Our goal for the drive through Missouri today was to not drive on an Interstate road at all. We managed to accomplish that, as we skirted our way accross the state on back roads all day long. Once we hit Illinois, we did go on Interstate, but Missouri was a relaxing backroad kind of drive.
Our first stop was Ha Ha Tonka State Park. I have always wanted to explore this park, but with limited time, we decided to just check out the castle/mansion ruins. The mansion burnt years ago, but it gives off a kind of European kind of castle ruin feel, and we had the place to ourselves to explore. Riah loved setting up my camera phone and using the timer. More than once this trip Wayne has said, "Oh he is SOOOOO YOU Pammi!" Marie often tells me that, but it seemed Wayne said it alot this trip. Riah loved taking pictures with my camera phone, and with my new memory card, he was pretty much free to take what he wanted with no limit. He was in heaven. Eventually I will try to put some of his pictures on here.
We joked that Ha Ha Tonka was the Indian term for funny toy truck, but it really means land of the laughing waters. The park sits beside Lake Of the Ozarks, and it is a very pretty area. The morning breeze made hiking nice, though I realized I had not packed any socks and had to barrow some from Riah before we headed up the hill. Amazing to me my foot and his are the same size!
We passed through "Maries County" and I thought of my good buddy back home, and had to snap a photo of the sign. Riah loves when we find geographical places with peoples names we know. (I do too!)
Our next stop was another Missouri State Park, this time Elephant Rocks State Park. Riah had been anxious to climb on the huge pink granite boulders the whole trip! They did not disappoint him. He took off with much enthusiasm straight up the mountain. I do mean straight up, he opted to do the non-trail version, and we went the more difficult route up the rock face. It was very hot, and before we arrived at the top I was soaked with sweat. The sun reflected off the granite and made the 100 degree day feel even worse. I was glad the trail back down went through shaded areas. We saw the quarry, and many more boulders before we convinced The Boy the climbing fun had to end. Off we went to drive east once more.
The last few stops of the day were revolving around Lewis and Clark once more, south of the Saint Louis area. One stop, Kaskaskia Island required us to cross into Illinois, then back to Missouri, then back into Illinois across the Mississippi again towards Fort Kaskaskia which was our next stop. Riah loves going back and forth from state to state like that. We talked alot about the flood of 1993 while in Kaskaskia at the Liberty Bell of the West, he was amazed at how high the water came. He seemed moved thinking of people losing thier homes and lives because of the flooding.
As we got into Illinois once more, we found the Popeye statue and a few Lewis and Clark displays, before we headed to Fort Kaskaskia, where we looked forward to the overlook of the Mississippi River there.
The weather turned on us suddenly, and we experienced our only rain of the whole trip. It was violent and scary. The clouds were so weird. One dropped down, then another circled it like a donut. I am not sure the pictures through the window while driving do it justice, but I put them on anyhow because they amazed me. We eventually out ran the storm, and saw a beautiful sunset before arrving back at Grandma's house in Champaign.
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