Bumblebee on Clover

I got up early the next morning and strapped Zach onto my chest with the Baby Bjorn and took a walk around the neighborhood.

There was a notice of a cockatiel that had gotten loose. You were supposed to let it climb up on your shoulder if you found it, and then call the number on the posters that were on every other light pole.

There were many lots that did not have houses built on them yet, which tended to be covered with clover. The bumblebees were loving this. They don't seem to mind having their photo taken from 2" away with your camera on macro.

Missouri Mines State Historic Site

We stopped by this cool old abandoned mine in Park Hills right around sunset on the way back.

It was late, and closed, but it was an old lead mining & milling complex that was donated to the state to run as a museum. It was open until 1972. My research says they purchased the Federal Mill No. 3 operation in 1923. The complex was built in 1906 by the Federal Lead Company.

The museum was closed by the time we got there, just in time to get some sunset silouhette pictures of what's left of the buildings.

Caledonia

On the way down to Elephant Rocks from St. Louis, we passed through this surprisingly cool little town, with a bunch of restored cottages, neat bed & breakfasts, and antique shops. The place was old, but nicely kept, with the first house on the north end of the town having some awesome plantings.

We were lucky to find it. We almost used GPS navigation, which would have taken us on another route, but used a map at the last minute and took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Rockin' the Flip Flops

While Matt was dressed in long jeans, ready for tumbles or spills on the rocks, Kyle not only had short on, but flip flops.

I don't know about you, but I tend to slip out of flip flops.

I was amazed when Kyle made a leap from one boulder to another. His foot first hit on a spot that was at about 45° from verticle, basically climbing up the face of an incline. I would have expected the flip flop to stick and the foot to slide right out of it.

Amazingly, Kyle's catlike moves put him safely on top of the boulder without sliping or taking a spill.

Unfortunately, you couldn't say the same for the soda his dad opened for him in the car later.

Stonecarver's Graffiti

If you were a master stonecarver at the quarry site that later became Elephant Rocks State Park, when you graduated to master stonecarver, you got to sign your name on the rocks on top.

It's sort of the equivalent of stonecarver's graffiti

Man-Eating Tree

This vicious tree was attacking Matt. It tried to swallow him arm first.

Fortunately, he survived.

Bouldering

Do you ever plan to do something and something else unexpected happens?

I thought that Matt and Kyle might be mildly or politely interested in the Elephant Rocks State Park.

Kyle had been there before, in the winter with us when everything was covered by snow. It was interesting to look at, we walked around it once and up to the high point.

I wanted to see what it looked like in the summer, without the snow.



When we arrived, Matt immediately started scaling the huge boulders and jumping from one to the other. I guess that's a little bit like skateboarding, where you go to extremes and try to get the most interesting perspective. I just didn't expect it to be so cool to him.

Actually, it made the place cooler to me, too. Except for the fact that I had a baby strapped to my chest, I wanted to jump on the boulders, too. We'll have to take Zach back when he can climb the rocks and jump from boulder to boulder. I just have to manage to stay fit enough to do it, too.

Elephant Rocks

These are some of the big rocks at the top of the Elephant Rocks State Park.

While there was much quarrying done on the site, the beautiful large boulders at the top of the hill were left intact.

Their resemblance to elephants is what gave the park its name.

Granite Quarry Pit

This is the pit that most of the quarrying was done from in the Elephant State Park site.

It's now a 90' deep pond. That's Matt and Kyle on the other rim.

Captain Adorable

We took a little weekend trip to St. Louis, Zach, Matt, and I.

We went to Elephant Rocks State Park, where we hiked around the granite boulders and took in the sites.

Zach was a good little trooper, and really seemed to enjoy watching the scenery from his perch on my chest.

He was doing his best to live up to the title on his shirt, Captain Adorable. I think he succeeded.

Unity Tower

When I was little, we went over to Unity Village, here on the edge of Lee's Summit, and got to go up in that tower. I was probably 4 years old. I thought it was really cool.

That tower actually houses a water tower for the campus. There are gardens around the base of the tower.

In the old pictures of my brother and I with our mother, she is wearing a hat and white gloves. That's how long ago that was.

Back Through Saguaro Country

Can you believe those big cactuses are over 100 years old? They grow really slow, so when you see an enormous one, it's ancient.

I like this other picture that looks like some kind of nightmare scene in a western where the cowboy is dying of thirst.

Jittery

It makes me jittery just looking at this caffeine island.

How many different kinds of coffee do you need? This place in Oak Village Arizona had about 5 flavors each in caffeinated and decaffeinated versions.

I'll have one of each.

Tower Hawk

Here's a picture one of my Brother's crew took of a Red Tailed Hawk on one of their cell phone towers. I'm not sure if this is one of the babies or the parents.

They do not make good housepets, apparently, and they do not recommend that you let them climb on your forearm unless you have a thick leather gauntlet.

I'm going to name this one Screechy.

Photo by Steve's unnamed buddy

Bell Rock

The last day of our trip we visited Bell Rock to see if there was anything to these vortexes.



We tried to follow Andrea's trick elbow and looked to see if there were any telltale signs in the photos we took that revealed the location of the vortex.



















We should have hired Rahelio the spiritual vortex guide.

Chapel Vortex

We went out to see the Chapel on the hill. It overlooks what I was told was Nicolas Cage's house.

If religion and star power can't create a spiritual vortex, I don't know what would.

Bumps in the Road

The Pink Jeep Tour was challenged by a couple of incidents.

One of the Jeeps died and the battery was dead, so it was stuck in the road.

Then it started to rain. Maybe this is why they called it Broken Arrow trail.



This did not stop us from trying to go vertical.

On Tour

Here we are on the Pink Jeep Tour before the storm came in, while we were still in town.

Pink Jeep Tour

After the Wedding Reception, we went with the Bride and Groom on a Pink Jeep Tour through Red Rock Country.

They go out on Broken Arrow trail to the Submarine Rock and Chicken Rock area.

Joel & Molly got the "Just Married" sign & the royal treatment.

Javelina Snack

Besides being the name of the restaurant that Joel & Molly had their rehearsal dinner in, it is also a wild boar that was once a common food in the area.

There is a statue of a Javelina on Highway 89A near the Pink Jeep Tour office. Mike was not afraid of the spiky metal back of the fake Javelina.

Snoopy and Friends

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are many rock formations that people swear look just like something.

In this case, they say it looks like the cartoon character Snoopy, lying on his back on his doghouse. Some even say that it looks like Woodstock, Snoopy's bird companion, is perched on him. I'm with them up to that point.

Then they add Lucy, and I'm not so sure about that.

I do think the cloud over Snoopy looks like a Jayhawk, though.

Pardon the Mess

The whole entrance to the resort that Molly booked her wedding and reception at was under construction during the ceremony. We had to park at a resort down the road and get transported over on carts (seen just behind the truck here).

Not disturbing the wedding, but visible in the distance here are the dark clouds that later dumped a couple of inches of rain on us.

Baptismal

I'm not sure what the point of the river crossing was. It looked like a old time revival with pastor Mike ready to save some souls. It was almost Shane drenching Mike, or maybe Mike turning the tables on Shane and sending him for a swim.

Instead of any tragedies or antics, it was just a good photo op.

Princess Molly

It's tough being beautiful AND popular. Just ask Molly. The photographers wouldn't leave her alone.

Five Down, Two to Go

Of the group of 9, 6 are married and 3 are not. They're falling like flies.

Not including the Bride and myself, here's the remaining married couples.

I wonder if there's any reason the men are drinking (or eating)?

The Next To Fall

While sitting around the table at the reception, we were looking for the next victims in the Wedding Sweepstakes.

Amy's boyfriend did not respond positively to our suggestion that he was next.

Brad and Nikki were more than happy to step up to the plate.

Reception Antics

After the wedding ceremony, the merrymaking!

Mike had to explore the stream behind the altar, jumping out into the middle on a rock and striking a pose. You be the judge.




Kelly shows off the new moves she learned from her summer job as a top fashion model.




Brad figured out that the sand containers were backwards because they actually did mesh together.



And ducks were paddling around in the little irrigation channel right next to the altar.