Marty and Kit left Babler this morning. We went over to say goodbye and got a peek at their Surveyor's "bike door." The area was originally a front bunk room, but Marty took out the bunks and installed a wardrobe and computer desk. The small door is just the right height for their bikes to load inside.
Our big adventure today was a trip to the Shaw Nature Reserve. Our friends Bruce and Mary Sue were visiting St. Louis a couple of weeks ago and blogged about their day at the reserve. It sounded like a very appealing place to spend a day.
The Shaw Nature Reserve is an adjunct of the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, but the reserve is located in Gray Summit, thirty some miles south and west of the city. From Babler it was only a seventeen mile drive. We stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up a map of the grounds, and a very friendly woman pointed out to us the best routes to take to see the great displays of wildflowers in bloom, especially the glades full of purple coneflowers.
We ate lunch at a picnic table by the Trail House before heading out to explore the Wildflower Trail. As we walked along the path, so many butterflies fluttered about that I found myself actually brushing them away from my face. They seemed to like my yellow shirt.
We saw and heard lots of birds too, including this summer tanager.
The diversity of habitats is inviting, including this restored tall grass prairie. We walked down to a small pond where we heard bullfrogs and saw some turtles sunning on branches and dazzling black and white dragonflies.
We took the Wetland Trail and saw lots of lily pads in bloom.
Along the trail this black rat snake posed for Ken.
We walked through the Whitmire Wildflower Garden, which features native Missouri plants, including some unusual blooms.
I defrosted the fridge this evening. We put the bikes up on their rack and started to prepare for tomorrow's move.
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