Elephant Rock State Park

We have had the opportunity to visit a few of the Missouri State parks over the last several years and one of our favorites was Elephant Rock State Park. We took the boys there in the summer of 2014. It is one of those places that is hard to describe to other people and even showing pictures doesn't do it justice. It is a 134 acre park in southeast Missouri. It is filled with massive boulders made of granite. There are lots of picnic tables set up near the entrance and it has a paved walking trail and you can climb to the top for a beautiful view.

It's a little hard to tell how big these rocks actually are...

but here we are standing between them. The rock on the right is named Dumbo and is 27 feet tall, and 34 feet long. 

 The kids had fun climbing all over everything. They thought it was quite an adventure!

Koda found a big pile of rocks. He was impressed!

 I think he enjoyed this state park more than any of us. 

I spent most of my time trying to keep track of this little climber. 

This narrow path is called "Fat Man's Squeeze". 

Mark had to try climbing up everything the hard way. 

Kaden was pretty impressed with this one. 

There are two old rock quarries in the park and rock from the park was used in building the City Hall in St. Louis as well as various other buildings and structures around the city. 

View from the top. I hope to visit here again during the fall and see this view with all the trees changing colors. 

-Rachel

Neosho National Fish Hatchery

This week we went over to visit the Neosho National Fish Hatchery in Neosho, Mo. It opened in 1888, and is the oldest national fish hatchery still in operation. Unfortunately, they were renovating most of the ponds while we were there so we didn't get to see as many fish as we would have liked.

 This pond was flooded in April 2017, and has debris and trash in it so they are going to have to drain and clean it. The ducks seemed to enjoy it anyway. 

 The kids learned about the life cycles of Monarch butterflies and Rainbow trout. 

The Visitor's Center was built in 2007, and is modeled after the original Visitor's Center that was torn down in the 1950s. We enjoyed walking around the grounds and checking everything out. Water for the hatchery comes partially from nearby Hearrell Spring which provides 300 gallons of water per minute.

The Visitor's Center has a large aquarium and several learning stations that the kids enjoyed. 

 The hatchery raises Rainbow Trout for Branson's Lake Taneycomo, Pallid Sturgeon to be released into the Lower Missouri River, as well as some endangered species of fish and mussels.

It's the Barn of all Barns!

Well, heading home.  Blacktop roads again. 60 mph... Moving on...Gonna hit the first antique store when my feet hit the ground running....

But wait...

Back up the truck, Jack...what's that we just whizzed past? IT'S THE BARN OF ALL BARNS!!!
Turn around quick! Look at those thingys on top of that barn! How cool are those? And when we drove by again, the owner of this MEGA-BARN came out and said "Let me guess, you're looking at the barn". And he encouraged us to stop and get out and go INSIDE and even climb the stairs to check out the loft! Does it get any better than that? He said it was built in 1925 and was the "old McMillan Farm". I'll do some research on it when I get home and see what I can find out.

And of course I had to have my picture taken with this barn! And bless God, my batteries kept working!

Look at those beams!

And you can't tell it, but this little room was full of fruit jars. Like gallon size. And the neat thing was as we were leaving he gave me several boxes of them to take home with me. Cool!

 It truly was amazing! It's the most massive old barn I have ever seen!

I find this workmanship incredible!

The owner told me he was "the only Greek in the county" and he had the old farm up for sale because he was going to move back to where he came from. Either New Jersey or New York cause he couldn't handle the weather here. He worked in television there and had visited West Plains in 1975 and thought it would be a neat place to move to someday. He wanted to get away to a rural area to live but guess this was just too rural for him. He was very entertaining to visit with and told us of being stopped by the officers of the law and questioned about having guns or drugs, probably cause he wore his hair in a pony tail and had a different accent and looked a little "out of place" in this neck of the woods.

I Loved talking with him and it's just too bad the old barn wasn't somewhere closer to a "city" so it could be made into a museum or antique store or something like that. Someone came from California once and wanted to buy the old barn but I am sure he thought twice about it when he figured what it would cost to tear it down and move it anywhere.

What a delightful end to a peaceful day!