of many of the buildings.  The one which caught my eye is pictured below, it is the title of a song which my mom kept singing even in her last days when her memory had faded.

One other eye-catching and most colorful mural is pictured below.

While we were in this part of St.Petersburg we did have to visit the largest used and new bookstore in Florida, which is Haslams.  It is possible to fritter away many hours wandering around here!

One sad note here, and that is the changes which are taking place in this area of St.Petersburg.  Pictured above is a very large building being constructed, part of it use to be the Union Trust building.  The older part has been refurbished, and then it has been added to with plans for the ground floor  to be used for retail.  I can only guess that the rest will be used for high-rise apartments.  Certainly that will change the ambiance of the city around it!

A Return to Florida

No, this was not a permanent return to Florida for us.  We have sold our motor home, so that phase of our life does seem to be over and we are living in St.Peters Mo.  However, as our daughter, husband and children, had plans to be in Florida over the holidays, John and I decided that would be our plan also.  We left a cold wet Missouri about the week before Christmas.  Our first night was in Mississippi, where it was also cool and moist.  The next night was spent near Dustin,Florida and what a beautiful sight from our motel balcony greeted us the next morning!

How happy we were to be back in Florida!  Two days later we were walking on the beach at sunset and we saw our first great blue heron for this trip.

In the following days we hiked around Saw Grass and Wall Springs Park, as well as Weedon Island Preserve-  favorite places of our which we wanted to revisit.  It was fairly cool the first week we were in the state, and not much wild life was sighted.  At Saw Grass, a place usually replete with crocodiles and turtles, we saw one of each.  Oh, and one armadillo.  It was hard to catch him still, he was scurrying around quite fast and stirring up leaves trying to find food.  What funny creatures!

Pictured below is what we think was a Florida softshell turtle, easily identified by his long snout.

About a week later, when the weather had warmed up and jackets no longer needed, we visited Wall Springs and found many egrets perched in the trees above Boggy Bayou.

At that park there was a new path for us to explore, which led to an observation tower which I am fairly sure can withstand some pretty strong storms!

One final picture here, which I think would make for a very pretty Florida Christmas card.  I espied this egret while walking around the neighborhood of our residence where we stayed for the two weeks we were in Florida.  There will be more postings in the future regarding our Christmas trip to Florida.

Pickle Springs Natural Area

After hiking Elephant rocks and eating our lunch in Farmington, we were ready for Pickle Springs.  A park brochure describes it as "a trail approximately 2 miles long and will take you several hours to hike at a leisurely pace...moderately difficult with some short segments of steep grades".  It is important to take it slow, if for no other reason then to appreciate the beauty of its canyons, ravines, waterfalls and tall sandstone bluffs.

First natural area which we came to is called The Slot.  It began forming when shifts in the earth's crust caused vertical fractures in the limestone. 

The walls of this ravine are peppered with strange holes, pockets and ridges, and is constantly being eroded by freezing and thawing.

Amanda, our son Dan's wife is showing the double arch in the picture above.  It is one of the more fascinating features of the park.The buttress arch supports three huge rocks, two of which form another smaller arch.

Pictured above is the Keyhole, another type of arch, formed by two very large rocks leaning against each other.

And above we have the Terrapin Rock.  Surely you can see what looks like a turtle head in the picture above?  From here the trail slopes downward into the Pickle Creek area.

 

It was a bright sunny day, but some how my camera did a poor job in picking up the colors around the creek and small waterfalls of Pickle Creek.  In this area the vegetation was quite lush with moss and ferns, shades of green strikingly beautiful against the rock walls of Spirit and Rockpile Canyon.

Some of our hiking group (nieces Rebecca and Elizabeth) joined us for this hike on Tuesday afternoon. They are pictured standing on Dome Rock Overlook, one of the largest hoodoo complex in this natural area.  I certainly hope by now I have piqued your interest to visit what we consider one of the more beautiful parks in Missouri!

Elephant Rocks State Park

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in St.Louis!  Our son Daniel and his wife Amanda flew into St.Louis Monday evening, and our oldest son Mike flew in from San Diego on Wednesday.  It pays to have roots when we want to host family!  Our last home on wheels never could fit in that many people comfortably.  Or even serve a Thanksgiving meal for a dozen people.

Our son Dan requested that we take a trip to Farmington to visit extended family, and while there to do some hiking.  His wife Amanda had not seen southeastern Missouri and he was desirous to show it to her.  We chose Elephant Rocks and Pickle Springs.  The picture above gives you an idea of Elephant Rocks- big boulders of granite lying around.  It was a cool overcast day- perfect for hiking.

The landform is called a "tor", described by the park's brochure as a pile of weathered residual granite rock boulders sitting atop bedrock mass of the same rock.  And, as you may notice in the picture above, those giant boulders in the park are standing end-to-end like a giant train of circus elephants.

I am not sure that the biggest one is pictured above, but the largest one is 27 feet tall,has a length of 34 feet and weights 680 tons.

This park not only attracts geologists, but also history buffs interested in the quarry activity in the area.  Pictured above are the ruins of a 1890s engine house which serviced trains for the Sheahan Quarries private railroad.  By 1902 railroad cars were being operated regularly, shipping red Missouri granite throughout the country.  Other nearby quarries furnished finished facing stone for the Eads Bridge piers in St.Louis as well as stone for Anheuser Busch brewery, and the turned columns on the front porch of the Governor's mansion in Jefferson City.

And the giant boulders are just plain fun to walk around, between, and under and over- for children and adults.  It may just happen too, if you get to wandering a lot and not paying attention to where you are, that the only way to return to the main trail is through what is known as "fat man's squeeze"!

My next posting will be regarding our hike in Pickle Springs- another beautiful park in southeastern Missouri.

Autumn in the Midwest

As I write this we are recovering from our first snowfall for the season- about 6 inches this past Thursday.  What a shock for us two snowbirds trying to adjust to settling down here in the Midwest!  Fortunately  I had just bought the grandchildren their boots the day before, but Nathan still lacked waterproof snow pants, as you can see in the picture below.

It took a few big safety pins to keep his mom's pants on him!   The snowfall was certainly a novel experience for the two children.  Nathan loved sledding down the hill behind our apartment, Clarissa kept squishing the snow between her mittens as if it were some strange substance.  Nathan scooped up some of the cold stuff to taste it (I did warn him not to put yellow snow in his mouth).

We were treated to some spectacular autumn color when the leaves turned, it was a bit late in coming and seemed to last only two weeks- but we were grateful for that as we had missed seeing the leaves turning during our traveling years. 
Our daughter Melissa was determined that her children get to experience all the events of fall; as apple picking, and visiting a pumpkin patch.  We even managed to get in a hay ride, complete with a bonfire and smores in local county park.  That was a very cold evening!  My wardrobe is still not ready for a Midwest winter.

Halloween was a cool damp day.  Our daughter Melissa had to switch Clarissa's fairy dress to a fish costume so she could be dressed warmer.  In the picture above Melissa is putting the finishing touches on Nathan's Captain Barnacle's outfit.  For those of you without preschoolers, Captain Barnacles is part of the Octonaut crew.  The Octonauts "explore, rescue and protect"  our seas.
For Christmas John and I are planning on fleeing the Midwest for Florida, after that first snowfall we suddenly got the urge to drive south, at least for a little while.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways

We had just gotten through a rainy cool weekend when we realized that a couple nice warmer days were ahead of us.  On Tuesday morning John suddenly commented that we should leave that day to finish our trip down into southern Missouri.  That sounded like a good idea to me and we suddenly left the breakfast table, packed and headed out the door.  Never, in all our married years had we been that spontaneous.   We may not be in our mobile home any more, but we still have the yen to travel!
Also, now that we are living in the Midwest,  we have a different appreciation of the seasons- it is not sunny and warm up here year around as in Florida!

Our first stop that afternoon was Big Springs.  A sign in the park noted that it averages a daily flow of 288 million gallons- which would fill up Busch Stadium in 33 hours.  It, as well as the other two springs we were planning on visiting, is part of the Ozark National Riverways.  In the 1950s and 1960 America was into damming up its rivers for hydroelectric power.  Concerned citizens in Missouri  fought to keep the Current and Jack Forks Rivers open and free-flowing.  A bill was introduced in Congress and the first national river based park (the Ozark National Scenic Riverways) was opened in 1964.

Pictured above is Alley Springs, located on the Jack Forks River.  The mill located there was a grist mill in 1868, and a steel roller mill (powered by a turbine) in 1894.

Round Springs is on the Current River- by the way, that river is the most spring-fed river in the Ozarks and can be floated any time of the year.

John and I have seen many of Missouri's springs over the years and have floated a few times on the rivers.  Our main goal for this trip was to see Echo Bluff  State Park, located near Eminence Missouri.  A new lodge was built in the park two years ago, and we had planned to stay there Tuesday night.  Surely there was no need to make reservations for a night in the beginning of the week- but we were so wrong, it was filled up.  Maybe that was because it was a new lodge, or that families were vacationing for fall school breaks.  Could have also been that people were in the Ozarks for the fall colors.  It so happens that fall is slow this year, here in St.Louis we are just starting to see the leaves change into beautiful hues of red, yellow and orange.

We spent Tuesday night in a motel in Eminence- at about a quarter of the cost we would have paid at the park.  Echo Bluff's famous feature is a large sheer bluff located right outside of the lodge.  Also in this park is Sinking Creek, a crystal clear stream which feeds into the Current River.  The creek seems to sink into a hill as it flows into a tunnel at the base of the hill.  After hiking the Current River Trail (which has sections in both the Current River State Park as well as Echo Bluff State park) we head back north to St. Louis.  We may miss warm and sunny Florida, but the rolling hills and beauty of the Ozarks still makes it a place near and dear to our hearts!

Saxon Lutheran Memorial

John and I had planned one trip down to southwestern Missouri, but cold and wet weather changed our plans.  We decided to try for two different forays into that area, with the first being last Saturday when the Saxon Memorial was having its fall festival.  Many years ago we had been to that festival and I still remember the large kettles of apple butter which were cooked on outside fires.

Summer flowers are still blooming!  In the distance is the Fenwick Cabin built in the late 1700s.  The memorial features four log homes, including a two story cabin and a double one.  They were moved from other areas of Perry County.  Joseph Fenwick had 10 children and numerous slaves.  We were able to tour the two story cabin and I was quite impressed with the antique bed pictured below.

In the Hamilton-Goehring cabin we watched a lady weaving rugs on a loom which had been in her family for 200 years.  She thinks that she will be one of the last of her family members using the loom.  The cabin was once located on the western part of the 660 acres of the Wittenberg tract of land purchased by the Saxons.  Goehring obtained his land in 1839.

Perhaps I need to explain further the Saxon immigration from Germany.  In 1839 some 700 Lutherans came from Saxony to American in search of a haven for their beliefs.  Some stayed in St.Louis, others traveled down the Mississippi River and established seven settlements in what is now Perry County.  On the Memorial grounds is a statue of Carl Walther, born in 1811 and arrived with the Saxons in 1939.  He organized and founded the Lutheran Church in America- becoming known as "the American Luther".

 

It was a very cool damp day, we dashed into the visitor center/museum a couple of times to warm up.  However, everything was so interesting- from the cabins and artifacts to the crafters and artisans that we quickly forgot our discomfort.  And we were able to ride in a surrey with a fringe on the top through the corn fields!  Amazingly it was a comfortable ride despite the bumpy field under us.

Farmers from the surrounding areas loaned their draft horses for the day to pull the surrey as well as an old farm wagon.  Apple butter was being cooked in a large kettle, we purchased a quart of that as well as Missouri maple syrup before heading home.

Gateway Arch National Park

A funny thing happened on the way to the arch from our home.  My husband John got off highway 64 and could not find the arch!  My sister Linda (from Atlanta) was his copilot, I was sound asleep in the backseat.  John ignored the signs for downtown and thought there would be one specific for the arch, and doing so missing the exit which would get him to the arch.   My sister feels very certain that there is no highway exit signs for the arch grounds.  Yes, I know, the arch is big enough that you can not miss it.  And we did get there fairly easily once we got off the highway.

It was an overcast day, just great for walking around a park where there is no trees and little hope of finding shade.  We had not been here for at least 20 years.  There was a grand opening of the park this past summer- it was built between 1963 and 1964, but major changes were made to the grounds and entrance to the museum in the past two years.   I thought that those changes would mean shaded walkways, benches and picnic tables.  Boy was I wrong, and we had packed a picnic lunch.

 

  We parked in a garage north of the arch down by the river (quite fortunate at finding that place, our daughter parked west of the arch and paid double the amount we paid).  Anyway, as we walked toward the arch along the river we did come upon some picnic tables.belonging to various food carts which were not open for business the day we were there.  Pictured above is a view of the Mississippi River from the arch steps.  By the way, the riverfront is part of the national park.

Paved paths took us over a large grassy area to the entrance of the underground museum- I was intrigued- not a park bench in sight.  If one got exhausted climbing the many steps up from the river and then hiking across the arch grounds, there would be no place to rest!  Or else, to avoid that,  pay for a more expensive parking garage close to the entrance of the underground visitor center and museum.  Pictured above is the Old Courthouse, which is also part of the national park.

Above John is looking at decals which has recently been placed at the entrance to the arch by the Maplewood artist Margaret Keller.  It is a temporary exhibit.  Her artistic work represents 735 navigable miles of the Missouri River from St.Louis to Sioux City, Iowa.  The river is the longest in North America.

 

The new entrance into the visitor center and museum is quite impressive.  Coming down the escalators we saw a large map of the United States with all the major rivers shown.  It brought back many pleasant memories of the rivers we have crossed while traveling in the past ten years- the Ohio River, Mississippi, Missouri, Columbia, Colorado, Brazos and Rio Grande- to mention but a few.
Despite the cloudy, warm day there were many visitors to the arch, and the lines were long for the tram ride to the top.  Changes that have been made to the museum and grounds are good and long over-due.  I still think, however, that the grounds are a bit austere.

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