Exploring the mudflats of a lake and walking in silica sand were the highlights of week eight during coronavirus.
Day 51
49th Birthday During Coronavirus (Earlier Blog Post)
Day 52
Breakfast today was leftover cereal and finally, two large boxes are out of the cupboard. Since being home fulltime we go through a ton of cereal. I heard on the news recently that cereal buying is on the upswing.
After breakfast, I go down to do my workout. I found a Lego App that has Lego shows, including superheroes. The only thing I am not a fan of is the commercials they have. I am sort of on the fence of whether it was worth getting, although it was free.
After lunch, I took Andrew to a park that had a walking trail. I was hoping that it would be just the two of us, but he wanted Chewie to come along so I relented.
The park has a small lake with lots of trees along with and a walking/bike path going around the whole lake. There are also fishing docks throughout the lake so you can check out the fish and look for turtles or other aquatic life.
We parked on the town side of the lake. I always have trouble remembering how to get there. The park has three entrances, one from the town side, another from a business park, and the other by the bike trail that is connected to the park, but none of these entrances connect.
As we started our walk with Chewie, I saw a large group of turtles. They were sort of hidden so I turned it into a game where Andrew had to look for where they were peering out from algae and weeds.
Next, we came across the bike path and he wanted to walk down it. As we walked there I noticed that across the road through some trees was another lake with brick houses and docks, I hadn’t noticed it before, interesting what you see when you return to a park you don’t always visit.
Then, he wanted to head back to the lake and I pointed him to the path on the other side of the lake. We came to a vegetable garden I guess that the city of Maywood has displayed what grows here. I was curious what they were planting. I saw asparagus, which I’ve never seen grown, and it looks exactly like what you see cooked. They had lettuce, spinach, and kale. David likes kale, we might have to try growing that one year. Their patch of strawberries was huge, there was a sign telling you not the pick, if they ripen it will be hard for me not to take one. I love strawberries.
The path continued around the lake and there were a few dogs that I had Andrew watch for since Chewie wants to pull away when she spots a dog no matter how big or small.
As we rounded a bend in the lake I heard a rustling in a tree and pointed out a blue kite stuck up there to Andrew.
“How would someone get that,” I said.
“Climb up the tree,” he said.
I didn’t say more to that, I wasn’t going to head up that tree for a badly battered kite.
On the way back I took a long way home. I wanted some Dunkin Donuts as a treat, Andrew got his favorite Coolatta and white icing donut with sprinkles and I had a small coffee with six sugars and six creams. The same amount I usually get for my large, not thinking, it turned out to be very sweet.
Dinner that night was the last of the macaroni bake. We finished that and then we watched a few cartoons before David read to him. It was a long day and I am tired.
Day 53
This morning we both had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. Afterward, Andrew and David played with the plastic molds in the Magic Sand. This is kinetic sand that keeps its shape and can be played with inside.
Then David needed to take a phone call so I did my workout and Andrew watched some Blaze and the Monster Machines downstairs.
Andrew found an old phone, not a smartphone, but one that you would only be able to make phone calls from and included a small typing pad. It was David’s from a long time ago. The battery no longer worked so I thought it was Ok for him to pretend to write messages and act like he was making phone calls. This entertained him for a while.
That afternoon we went hiking at Klondike Park about an hour from Edwardsville near the Missouri River in St. Charles County.
I packed masks for if we had to make a pit stop, Goldfish snacks, trail mix, Gatorade, his Spiderman water bottle and ours, and some chips. David remembered to grab his peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he didn’t finish from lunch. Then we took the dog so we brought her collapsible water dish, also.
It was not a long hike but a scenic park. It has white sand since it used to be a silica and sand quarry. The former mine lake is clear water and you can see fish or turtles easily. It is also in the hills along the Missouri River surrounded by forests. Once you get out of the city the drive is quite nice with rolling hills, forests, and wineries. The area had been home to many wineries before Prohibition and more recently the area has once again become wine country.
David noticed that the trail parking lots for the Katy Trail were busy. This trail is a major bike train in the area. I remembered that the park had a lot of small trails and open spaces that even if there were a lot of people you never felt crowded.
The first thing we did was stop at the bathroom and made sure to wash our hands and pee. I make a point to park close to these and make it our first stop. He usually needs to go.
There were lots of small trails including ones that went up and down small hills created during the mining. There were little lookouts and cliffs and small beaches at the water level.
You can kayak here and there were two kids out in them. We watched them as they glided by us.
We crossed the bridge to the other side and Andrew wanted to go up along the cliff. I pointed out the signs telling you not to do this because I guess people slipped in the sand.
We walked a paved path around to where you head uphill again and he got fussy. David put him up on his shoulders and we headed up.
It was not a long hike today and just nice to be outside. We decided to take the road farther down to Washington, Mo. and take a different highway back. The downtown is nice and if it were not for coronavirus we might have stopped and checked out some stores, but we’ll save that for another time.
Once we headed towards Interstate 44 I talked David into going along Old Route 66. We passed by some falling apart motels. One had a huge sign on top with a few letters that had fallen onto the roof. It was sad to see this.
We came into Pacific, Mo., which had a lot of caves from mining and pointed them out to Andrew and he thought they were cool. This was the same way I felt when I saw them when I was a kid, sometimes it is nice to share a memory with him.
The road headed back towards the interstate and we passed by Six Flags and we admired the rides as we headed on back home.
This evening we had Domino’s pizza with a medium pepperoni pizza for him. He is old enough to pick his pizza we felt and David and I even got our mediums with the special coupon they have. We ended the night watching the Flash.
I read to him the Darth Vader and Son book and put him to bed. The book has adult references to the movies and can still be enjoyed by a kid.
Day 54
Andrew had cereal with David and I slept in a bit. When I woke up I had some coffee and a little trail mix before going downstairs to do my workout.
Andrew watched some Marvel Spiderman cartoons on Disney Plus. He remarked that he had watched some of these when he was three. I am always curious about where his early memories begin.
After working out we played hide and seek before I turned on the stove. I was reheating pizza from Domino’s Pizza. I added some cheese not that there was not enough on it, but I always feel that it cooks better that way and nice to have some fresh cheese on it. Most of all I love cheese.
David had a busy day with lots of online meetings scheduled so I decided to take Andrew to The Watershed Nature Center. Here we would do some easy hiking around the wetland and shallow lake that was here. Andrew requested to take the dog so we brought her along.
There were some people there, but it was not too crowded. We headed towards the boardwalk that goes right into the lake. I had Andrew check out the water for fish, snakes, and turtles along with blue herons and white egrets.
The major danger for the boardwalk was watching out for goose poop. We had noticed a man and a woman oddly walking towards us then realizing they were trying to avoid this stuff. We came to the area and Andrew pointed down and he didn’t want to walk through it. I showed him how to avoid it and when I reached the end he did the same walk.
The trail then came to a lookout and we watched for geese and noticed a blue heron nearby.
We were rounding a bend and Andrew noticed a big puddle. He for some reason wore his new shoes and didn’t want to get them muddy. I again showed him the way and after I was down the trail he finally followed my lead.
As we had been walking the trail had signs along the way pointing out different snakes. One talked about the Northern Water Snake or a Black Rat Snake. These were non-venomous and the signs pointed out that they were good for farmers since they killed mice and rats. I thought it was good to show him that not all snakes are venomous and they also can be good for society.
The loop led back to the visitor’s center that was closed and Andrew wanted to get something to drink and a snack. We went to the car and I got out some trail mix and water and even got out the collapsible dish for Chewie. This is great to have since it has a clip on it that attaches to a backpack and you can easily drain the water out of it.
Andrew wanted to stay a little longer and run up and down the small hills near the baseball fields. I ran with him for a bit and this allowed him to run off some more energy before we headed home.
Back home we had chicken and pasta salad for dinner. Andrew watched a few cartoons and then we watched the rest of the Flash together before David read to him.
I started working on this blog update when I heard noises upstairs. Andrew had awoken maybe from a bad dream and I helped to get him to sleep again.
Day 55
This morning Andrew watched Nick Jr. and episodes of Blues Clues while we ate some pop tarts. He is into shows that you have to figure out things. Which is good, I’d rather him watch something that he can learn from.
He wanted to do another science experiment today. We needed test tubes, some scoops, baking soda, and citric acid. He helped with setting it up and was into what I was doing.
The experiment showed that when you add baking soda to cold water with citric acid the water fizzes slowly. When you add baking soda to hot water the water fizzes faster. This is because the molecules in water move faster in hot water, which makes the chemical reaction faster. Not sure if he understood it all, but he could at least see the difference by the experiment.
Then we had lunch. I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and celery with peanut butter for both of us. I love celery this way.
David has been rearranging the inside of the house this morning. He had a desk in the basement and decided it would be easier to work from the upstairs guest room. We moved the guest bed to one side and the front area is now his office space. It freed up some space downstairs and allowed him a better place to do his online meetings since he is now working right next to the router.
Andrew wanted to do a bike ride. So we did the loop, which is mostly taking the lake road around then heading up the hill to the road above us on the lake. There are hills and he likes going up and down them. We see others sometimes on our walks and what is going on in the neighborhood. Looks like someone is getting a new pool.
That night I read a Thomas the Train counting book. He goes through the book counting and I point to a number and he tells me what it is. There was time I just read this to him. It is nice now that we do it together. He falls asleep and David and I watch adult shows.
Day 56
This morning Andrew had cereal for breakfast and I just grabbed Pop-Tart. I spent the morning getting things ready for our hike.
I packed masks, two water bottles, carbonated waters, Chewie’s collapsible water dish, and an Ipad for watching along the hour drive. I made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, brought chips and even some Pop-Tarts for desert.
I included our jackets since there was a cool breeze today. I brought a Southern Illinois guide that included a rough map of the park. I gathered all these things while he was watching his cartoons. I checked and double-checked to make sure we had everything.
In the age of coronavirus, I am not always sure what services are available. Also, we’re going to a recreation area that is off the main road with limited cell phone service.
We left around 11 am. It was still a little cool, but we still had an hour’s drive. I was hoping to do the drive without any stops. We got onto the interstate and I noticed a rest stop about halfway to the recreation area.
I asked if he needed to use the restroom and he said yes. So we stopped. We put on our masks and went to the restrooms here. I let Chewie out to pee. It was a quick stop and then we headed back out on the road.
We went through the town of Nashville, Ill., down Highway 127 to the park.
Conservation Road led to Washington County State Recreation Area, logically. In research, I found that the hike could be started from the Shady Rest parking area. This area was separate from the main area of the park and away from people.
The hike on the east side of the lake followed the road, it did not sound as interesting as hiking through the woods. I also was not sure where the woods hike began on the east side so I thought I would check it out later.
There was one person there when we arrived and they were leaving so we had the trail on our own.
The trail started wide a little ways from the lake and near a farm field. Then it went east into the woods and was narrower once you passed a wooden bench.
Down the hill, we reached a bridge. This was Andrew’s favorite part. A local Boy Scout group built this. There was a high section and then it went to a low section, not sure why it is in two sections, but it works I guess.
Then we came to a muddy area and had to figure out how to get past it. We came across a log and used that to get across the mud. Chewie just walked through, of course, these things do not bother dogs. We came to another muddy area and found a way of walking through some leaves.
We came across an area with some nice views of the lake in a clearing. I knew eventually we would come to a flooded section and thought this was a good place to turn around.
We headed back using the log once more and Chewie finding her way. It was not a long hike, but I thought we would check out other parts of the park also.
Along the way, signs were pointing out the different trees, a Shagbark Hickory here, well-named seeing the bark or a Bur Oak there. I wish I had known about this when I was little. I had collect leaves for a class project once and this would mad it so much easier.
When we got back to the SUV we had lunch. Andrew wanted to eat in the vehicle. So I opened up the hatch and we ate there. This was what I should have done last time. I might do this for now on with the coronavirus.
I grabbed the PB&J sandwiches, apples, chips, and Pop-Tarts for dessert. We drank some sparkling waters and relaxed for a bit.
A family came out of the woods with two kids on bikes and a father on another one and mother walking. I was not sure where they came from. The full trail is seven miles and flooded so maybe they had gone down it some of the ways and turned back. This had to be quite the Mother’s Day adventure. He was at least nice enough that once they went to the pavement to trade-off and let her ride the bike.
Once we were done eating we headed for the other side of the lake. I was looking for a trailhead over there. We drove across the dam and through the woods. There were a few pullouts for picnics and one in a large grew of Pine trees.
I took the narrow paved road and stopped at the Posen Woods. It was an area showing what the original forest looked like. The only thing was you really couldn’t walk through it.
After that stop, the road went to gravel with lots of potholes for a bit then back to the regular road again when intersecting with Nebraska Road. I didn’t understand why this small section was bad. Then I took it further along as it was paved again and back to gravel and becoming more of dirt toad. I came to an intersection with a field road that looked like it might have been parking but it was really muddy.
Since I knew about the flooding I decided it was time to turn around. I was still not sure where the trail led from this side. On Google Maps it shows the road going further down, not sure if Google Maps is correct, maybe if you have a 4X4 truck and want to go mudding. Oh well, a mystery for another time.
Andrew wanted to play in the grassy fields by the dam area. I was supposed to be a Power Ranger bad guy. So we walked along the lakeshore some and he acted like he was being attacked. We came to a fishing dock and I said it was my hideout and we played like that for a bit.
He liked the Bald Cypress trees with the roots sticking up out of the ground that surrounded the area we were playing in. We took Chewie for a short walk further down the lake and I then realized it was getting late.
When I got into the car I called David and told him we were heading back. We decided that the barbecue sounded good for dinner tonight.
David ordered from our favorite local restaurant, Edwardsville, Doc’s Smokehouse. I got the nachos, Drew got some sausage, and David got the ribs.
Luckily we didn’t have to stop on the way home and we made good time. We had dinner and Andrew watched some of the cartoons for a while. I gave Chewie a bath in the sink right after dinner. She was not happy, but it needed to be done.
I made sure Andrew took a bath, always a possibility of ticks in the woods.
David read to him tonight and he went to sleep pretty easily.
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