Hitting the Parks Hard

We woke up after our first night camping and it was time to knock out some state parks. 

Finger Lakes State Park really blew up my idea of what to expect at a state park.

One thing that was crazy was that a good portion of the trails weren't for people on foot, they were for ATVs. It was apparently a popular idea because we saw ATVs and the trailers to carry them all over the place. They also had a water trail for kayaking. I think the rental office was closed due to cooties so we did a little hiking then moved on.

Jewell Cemetery State Historic Site in Columbia, Missouri had lots of fun old timey gravestones happening, including one for MO's 22nd governor, Charles Hardin, elected in 1875.

Next was Rock Bridge Memorial State Park in Boone County, Missouri. It was quite a memorable memorial, indeed.

There was a sinkhole trail.

It really delivered what was promised.

There was another area called the Devil's Ice Box that we wanted to check out but there were a lot of people in the area and we started to get uncomfortable about breathing their sneezes so we turned back before seeing it.

Jefferson Landing State Historic Site in Jefferson City, MO included a few cool buildings.

The Lohman Building was constructed in 1839 by James Crump and saw use as a grocery store, warehouse, telegraph office, tavern, and hotel.

Parkour!

Clark's Hill/Norton State Historic Site near Jefferson City, MO preserves a lookout point from which William Clark viewed the confluence of the Osage and Missouri rivers.

Stay wild, Wild Bergamot.

I have been obsessed with eating a pawpaw for a while so it was cool to see that the Lewis and Clark expedition was also a fan of the fruit. We were actually planning on visiting a pawpaw festival in Ohio this year but that plan will likely be canceled now that the world has ended.

We passed a truck that was transporting bees.

Back at camp we cooked some more food the hard way.

Roasted some apples up real nice.

The place had a pretty cool bathroom. Part of my safety rules are to avoid public restrooms at all costs so this was a somewhat stressful and very quick visit.

The camp had their own little outdoor movie projector set up for guests. I thought that that was a nice touch.