It's My Life

Winter continues here and so does my reflection of warmer times. We had an amazing 2015 camping season that took us to new places and some of our old favorites. Reflecting on past trips and planning new ones is honestly how I get through these winter months.  Unanimously, The Taylor's and The Todd's agree that  Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park  was our favorite 2015 destination. Johnson's Shut-Ins is located near Lesterville, Missouri which is just over 100 miles south of St Louis, under 200 miles east of Springfield, and 295 miles southeast of Kansas City, MO, which is where we are based. Park Details: Johnson's Shut-Ins is a state park. Senior Citizens receive a discount. Special sites are designated ADA and can't be used by the general population. There are 5 different loops with a total of 85 sites. There is designated sites for camping, hike-in camping, camper cabins, electric only, electric/water, and electric/water/sewer sites. Due to the 2005

When you say the word mountains, a certain image comes to one's mind. I personally picture the great Rocky Mountains in Colorado. I lived there for five years in my younger years and I still love the feeling I get when I travel west on I-70 and pass the Gennessee exit and get that first breathtaking view of the Rocky's.  When I think of mountains, I don't really think of my own state even though Missouri is part of the Ozark Mountain range. The mountains in Missouri are not nearly as majestic as the Rockies. They are smaller. They seem to be greener because the mountains do not soar high in the air above the point where vegetation thrives.   While we were on vacation in the southeast part of Missouri we learned the the highest point in Missouri is on Taum Sauk Mountain. That mountain was very close to where we were visiting.  A short drive from Johnson's Shut-Ins and we were at Taum Sauk.   Like any other state park we have visited, Taum Sauk Mountain is ea

Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. I have longed to go there for a few years but the distance from our home to the park is really...really far. So, we took a week off from work and made the 300 mile drive worth our effort. We started off at the week off at  Montauk State Park . We spent four days trout fishing before moving on over to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. Before we explored the Shut-Ins we drove up to  Elephant Rock State Park .  After all that rock climbing we were ready for a cool dip into the spring fed water. I did a lot of research before we left to go on vacation. I knew that a Shut-In was a constriction in a river-way. I knew that hundreds of people visit the Shut-Ins every weekend of the summer. I also knew that approximately five years ago an electric company's water reservoir breached sending 1.3 billion gallons of water downstream flooding this state park. I also knew that venomous copperhead snakes and even black bears were known to call this area thei

The last week before school started we packed up our camper and headed out on a long road trip to explore the southeastern part of Missouri. After spending four days at Montauk State Park  we moved further east to Johnson Shut-In's State Park. We were so lucky to have shared this vacation with some great friends and family members. The Husband's father joined us on the first leg for fly fishing. One of my work friends and her family joined us at Johnson Shut-In's. We were not the only one's who had family join us, our camping buddy's  mom and husband also joined us. In the end, we had a group of fourteen people for parts of our Johnson Shut-In's stay. After a hot dog cookout on our first night in Johnson Shut-Ins we were ready to gather  by the campfire to enjoy some adult beverages and a few laughs while the kids "tore up" the campground on their scooters. Apparently our space and group looked so inviting that a venomous copperhead snake decide

August has become our summer vacation month. Summer activities have usually wound down and we like to get one last hooray in before school starts.  This summer we decided to travel our own state and visit a few places we have been dreaming of visiting but were a little too far for a weekend road trip. Despite last minute vacation glitches we managed to pull out of Kansas City around 9:00 in the morning headed to Montauk State Park just outside of Licking, Missouri.  Montauk State Park is one of three state parks where you can trout fish in Missouri. We are frequent visitors of  Bennett Springs  State Park but not Montauk, just because of the travel distance from our house. (Bennett Springs is about 3 hours and Montauk is double that.) Setting up and settling in was relatively easy. We took a tour of the park and hiked around exploring the spring that feeds into the river. The Park stocks this river each night with trout. The fishermen like this river better for fishing th