a blur of missour(i)

 Welcome to Missouri!   

And other states.  :)  Todd and I took a multi-state road trip last week to visit my brother in central Missouri.  We had so much fun and saw some amazing things.  We took a day trip to Johnny Morris's Wonders of Wildlife Aquarium...nearly 2 miles of exhibits!  A lot to see.

I got to feed a ray!

Too much fun...

...and so pretty.

Another day, we rented bicycles at Dogwood Canyon.

Lots of nice paths for those of us who haven't ridden in a while!

Missouri has some beautiful rock formations...

...and so many waterfalls!

We saw a lot of wildlife, even though it's late in the season.  

muskrat

groundhog

Todd nearly stepped on this cottonmouth snake...Missouri's only venomous water snake. Thankfully, it slithered off into the rocks instead of defending its territory.

We saw a ton of rainbow trout.

The water is so blue because the stream is fed by an underwater aquifer.  

We saw golden trout too, a type of rainbow trout.

The trip was a great success, in part, because there were no "medical" complications!  Not only is it really difficult for me to sleep away from home, the medicine that I'm on for my outsized perimenopause symptoms gives me strange headaches...stabbing pain behind the eye.  They're not migraines (I actually haven't had a migraine since starting the medicine, which is great), but they're  unpredictable and can last for days, which completely saps my strength.  No issues on this trip...hooray!

That means we can try another trip soon.

Have a great week!  

Butterflies, Bees, and Lizards (near) Trees

When my sister-in-law was in town last week, we decided to go to Saluda, North Carolina.  Tucked into the mountainside, it's a tiny one-stoplight town that was at one time the steepest railway grade in the United States.

We shopped and visited the museum, which had some very dramatic trail-derailment dioramas.

A short drive away, we hiked over smooth stone paths...

...to see a beautiful 90-foot waterfall, Pearson's Falls.

Another day, we drove to Asheville, North Carolina to stand in author Thomas Wolfe's shoe prints...

...and see the interesting architecture.  Dog gargoyles!  :)

The Blue Hills are undeniably beautiful.

However, it's not too shabby around our house right now.  80s or not, FALL IS HERE.

We are having a bumper crop of acorns this year.  They crunch under your feet wherever you walk.

This is the front driveway, right before blowing.  A day after blowing, it looks exactly the same!

Our big camellias aren't quite ready to pop yet...

But some of our other ones feel differently!

This unseasonably warm weather has kept our marigolds and zinnias blooming, joined with fall asters and chrysanthemums.

And the vinca just doesn't stop!

I picked a nice bouquet to bring a little of that outside beauty indoors.

We still have butterflies, bees, and lizards in trees!  Well, on downspouts, anyway.

It's a great time to be outside.

Have a great week!