Have you seen Big Springs lately?
Okay, fellow bloggers, I know that this topic cannot compete with previous tales of kudzu, feral yellow labs, and armadillos on the half shell, but I just have to have an excuse to post a photo of Big Springs that I took last week. I emailed it to my sister at Springfield City Hall, and she liked it so much that she put it on as her wallpaper. I cannot believe that the spring water is so GREEN!!
Actually, I hadn't been to the Van Buren getaway since my husband and I were dating, and that's ....let's see...at least forty years ago. I've driven through Van Buren on my way to Springfield hundreds of times, and I always thought, "Mmmm...I need to go down and see Big Springs again," but I never did it. The park is about four miles from Van Buren and is SUPER worth the trip. I had also forgotten that it's a national park, and I am SURE that it didn't have all those restrooms when I was there 40 years ago! (Yes, I know, all you smart alecs are saying, "Well, Madeline, they didn't have indoor plumbing when you were young, did they??")
Judging from the parking lots, they do get crowds at least part of the year, but we were there in the middle of the week, and it was absolutely idyllic! The grounds are kept like a golf course, and, since they have obviously received more rain than we have, it was so GREEN! My friend and I ate a picnic lunch at one of the picnic tables, listening to the sound of rushing water from the spring.
I also didn't remember the stone path that leads from the caves, up along the hillside. Surely, that wasn't there 40 years ago! It looks like something out of a Tarzan movie!
The trip illustrates to me how I've taken our own Missouri attractions for granted all these years. I took my students on two trips to Europe, when there are so many things to see in our own home state.
I don't have anything monumental to say about all this. I just wanted you to see this beautiful attraction, which is two hours away! Sample the water cress while you're there!
From the hills of Tillman, Missouri, this is your rural trip advisor, Madeline, signing off.
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As for my getting paid to go to Big Springs, sorry to disillusion you, but I do these trips (Big Springs, Whippoorwill Lake, Marquand) on my free day (which is Wednesdays). Of course, I write them up on company time.
I spent 32 years punching a clock, so I DO enjoy a job with some leeway...
I think that spot in Bollinger County is called the Block Hole, but I don't remember how to get to it. It's another place where my husband and I used to go early in our marriage, when he was such an avid fisherman. I will have to check on it.
There's also Elephant Rock/s up north. I've heard that the park up there has been cleaned up, since the Taum Sauk disaster. I've never been there, and I want to see it, too.
Funny you mentioned Mingo -- I was there on a recent Wednesday trip, but I didn't take photos, for some reason. Beautiful woodlands...but we never got to the water..
I'll post a photo of Whippoorwill Lake, too.
Interesting idea about the contest. Maybe I'll do that. It's actually hard to take a BAD photo in that location!
Sorry, FJGuy, I already made the mistake of telling my boss that if I didn't need the money, I'd do this job for free! I really, really like it.
I didn't get rich teaching, and I guess I won't get rich writing!
That's provided that we HAVE a winter. October dawns this morning with temps still in the mid-eighties...
Yellow Rose, it's no wonder you like my writing style: If you'll remember, one of our bloggers pointed out some time ago (in a land far away) that we had similar styles. Yes, yes, it's called OTW---"Off the Wall"...
What shall we call our sleuthing adventure? "The Adventures of the Road Kill Gang"? "The Golden Oldies"? "The Geritol Generation"?