I crossed clear streams and hiked up forested and through prairie along my hike at Strawberry Creek Nature Area. The nature area encompasses 118 acres with four walking trails, three of them looping into each other. Filled with wildlife I saw a few deer, but they ran away before I could photograph them, and a groundhog by the creek. I hiked the Strawberry Creek Trail,…
Take a walk around a small lake that has a fish on a bicycle at Lewis Park in University City near the Delmar Loop. I took some time to explore the area of brick homes and the paths around this four-acre park that includes a playground and landscaped grounds. Parking Parking is tricky for the park since it does not have its own lot. I…
Walk across stone bridges while a spring flows through rocks below is a unique jaunt in South County St. Louis at Sylvan Springs Park. This is a 1.24-mile hike with paved and unpaved sections and 95 feet of elevation gain. History of the Park Until 1939 this portion of the Barracks was largely unused then the 6th Infantry put in stone retaining walls and terraces….
White sands and cliffs surround a clear water lake at Klondike Park in St. Charles County just west of Defiance, Mo. I hiked the paved trail around a lake, then did two other hikes that go along Missouri River hills at this 250-acre park. LAKE LOOP TRAIL Klondike Park was once the site of an old silica sand quarry and that is the centerpiece of…
A weekend at the YMCA Trout Lodge in the Ozarks includes my son riding a pony, swishing down a waterslide, and making a tie-die shirt. YMCA Trout Lodge is about two hours south of St. Louis in the Ozark hills and is all-inclusive including meals, boating, kayaking, paddle boarding, pony rides, and much more. Our Time at the YMCA Trout Lodge We drove south from…
See a two-headed black rat snake and explore the woods at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center in southeast Missouri. Located on the north side of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and has numerous short hiking trails along with nature-related exhibits. NATURE CENTER We first checked out the nature center where the star is the two-headed snake. Exhibited near the front. To the right of the tank,…
Take a hike along a creek through the bottomland forest and by a unique playground with a volcano on the Joachim Loop Trail. The hike is 1.3 miles with only a slight elevation gain at about 30 feet at Bates Memorial Park in Herculaneum, Mo., off of Interstate 55 south of St. Louis. Entering the Park The road for the trailhead is along the gravel…
My son had an awesome time at a playground that includes a volcano surrounded by lava at Kade’s Playground in Herculaneum, Mo. Yet, the story of how it came about is inspirational. Kade’s Playground The playground was made in memory of Kade who had been a wheelchair-bound child due to multiple medical conditions. Kade could not use any of the playgrounds in Jefferson County. The…
Check out dinosaur fossils and explore the oldest town in Missouri as part of a day in Ste. Genevieve, which is about an hour south of St. Louis. The Story of Missouri Dinosaurs Dinosaur bones were first found in a farm field in Bollinger County in the 1940s. Discovered in the late 1980s were a jaw section and partial skeleton of a juvenile dinosaur now…
Portland area sites include a pioneer Fort Vancouver, shopping at a huge bookstore, and stopping at an area ravaged by a volcano. Our family made a trip to the Pacific Northwest seeing Seattle, Portland, North Cascades National Park, the Columbia Gorge, and sites in between. This is what we did on our vacation, I hope it helps you in planning your trip to this amazing…
