Saturday, May 21, 2016

"I am old; I recognize that but I don't realize it.  I wonder if a person ever really ceases to feel young - I mean, for a whole day at a time."  Mark Twain........ I can relate to this! 

I love Mark Twain and I really just got to know him!  Yes, we all read some of his books, but now that I am 'more mature', I fully understand him.  We have learned how Hannibal, MO shaped his life, as we walked the streets of this little hamlet, and Hannibal is all about Twain!  We toured his home, Becky Thatcher's home (his first sweetheart), Huck Finn's home and the museum and we read many quotes from Mark Twain, as we maneuvered around the area.  So many people popped into my head, when I read some of them, as they definitely reminded me of them.  Mark Twain, or at that time, Samuel Clemens, was quite the mischievous young lad, and many of the things we saw today, reminded me of our son, Mike!  I'll post some pictures and write some captions about each, but it was a wonderful day, and the weather was perfect.

 This is a bronze of Tom Sawyer and his friend, Huckleberry Finn in downtown Hannibal.

 The lighthouse towers over the Mississippi River.  It is 54 feet tall and we hiked up 244 steps from downtown to the lighthouse.....huff and puff.

 We had to try our hand at whitewashing the fence!  Looks pretty good from here!

 I loved this picture that I saw in the museum of Mark Twain returning to his boyhood home, so I'll post it.  They have made a gift shop out of part of his boyhood home and changed the outside, so it doesn't look like this at all.

 I noticed that they had a quilt shop and it had been one of the best ten shops in the country in 2009.  I found some fabric that I needed for our grandson, Regan's college dorm room, and of course another piece that I'll need next year!  They had quite the business!  Lots of displays and beautiful fabrics.

 We watched the Mark Twain 'paddle' boat leave the dock full of people.  It was a beautiful day for a ride on the river, but we did that with Jim's parents, his sister, and two of our children in 1983.

 We found this statue of Mark Twain in the Riverview Park.  It was a geo-cache that took us here.  We did find about six geo-caches today.  It wasn't our main reason for coming to Hannibal, but as long as we were close.....we just had to do it.

 We met Al and Brenda Mandt in the Mark Twain Restaurant and Brew Pub.  They are from 'near' Austin, MN and are getting close to retirement.  They had lots of questions for us and our full-time RV lifestyle.  We exchanged e-mail addresses and I know we'll see them again.  You just have a feeling about some people you meet along the way, and those feelings never let you down.

 This is one of the entrances to the Mark Twain Restaurant and Brew Pub.  We had a delicious lunch there.

Friday, May 20, 2016

We had a wonderful indoor activity, due to the overcast skies and a bit drizzly at times.  We went to the Mark Twain State Park, where they have the home that Mark Twain (birth name was Samuel Clemens) was born in and lived until he was four years old.  They then moved to Hannibal, MO which was to have a big impact on his life. It was an earthcache, so we knew we were going to learn a lot.  They had a great 15 minute video and then we could see the many displays they had about him and his family.  It was wonderfully done!  This was a good beginning for us, as we plan to go to Hannibal tomorrow and/or Sunday to experience the rest of the story!  We did some geo-caching as we traveled to the state park, but we were limited as to what we could do.  This is a tick infested area, and each time we went to retrieve a cache, one of us had a tick on us!  We didn't do much caching today, needless to say!  We did travel all around Mark Twain Lake, today and after checking the other campgrounds out, we picked the best one.

This is Clara's Overlook, and she was Mark Twain's sister.  She was an opera singer and married into a wealthy family.  She lived her adult life in California. If you can read the sign at the base of the railing, it showed flood stage in 2008, which rose to the base of this overlook!

This is the birth place of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and it consisted of two rooms. He was born in Florida, MO on Nov. 30, 1835.  For siblings, he had two brothers and two sisters - and a teenage slave.

 This is the bedroom for Mark Twain's parents. 

 This shows the living quarters for the family.  Notice the beautiful Log Cabin Quilt on the bed.

This tells of his life in a nutshell.

 We got a great view of the Clarence Cannon Dam and Mark Twain Lake.

These flowers were in a garden at the dam headquarters.  They are Shadow Primrose and remind us of the Evening Primrose that we see in Arizona.  Very pretty. 

Thursday, May 19, 2016

We left St. Louis this morning with sunny skies, and great travel weather, driving up Hwy. 61 north.  We arrived in Indian Creek Recreation Area campground early this afternoon, which is southwest of Hannibal, MO.  It's on Mark Twain Lake and the Clarence Cannon Dam backs up the North Fork Salt River.  It helps to control flood damage farther south in St. Louis, where the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers converge.  We know Mark Twain was born nearby and we will be visiting his birth place tomorrow.  This is a corps of engineer park, and we didn't have reservations, but we have a great site on top of the bluff and we look down on the lake, 'through the trees'. People are starting to come in for the weekend, but it empties out early next week.  We have seen so many different birds here since we arrived today, and maybe I'll have a collection of them to display on my blog page.  I just walked outside today and sat on the picnic table and a Lone Star Tick was on my hand!  How did that happen so quickly?  I haven't even been in the grass yet!  They told us at the gate that they are seeing seed ticks, but that's it.  I put this bugger in a little glass jar and will be taking him to the gate to show them.  It is known to carry Lyme's Disease.  It has a white spot on its back, thus the name Lone Star. I probably won't post any pictures today, but I'll catch up when we can. 

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Happy Anniversary to us today!  Yes, it's 55 years and counting!  We had a very fun day today, after being holed up in the motor home the past two days, due to the rain.  Regan, our grandson, wanted to go geo-caching with us, so we took him up on the offer.  He catches on fast!  We had some nice caches with a little variety, so it gave him a good idea what to look for, when he goes with his buddies.  We went to the McNair City Park in St. Charles, and not far from our campground.  It was a beautiful little park with paved walkways, lots of flowers in bloom, a gazebo, and a waterfall, plus all the sports activities to do there.  Regan works at Old Navy, so we had to stop by early afternoon, but we did what we wanted to.  This evening, Shea had a lacrosse game and we were glad to be able to take that in, before we leave tomorrow.  They won 10 to 8, and it was a very competitive game, with each team well balanced.  Tomorrow we travel north to Hannibal, MO and will stay until next Tuesday.  We don't have a reservation, but we shouldn't have a problem.  We want to stay in Indian Creek Recreation Area, which is a corps of engineer park southwest of Hannibal. It is very wooded there, so if you don't hear from us, it's because we don't have good reception.

 This is Mackenzie, working on her artwork for a school project.

 Regan and Grandpa Jim checking their GPS/phone app for caching, to see where we go next.

 Regan and Jim on the hunt.......

 stopping for a photo op on a quaint little foot bridge.

 Shea is # 41 and this is tonight's game.

Shea after the game on Saturday, when she got 4 goals!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Graduation Day!  This big day finally arrived for Regan.  He graduated from De Smet Jesuit High School, and will be attending the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.  He will be majoring in biomedical engineering.  It was obvious that, Regan has made many great friends at this school, and it has been a good choice for him.  He is ready for college!  Graduation took place at the Basilica in downtown St. Louis, and was very nice.  They had 161 graduates and all of them are going on to college some place.  It was a great weekend, and wonderful family time.  David and Mary Jean Kennedy, also made the journey from Waunakee, WI for the occasions of the weekend, and it was great to see everyone, and spend some quality time with them.  

 Regan with his godparents, David and Mary Jean Kennedy.  The Kennedy's were our neighbors back in Waunakee, so it was great when Mary Jean's brother, Philip married our daughter, Judy!

 Regan with us before the graduation ceremony.

 We all need a sense of humor, and Regan's sisters, Shea and Mackenzie will make sure he stays grounded!  Just 'poking' a little fun at him!

 Regan's immediate family: father, Philip, sister, Shea (14), Regan, sister, Mackenzie (16) and mom, Judy.

 The Great Thinker....a penny for your thoughts!

Inside the Basilica.....beautiful.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

It's really Monday, but we have been in a whirlwind weekend and I'm going to recap things, according to the day.  Friday night we attended the musical, "Broadway", that our grandson, Regan performed in.  He was one of four guys picked to participate in an all girl's high school musical, so needless to say, he had a blast!  "Broadway" is a musical that I wasn't familiar with, but it was quite entertaining.  It was a compilation of several successful Broadway Shows rolled into one.  I will post a few pictures from that event, and move on to the next day.

This is 'Hello Dolly' and Regan is front left.

 Regan needed footie pj's for 'Telephone Hour'.  Cute!

 Regan center, had the lead in 'West Side Story'.  He did an awesome job! 

 This segment was from 'A Chorus Line' and sung by the seniors.

After the performance, Regan and the girls.

Friday, May 13, 2016 - Friday the 13th!

We arrived in St. Louis yesterday and still had a tail wind, and lots of traffic.  We really enjoyed Hillsdale State park south of Kansas City, and will return there next fall.  We are going to be staying in St. Louis until next week, and weather will dictate when we leave.  We are seeing strong storms for later today or tonight and rain again on Monday and Tuesday.  Our weather radio went off as soon as we got in yesterday, announcing that the river will crest sometime today or tomorrow, only to recede on Sunday.  BUT heavy rain is coming on Monday and Tuesday.  We shouldn't be affected by that, but we have known this park to close due to flooding.  We had today to get acclimated to our new park, and we just love this campground.  It was only opened in 2011 and they have made so many improvements since then, adding more bike path to the already walking/bike path that they had.  We went geo-caching around the lake here this morning, only to realize we had to go farther than we wanted to walk, so we went back for our bikes.  We ended up riding 8 miles on our bikes and we didn't find the final stage of the cache!  It was still enjoyable and I'll post the wildlife that we saw so far today.  We are going to the musical tonight that our grandson, Regan is in, so we look forward to that.  I hope to get some pictures to post on tomorrow's blog from tonight's musical.

 This is the gate that welcomes us to 370 Lakeside Campground in St. Peters, MO. Business must be good, as they are adding on another large section beyond where we are parked.  I would recommend this park to anyone traversing this way and in need of a campground. 

 They have many picnic areas in the park, but this is the largest park shelter that can be rented for private parties.  It overlooks the lake, and seats a lot of people. 

 We were on Stage 2 of our geo-cache, which was a multi with 4 stages.  I turned over a rock and found this little guy underneath!  I think he was as surprised as I was!  I just covered him back up and it did end our searching.  We read that Stage 2 was missing, anyway.

 This is another picnic area that extends over the water.  You can see some small boats that are rentals.  They also have kayaks to rent, as well.

We rode our bikes on the bike path and discovered that they added some new trails since we were here last.  It takes you past a lot of protected wetland areas and we saw lots of birds.  This is a beautiful Great White Heron.  We also saw some Purple Martens in one of their many houses they have erected here in the park.  We last heard that the Purple Martens had been killed in a terrible storm and it's been slow to recover their numbers.  It was gratifying to see them here. 

The Canadian Goose is having their young, and this is one of many families that we saw here.  The park works hard to protect the wildlife here, and we appreciate that.