Oh my goodness! I decided to spend more of my free time reading books and less of it doing other stuff, so I haven’t told you about anything lately. (I’ve developed an obsession with the Philippa Gregory books.)

I promised I’d tell you about our hike on the Lewis and Clark Trail the other day.

We’d hoped to do the whole thing, but it turned out part of it was underwater, so we hiked about 3 miles and turned back when we had to. It was a nice hike! Pretty busy, some bugs, a little humid, but it’s a very scenic hike (for Missouri…) and it was enjoyable.

Where the trail ended. It’s a loop so we could have hiked from the opposite direction as well, but we went the more popular way.

Afterwards we needed to use the restroom, so we popped into the Weldon Springs Conservation Area Interpretive Center. Um, that place was a little crazy.

Those rocks are covering a pile of stuff that is covering up all sorts of radioactive material. It’s perfectly safe, they say, but it’s pretty crazy that it exists, and that you can climb up the mountain! Between that and watching Chernobyl…anyway, the Center is worth a stop in and the two rangers working there (a husband and wife team) were very knowledgeable and eager to share their knowledge with visitors. And the bathrooms were excellent.

Over the last weekend I went to Phoenix to visit my sister Leslie and her family, including my brand new nephew! It was a low key visit as far as leaving the house to do things, because it was a bit too hot outside for much activity, and especially activity involving a very tiny baby. We did go to a neat brewery and a “build your own enchilada” place, and we got Stroopwaffle McFlurries.

Tonight we are going to a Young Friends Opera performance. Tomorrow I’m playing with Weird Al (so fun!!) and then Sunday is a day off and dinner with my friend April who is visiting from Atlanta. Looking forward to it!