Johnson's Shut-Ins

Okay, I realize it has been awhile since I last posted to this blog but I have been recovering from our vacation.  Why recover, you might ask?  Well, we headed to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park for a wonderful time.  Every morning we would do a hike and every afternoon we swam in the river.  I might want to mention the temps were in the 100's all but one day.  Lest you pity us, however, we were in a very nice camper with air conditioning!

Anyway, we played very very hard.  I spent the week face-to-face with the incredible beauty of God's creation, constantly amazed at the diversity and uniqueness of what He has done.  Let me show you...

This is the East Fork of the Black River.  It winds it's way down the Ozark Mts. to be squeezed through this little valley over some incredibly hard rock called dolomite. 
The river has scooped out the rock over the centuries and created  little natural water slides, which people slither down with the help of the river's current.  Kids loved it, a little too much current action for me.  I preferred the quiet pools further upstream. . .

Here are the kids (well, two of them) swimming in the clearest water I have ever seen in a natural setting.  They are watching the fish and tadpoles swim up to nibble on them. 

Here is a shot from one of our hikes.  This was a two-handed walk at times, holding on to trees and rocks, that lifted us up over the knobs of the mountain and then back down in the valley.  I'm proud of my kids.  They really hung in there.  This is a quiet little waterfall in the midst of the trees and rocks. 

We didn't just stay at the Shut-Ins, though.  Take a look at these!

This is part of Elephant Rocks State Park, just down the road from where we were.  Amazing, isn't it!  These huge rocks, sitting on top of the mountain.  It looked like Mars up there, with boulders the size of spaceships tossed around.

This was the funniest part of the trip.  After Elephant Rocks, we headed to the top of Taum Sauk Mt, the highest point in the state of Missouri.  I know, you people in Colorado are thinking we are crazy to even call the Ozarks mountains, but they are ours and that's what we call 'em!  So anyway, we're taking this very nicely paved trail through timber waiting impatiently for the trees to open up and present us with a breathtaking vista of the peaks all around.  After all, we just left the Elephant Rocks (which were incredible and breathtaking all on their own), so this will be better. . . right? 

Um, no.  This picture is my family standing on a little rock poking out of the ground beside an unremarkable tree set in the usual Missouri timber.  The rock does have a granite plaque, though, that some thoughtful Missourian placed there.

Yep, this is the highest elevation point in Missouri.  I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't take the picture.

Well, this is enough inflicting my vacation on you poor unsuspecting readers.  Thanks for waiting.  I have nothing pithy to close with, except that I truly enjoyed laughing with my husband and children this week.  I can't wait until we can go again.