Rivers and rails part 7: Petroglyphs and lizards

We pulled into Washington State Park (DeSota, Missouri) not knowing what we might find there. Turtle in the road
This very nice creek/river. There were two women sitting in chairs by the water and it looked very comfortable! I was wishing we had a picnic with us.....would have been an ideal place.

Looking at the water the other direction....much greener.

Some sort of bug was really stirring up the water....I have no idea what they are.

Chipping sparrow gathering something.

Pretty purple flower.

We saw a sign for petroglyphs and were trying to find them. I just like this rock :-)

Ah, ha! Found some!

I didn't realize that there were Indian carvings in Missouri, so I'm glad we stopped here.

A boardwalk and roof over the carvings so you can walk along and enjoy them....but not touch them.

They had signs to help you know what you were looking at.

Some like this Thunderbird were easy to see. Others, I would have had no idea they were markings.

Mike took some of these....his camera seemed to "see" them better.

And a couple of real live lizards at one end :-)

Some how he seemed like just the right touch to go with the ancient carvings.

A smaller one....

This one found a worm to play with.

I'm sure he caught it eventually!

Tomorrow will be the last post of this trip...finally! The weather here is in the high 90's and humid and besides that Wimbledon tennis is on TV....so I'm glad to have had this trip to fill up blog for a few days!

Rivers and rails part 6: The KATY Trail State Park...

The KATY Trail State Park is the longest developed rail-trail in the country. It follows the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy) and is 225 miles long with 25 trailheads and two fully restored depots. It runs from Clinton, MO to St. Charles, MO. This is nearly the width of the entire state.I found a map on the Internet......kind of small but it shows all the stops. We had seen part of the trail in St. Charles and now we were going to walk part of it at McKittrick, MO which is just across the Missouri River from Hermann.
This is the trailhead at McKittrick. There were several bikers getting ready to join the trail at this point. For those who bike and hike....a really wonderful place.

This is what the sky looked like most of the time we were in Missouri.....blue, full of clouds, with rolling prairies or fields or plaines below depending on where we were.

The bridge across a small river.

The Loutre River. You can seen the tunnel where we went under the highway just beyond. Rail-trails are great....nice and straight and level for either biking or hiking. Probably not a good idea to carry a camera if you really want to get exercise.....I stopped about every few seconds to take a photo of something! LOL

Looking at the river

There were a bunch of these fish right below us near the bridge.

I should have saved some of these sky shots for Friday (SkyWatch Friday) but wanted to keep things in order. I liked the sky reflecting on the water.

Lots of small "critters" on the way. Widow Skimmer female.

Saw several damselflies that I will not try to identify.

Strangely enough, I never see Red-Headed Woodpeckers at home, but everytime I go on a trip, I seem to find them! This was the second one for this trip. This one was making short flights from this tree.....bug catching I assumed.

He was in a tree right over my head making the angle a bit steep for photos.

Their color is so distinctive and plain compared to the other woodpeckers with their spotty feathers.

Catalpa tree. I think they look like green beans hanging from a tree :-)

Mike spotted 3 of these little toads....I probably would have walked right on top of them.

Flowers along the path.....vetches? I know the pink is Crown Vetch, and the yellow looks very similar.

Buckeye Butterfly

Small blue butterfly....Eastern Tailed?

A very ragged butterfly.....no idea what it is.

Another meadow flower shot.

Queen Anne's Lace

A barn in the distance

As we were leaving we drove by this old church that someone seems to be turning into living quarters......notice the lack of steeple.......

......a short distance away in another yard....the steeple! Now a gazebo, I guess! So funny.

(I think there will be two more posts to finish this trip off...we saw a lot in three days!)

Rivers and rails part 5: Hermann, Missouri

We left St. Louis and headed towards Hermann, Missouri. We tried to stay on backroads near the Missouri River for a scenic drive.Before getting to Washington, Missouri, we had to stop for some construction on a bridge and of course I found something to take photos of :-) There were a couple of herons fishing along the water's edge where the field was flooded.
I think he got something!

Very peaceful.

We ate lunch in Washington, MO and this was the view from the restaurant. Both the river and the railroad right outside the window.

Looking up the river the other way.

This sign was in the parking lot. I guess all the towns along Lewis and Clark's route are proud to claim a connection.

Sky and steeple in the town.

We were staying at a B&B in Hermann, and it is a really nice old town full of German history and
winemaking history. We did all that the last time we came and didn't visit any of the museums and historic homes on this trip.

An interesting house that caught my eye.

Another house as we walked about the town.

We visited a total of 3 wineries.

The Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow, MO, and the Hermannhof Winery and Stone Hill Winery, both in Hermann.

A bench at Hermannhof. I will post mostly photos from this winery.

Old barrel on the wall.

In the tasting room, there were three of these interesting hangings.

I really liked them for their oddity.

They had a small cellar area that was open for "self-guided" touring. I enjoyed this better than the official guided tour later at Stone Hill.

Barrels

Damp brick walls and interesting angel

Another angel

This golden stag was one of several on a fence outside.

Stone Hill Winery is the oldest and sits on a hill looking down over the city of Hermann. The view was lovely from up there.

Grapes growing on the hillside.

The vines

This old press was in the corner of the tasting room.

Enough of wineries! It is lovely country and great for just driving around and stopping in the small towns along the river.