Missouri State Parks: Armadillos and Petroglyphs

I never saw a weekend that didn't need a park or two in it.

Eat-Rite had a new owner come in and rescue the place and fix it up, but it looks like the pandemic has killed it all over again.

First up was St. Francois State Park.

Moonshine stills once flourished in the area known as Mooner’s Hollow. It doesn’t have anything to do with buttholes.

I learned it’s pretty difficult to take a picture of a pre-roadkill armadillo. It had its little snout down and was rooting around in the leaves, I assume looking for bugs to eat or a car to get hit by.

Rocked out with the petroglyphs at Washington State Park.

In native mythology, the thunderbird controls the upper world and throws lightning(here as arrows) at the underworld creatures and creates thunder by flapping its wings.

I always like to check out the local towns after a hike. I like the balance between natural and urban. De Soto, Missouri was now on deck.

The Museum of Transportation and De Soto, MO

Lydia and I went to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. It was a lot nicer and more interesting than I had anticipated. Our Groupon included a free ride on the miniature train, but it was closed for the day because it was too cold out. Weak!

Especially interesting to me is the fact that St. Louis was the biggest auto manufacturer before Detroit, so there were a solid number of locally manufactured vehicles.

It was a tad chilly outside.

There was a cool little exhibit about the evolution of dashboard displays.

We had seen all the treasures that the museum had to offer, but I just wasn't ready to go home. Where should we go? We took a peek at a map and decided on a place that we hadn't yet been to: De Soto, MO. Why the heck not?

The drive over there was hilly. Hilly billy.

The city was interestingly set up, with sort of two main drags on either side of a railroad track. It was fitting after we had just spent all of that time scoping out old trains. We popped in to an antique store on the strip. These days I like to just stroll through antique stores and rarely buy things. I had just about escaped when I saw a case of treasures from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. I usually pride myself in not buying pointless things but I ended up acquiring a smashed penny from the fair for $10. It was even smashed on to a 1904 Indian Head penny! I'm a nerd.

The antique store had some old-timey candy displayed, so we tried some Valomilk.

NPR did a story on Valomilk in 2012 entitled: "Valomilks: A Sweet Treat That Runs Down Your Chin".

On the way home we saw a sign for a Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site.

Wowza. So covered.

The signage said that a big reason for covering the bridge was so that horses wouldn't look over the side and freak out.