Harry S. Truman State Park, Warsaw, MO

April 29-May 1, 2011

What beautiful weather for our first camping trip of the year! It's been windy-rainy-cold in every combination for the past few weeks. We finally got warm Friday and the sun came out. A stiff headwind meant a tiring drive to Warsaw and Friday-after-work traffic wasn't fun, either, but we reserved a nice, grassy, level site and got set up in no time. Not too many neighbors this weekend, so we thought it would be nice and peaceful.
Eh. Not so much.

At the end of our quiet little road is a cul-de-sac of sorts, a on3-way traffic loop of campsites filled to the brim with trucks, campers, tents...and fishing boats. Before the sun was fully up a NASCAR-worthy stream of engines passed our campsite on their way to the marina. A short while later a similar stream of bouncing motorboats flew across the wind-chopped waters on the fork of Truman Lake we could barely glimpse through the trees across the road. We managed to get a little more sleep, though, before starting our day in earnest.
Our day started slowly and lazily just the same. After breakfasting on cereal and orange-glazed cinnamon rolls, will popped in a DVD of classic Bugs Bunny and laid down for his first nap of the day. He earned it. He was up at 5:00 a.m. to take his telescope down to the field by the ranger station to look at the moon.

Meanwhile, I read some Dan Brown, walked the dog, coerced her into eating her breakfast so she could take her pills, met the camp host and registered (they were off duty Friday night), and read some more Dan Brown. Just before 10 a.m. Will roused and changed into regular clothes (as opposed to his "camping jammies" - sweat pants and a T-shirt) and took (a) Storm for another walk and (b) pictures of me doing tai chi. (I wanted on for my World Tai Chi & Qigong Day article.)

Around 10:45 we set off for our adventure. We started at the Truman Dam Visitor's Center. Every time we've been there we've found something different. the first time we happened onto Heritage Days and the whole place was abuzz with historic activities and displays. The second time we got to see what the Visitor's Center looks like without all the festival sights and sounds and could see the dam and its construction history without other distractions. This time we saw turkey vultures enjoying the wind currents and soaring all around the cliffs and trees around the massive viewing windows. we also discovered we could walk all the way around the center on a walkway that runs under the observation deck and along the edge of the cliff. 

Turkey Vultures soaring

The view was spectacular but I never did get a really good picture of a turkey vulture up close. They dive-bombed the windows a couple times, but they were too fast for me.

Walkway around the center overlooking the cliff & dam

We decided to walk the grounds a bit and see what the historic buildings are like when it's not Heritage Days and found a woman cleaning at Hooper House. 

She turned out to be the wife of the president of the Heritage Society and told us about the improvements and repairs they're working on - new paint on the porch, freshly sanded and polyurethaned floors in the house and summer kitchen, and a new general store being built. 

New general store under construction

The store should be ready for viewing by Christmas and stocked for next summer. They were getting things ready for school tours this week. They have so many schools coming they had to expand tours this year from two days to three. I think she said they have something like 150,000 kids coming in those three days!

Harry S. Truman Dam

Walking path to Hooper House

The schoolhouse

Blue Star memorial plaque

After the dam we went to Walmart and found a little antique mall on the way. So after stopping at Walmart to get (ouch) gas and a few forgotten items (not as many as usual! Yay!), we went to the antique mall. Now, we've been to a few of these and you always find new items among the old. It's really a consignment house but that's okay. It's fun to browse. One booth in particular made me stop and take a picture. Except for the fact that nothing was dusty, it looked like it had been cut and lifted straight out of my grandmother's house! It had a little bit of everything she "collected" over the years, right down to the one-person-path into it - not through it, because you couldn't go all the way around the center "display."
On one end of the mall was a door near the back that led into an artisan's shop where I found a beautiful pair of cross earrings and some nice little quilted coasters for the camper. I only found the "Made in China" sticker on one when we got back to the camper. :P
While we were walking through the various booths in the mall, we overheard a conversation that explained our early-morning wake up. Saturday there was a big fishing tournament. when we came back after an excellent lunch at the Warsaw Cafe, we brought our activities outside and could have sworn we were camped near a super highway.
There's a nice little woodcraft store we like and we stopped in there to try to find something for the old flowerbed at home. Will reclaimed it with rubber mulch and it needs something decorative. The funny thing is that last time we stayed here, we stopped there and it was pouring that whole weekend. This time the weather was bright and beautiful, but it still tried to rain on us when we stopped in there! It only sprinkled for a minute, but it still cracked us up.

standing on last year's site looking at this year's site

Upon our return it was time for some reading and writing in the lovely outdoors - listening to the boats - and I wondered if we could actually walk down to the water and get a picture of the fishermen. I fully expected to see a mass of them from the sound, but we didn't see even one. The site across from us was the site we camped last year - when it poured the whole weekend - and we couldn't do any exploring then. There weren't any campers there this weekend, so we went over and into the woods.

woods behind last year's site

In the first place, the lake was a little farther than I had expected - accessible, but it sounded like we would walk a hundred yards and fall in. In the second place, we discovered a wonderful rock shelf where the land began to drop toward the lake, so I got some nice shots of that...and sorta lost interest in walking the rest of the way down. 

rock shelf

view from the rock shelf down to the lake

"yard" beside last year's site

 



I like that site. Its layout and woods remind me of where I grew up back in Michigan, except Missouri is rocky where Michigan is dune-y. 
Oh, just an FYI, btw - if you're going on a quick exploratory hike in an unfamiliar hilly-woodsy area and you happen to have, oh, say THREE walking sticks in your possession, you might try to remember that BEFORE you head out rather than on your way back. Nobody fell. Jus' sayin' it would have been a little easier. ;)

While Will broke in his new hammock with nap #2, Storm tried to keep him awake, entice him to play, and generally not nap herself. I'm sure her version of this weekend would be vastly different from ours...

"Daddy? Play? Play ball, Daddy?"

The weather being far too fine for indoor activities, Saturday night became drive-in movie night. The TV is portable and the power cord reached the picnic table. Voila! Hot dogs over the campfire, kettle corn, a fire at our backs, and Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie on the screen. Ah, yes, this is the life! :D
Sunday morning was a little colder, a little drearier - a good time to pack up and beat the rain home. Great weekend! :D

Blooms Day

No, not the famous day in June celebrating the celebrating the literary character in Ulysses. This is the day the buds opened on the Bradford Pear out our window. This year Blooms Day was Sunday, April 3rd. So I tried to get pics in progress throughout the day. The problem: it was also one of the windiest days of the past few weeks - a habit that has continued almost every day since.

It started when I tried to get a clear shot of the little buds beginning to open. How fast is my shutter? Hmmmm...

Not quite fast enough.

And it got worse...all day long.

 The trees by the Post Office were already in full bloom.

I managed to get a few shots that help show how pretty the little blossoms are. As the afternoon went along they opened nicely, but the wind wasn't done.

Usually we can count on about a week and a half of pretty tree before it "snows" little paper punches of petals. Not this year. New buds still opening - brand new baby petals already on the ground :( 

Oh, it still was gorgeous all week, don't get me wrong. Still beautiful, in spite of the wind. Today, a week later, it's full of beautiful green with just a few blooms left. But those are pictures for another day. :)



 

My Snowball Tree

No, it's not really a Snowball tree...it's a Bradford Pear. Every year after it buds we get some sort of nasty weather to try to kill it. Today started with flurries, changed to sleet-snow mix, then rain-sleet-snow, then big, fluffy flakes.

 Those WERE little buds beginning to open into beautiful blossoms this morning.

 Now they're little snowballs. *sigh* Hopefully they will blossom without browning or other damage in a few days and turn this tree into a giant flower. In the meantime, we're enjoying the beautiful winter scene from inside our cozy living room. ;)

Kansas City Zoo

One of our favorite family outings has always been to go to a zoo. When we moved to Missouri, we found the Kansas City Zoo on a school field trip. Back in those days it was much smaller and less modern than it is today. We have greatly enjoyed watching it grow and improve over the past decade and a half.

These days we often take the opportunity to reminisce about the first time we visited the zoo. The Valley is currently closed for improvements, but it hasn't yet been completely disassembled. In fact, some of the first pictures we ever took at the zoo were in The Valley. Back when the girls were little - Alli was in first grade - The Valley was open and most, but not all, of the cages contained animals.

This cage, however, was not only empty but accessible. They had me get in and took a picture of me through the bars. Momma on display at the zoo. ;) Of course, that was long before we had digital cameras, cell phones...not even sure if we had internet service in our area yet! 
I'm glad the old classic zoo is not totally obliterated by the current zoo. Many of the original buildings are still around, if renovated, and have pictures of their original days. Some are still awaiting renovation.

The original primate house still stands, though now empty. The primates have been moved to larger dwellings for many years now. This building is not one of the very oldest, but it still holds historic significance and I hope they find a way to repurpose it eventually rather than destroy it.
Looking down the old alley in The Valley, the enclosures are still visible, the railing newer than the walls. It's a quaint old area waiting to be reclaimed by the zoo.

I could suggest a historic walk down memory lane. They could certainly renovate these enclosures and make them suitable for the right kinds of animals. I would like to see a few displays of old pictures and walk-through areas where today's visitors can experience something like what the zoo was like before and how it has evolved.

Wouldn't it be fun to walk into an old cage and see pictures of its former inhabitants, historic events from the zoo's history and Kansas City's pathway to today's Zoo? Maybe a hands-on training about why and how the zoo has changed over the past century and what it meant to be a zoologist then and what it takes now.
We nearly lost the KC Zoo a few years ago due to lack of funds. Now it's busier than ever and thriving. If you happen to find yourself in Kansas City, Missouri, on a nice day, take a drive over to Swope Park and take a look.

Lake Michigan

I have lived in West Michigan my entire life, and one of the reasons I love about it is Lake Michigan.  Its waves can rival those of the ocean, and its fresh water is...well, refreshing.

One day in late July last summer, my family decided to check out the big lake.  The wind was pretty brisk, resulting in huge waves for the kids to enjoy.

I caught this snapshot of Bug just as she was jumping backwards into a wave.  Then I took this one of the only body part the wave didn't consume.

The kids enjoyed every minute we spent at the lake that evening.  We stayed there well after sunset.

The pictures above and below are of my nephews enjoying the waves in their own ways.

 This beach is called Pier Cove and is one of the few public beaches that doesn't charge a fee to use.  Pier Cove did have a pier at one time, which was used to load peaches and other produce grown in the area onto ships heading to Chicago.  Nothing of it remains visible above the water, and Lake Michigan has taken over quite a bit of the shore since the pier's heyday in the 1800's.

But it is a very popular beach and suits our purposes whenever we want to enjoy the lake on a late Sunday afternoon.

From Michigan to Missouri

I have some pictures on my school computer that I *ahem* borrowed from a website that used to post wonderful pictures of Michigan...well, mostly. The author/photographer had a site through an Ann Arbor college and had some stunning views of winter, fall, the Upper Peninsula.

on my way to work in Sedalia, MO

Anyway, I happened to notice my screensaver the other day showing a picture of rocks and I thought it was my Missouri rocks...

Osage Beach, MO, January 2011

but it was from the Michigan page! So I decided to revisit my old online haunt at randomSPACE and found some new Michigan pics:

Iced Cliffs at Pictured Rocks

Lover's Leap

Near Chapel Beach

Cliffs southwest of Mosquito Beach with pancake ice

 The whole site is filled with gorgeous pictures of the author's travels throughout Michigan. It gives me a nice trip home anytime I need one :)

Where the Ozarks Meet the Prairie

The prettiest place I've ever lived is still Michigan. I usually get to go back in summer, but the past two years I had reason to go back in fall and early winter. Yep, Michigan is the prettiest place I've ever lived. But my daily drive to work is definitely beautiful. In those 25-ish miles I travel through a state park, big open farmland, a couple small towns, some lovely rock formations, and a historic Missouri city.

I love the gingerbread-with-icing look these rocks take on in winter. I was experimenting with black and white on this particular day. The day before went from rain to sleet followed by snow, which flocked the branches like thick white velvet.

Driving home that afternoon was interesting. I kept pointing the camera randomly and didn't know what I had until I got home. I got really lucky and only had to delete a few. Most were surprisingly in focus and well centered. I liked the black and white effect very well. Considering the color of the sky and the snow that day, there wasn't much difference between color and black and white anyway.

 And it lent the whole project an antique feel. This house reminded me of the house in A Christmas Story. It doesn't quite so much in color or when it's not covered in snow.

This one reminded me of my Great-Aunt Darlene's house back in Allegan. I don't know why. It looks nothing like it. But there is one just down the street that has a semi-circular set of concrete steps like she had. Of course, I didn't get a picture of that house. But I really, really like this one. And I always have loved Aunt Darlene's house. Maybe that's the connection.

Yeah, I love my daily drive. :)