We decided to go on a multi-family hike with the Brown family. We started off meeting at their house and caravaning down to Mastodon State Park. The park is about 45 minutes south of where we live in St. Louis. For the drive down, I volunteered to have all the kids in our van and the 3 adults in the other van. I’m not sure what got into the kids, but I was about to go crazy with them not getting along! We had a required bathroom stop before we got there. At that point, I evened out the load of kids to ease the tension.
With the kids not all in my van, it was a much calmer drive the two additional highway exits before we were there at the park. The visitor’s center wasn’t open that day, but we were there to hike the trails. My kids saw the hiking sticks that Jason and Andrew had and of course wanted their own. Once it was settled, Sonora borrowed Jason’s and the kids were off!
With the hike concluded, the real business for the day was ready. We drove over to Kimmswick, MO for lunch. There, we stopped at the famous Blue Owl. They are known for their home cooking and dessert. We each made sure to order dessert. The favorite was the levy high apple pie!
Stuffed with dessert, the boys wanted to go home, but it was not to be. The ladies wanted to go shopping. Therefore, we split into two groups. The boys walked towards the Mississippi river while the girls looked through the stores. We found a pedestrian bridge that was over a creek leading into the river. The kids got the idea to throw rocks into the creek and took several trips bringing rocks up. Because I’m a big kid, I walked down and brought up a rock that was around 100 pounds. I did this a few times before I got tired. We all laughed at the massive splash of the huge rocks I carried!
Eventually the whole group came back together and we headed back home, still full from lunch and tired from a nice hike!
Hogan Haake