Saturday, August 13

Today we planned to hike and see things in the Alton area.  We didn't hike because the heavy rains made the trails muddy.  We will do that another camping trip.  It was cooler and more pleasant.  We stopped by the Visitor's Center at the park.  It was very nice with interesting displays about the area's history.  This area is a Bald Eagle winter nesting site.  One display was a full-sized Eagle's Nest.  The nests can be up to six feet wide.  I had no idea their nests were so big.  To illustrate the size, I took this picture of the boys inside the nest.

Keegan is pretending to be a baby eagle waiting for mom/dad to feed.

The shoreline of the  Mississippi is beautiful.

We went here to take a tour of a lock on the Mississippi River.  Unfortunately the elevator which takes you to the lock was out of order so all we could do was look around the museum.  It had some interesting exhibits.  The boys enjoyed being able to guide a tow boat with barges up the river in a simulation exhibit.  We were told that the elevator had been inoperable since February of this year and that it was very expensive to repair.  With the financial woes of this state, who knows when it will be serviceable again!  The most exciting thing to happen was that I got two bee stings on my hand and arm.   It had been such a long time since I have been stung that I had forgotten had painful it was.  

We went to the Meeting of the Rivers Observation Tower.  From the top of the tower (approximately 150 feet) you could see where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi.   The water on the bottom of the picture is the Mississippi and the water at the top is the Missouri.  A few miles north of this spot, the Illinois River joins the Mississippi so by this point the Mississippi River contains the water of two additional rivers.

The three decks of the tower spaces 50 feet apart.

Keegan wanted to take a picture.  This is the one he took.  I think he did a great job!

When  Father Marquette first came to this region of the country, the Indians of the area had carved  into the stone of the cliffs a picture of an Indian legend.  Supposedly this creature protected the Indians by eating white people.  Fortunately the monster didn't do his job because white people stayed in the area and now the original carving has been weathered down to almost nothing.  This one has been painted on in recent years.

This cross on a cliff had been erected to honor Father Marquette.  He came here from France to bring Jesus to the Indians.  The state park is also named after him.   It is from this area that Lewis and Clark began their journey to explore the upper west, trying to find a good passage to the ocean.

A neat lighthouse along the Mississippi River.

We played a lot of Uno and other card games with Hunter.  It was a camping tradition for Carol and I to play Uno with Kara and John.  We spent many, many hours playing Uno.  Finally, Hunter has discovered the game.

We also played Slap Jack and War.  Hunter wanted this picture taken to prove he had won a game of Slap Jack.


It was a good day.  After we got back to camp, Keegan jumped on his bicycle and found his new friend.  Together, they found a mud puddle to ride their bikes through.  Eventually they abandoned their bikes and jumped in the mud puddle.  Both were a muddy, wet painr of boys but they had fun!