MISSOURI TRIP

I wanted to post a few pictures of the trip we took to Missouri in late July...

Jorin turns 12! Rance ordained him and he was able to pass the sacrament
in the Rolla ward with Rance. He did such a good job!

We visited the Meramec Springs - This one spring pumps 96,000,000 gallons per day!
There was a visitors center, a cool old ironworks (1st west of the Mississippi), 2 museums, a fish
hatchery, original cabins, and other very cool and historical things. It was also beautiful! We loved our hikes here.

The kids' first look at the Mississippi River.
We walked along its banks
before going to the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

That little itty bitty door is where we entered and sat in a little "dryer" type unit as we
ascended up the inside of the Arch. Fun!! Breathe, breathe....


The windows at the top were suprisingly small - but we got a
great view of St. Louis down below! The Arch is the nation's tallest
man-made monument.


Missouri, the Cave State, has more than 5,500 caves.
We visited the Onondaga Caves, a National Natural Landmark, that are about
15 minutes from Rolla -
It was amazing to see all of the tall stalagmites, dripping stalactites, active
flowstones and many other different formations inside these caves!

The St. Louis Zoo was fun! It really was one of the best zoos I've seen.
- I took several pictures of different animals...
but one of the most interesting sights was of this woman who danced
for a crowd that was listening to a GREAT blues band - She was older -
and it was very hot - but she put on quite a show!

It really is very beautiful in this area. We enjoyed being surrounded by trees
and water. This river was still cold - in July - but fun to play around in.

The best part of this trip was being with Dad!
The worst part - leaving him!