A Bold Move

Southern Illinois is home to these cute little creatures called blue-tailed skinks. They are in the lizard family and are actually rather beautiful. About an hour into our drive home today, Drew noticed that one of these skinks has made a bold move to domesticate itself by climbing into our van and joining us for the ride home.

I made the kids a deal: if it's still alive when we get home, and if you can catch it, you can keep it.

I've mentioned before that Erin is an animal magnet. Once we arrived home, Erin found the skink, captured it, and made a home for it. EG graciously donated a home. Organic soil has been purchased and thrown down. A Nutella lid has morphed into a water dish. Crickets were purchased. The only thing left was the naming rights. The kids decided on Les, in memory of Les Paul, the musician/inventor who passed away last week.

Here's hoping Les enjoys his new life!

Breakaway

We spent most of the afternoon hanging out at the lake. There's this thing called "The Blob" that provided endless hours of entertainment. One person crawls out to the end, and a bigger person jumps on the opposite side, launching the first person out into the lake.

Here's what it looked like when Baird launched Drew:

Drew's not a gymnist and had no idea how to right himself in midair so he could make a soft landing into the water. He hit eyeball first and was pretty shaken up. I was in the lake, watching from the other side of the blob, so I got to him pretty quickly. The lifeguard on duty jumped in and brought Drew out of the water to be sure he was ok. Drew spent about 20 minutes in the life guard station, catching his breath and getting checked out. Then he was back at it, but chose a more gentle approach.

When Miss Megan launched Drew, the launch and landing were both much less traumatic.

Springfield

We spent the day at the Lincoln Museum. While there are the cheesy cut-out portraits, there is so much more to this exhibit. I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't been, but if you live in Illinois or you're a fan of Lincoln, you absolutely must go see this.

Moving Day

Today was transition day. We broke camp and headed for clean sheets, long showers and cable TV. Springfield, here we come!

Garden of the Gods Observation Trail; Cypress Swamp

We went back to the Garden of the Gods area today, but headed off in a different direction. Like our earlier hikes, the kids enjoyed making me nervous on their bouldering expeditions.

Yes, those little dots on the rocks are the kids.

The northern-most cypress swamp in North America is located in Southern Illinois. We weren't able to locate a canoe rental place, but we did find a bridge that allowed us to walk out into the swamp. Over the past 150 years, this area was over-logged and then over-farmed, but was finally returned to its swampy roots in the late 1960s.

I can only imagine what it'll look like in another few decades.

Little Grand Canyon, Ponoma Bridge

In spite of a heat index over 105, we hiked the Little Grand Canyon on the west Side of Shawnee National Forest today.

Whenever trail guides say that the hiking conditions are "easy," "moderate," "difficult," or "rugged," I never know for sure what to think. I'd like to see these terms modified to something more like:
"the flip flop and stroller set can do this trail," or
"you're going to need at least sneakers with good traction, if not Merrills, to tackle this one," or
"if you can't run a mile in under 8 minutes you shouldn't be on this trail," or
"not many people attempt this one, so be ready to crawl through massive spider webs. You're probably going to get wet climbing through the canyons."

Little Grand Canyon definitely fell into the latter category, and it took about 2-1/2 hours to hike the whole trail. The reward was spectacular views, and the satisfaction of knowing we'd tackled one of the most rugged trails in Illinois.

Once we finished the Little Grand Canyon, we wanted to squeeze one more site into the afternoon: Ponoma Bridge.

This is a natural bridge in a rugged forest. It's so remote, we traveled down numerous county roads before finding a gravel road that meandered for 2-1/2 miles, where we found the trail head. We got out of the car and hiked for another half mile to get to the bridge. It's an incredibly peaceful place, and if I lived in the area, this would be my secret getaway spot.

Rock Climbing

We spent the whole day rock climbing, and the girls dubbed it the best day of vacation by far.
Erin's an experienced rock climber who looked more mountain goat than human as she easily scaled the face of the rocks. It was fun to watch her.

This was Drew's first rock climbing experience and he was thrilled.

Drew did really well on his rookie climb!

It was also Baird's first climb, and he was a trooper!

Kelsey did her share of climbing too, but here she takes a break

and thoughtfully watches her sister.

Fort Massac-Metropolis

It's not a true family vacation for the 5 Ring Circus unless I sneak a bit of education in. On this trip we made a stop at Fort Massac, a place on the Ohio River that was strategically important from the 1600s through the Civil War. Drew learned how to shoot a bow and arrow.

You just can't go to Southern Illinois without making a stop at Metropolis!

We spent the rest of the day driving around the countryside, trying to track down businesses that were actually open on a Saturday afternoon. We ate lunch at 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro. This place has won so many awards for BBQ I won't even begin to mention them here, but you can read all about them at their website: http://www.17thstreetbarbecue.com/. I tried fried pickles for the first time and I'm hooked! While they wouldn't give me the recipe, they did tell me that the batter has Magic Dust in it, so of course I picked up a couple of bottles so I can experiment once I get home.

We also swung by a peach orchard and picked up peaches that had just been picked. They were absolutely perfect: sweet and run-down-your-chin juicy. Summer vacation tastes great!

The Fun Begins: Cave in Rock, Garden of the Gods, Rim Rock

Cave in Rock has a long and storied history. It was a hideout for pirates in the 1700s, who looted the boats moving goods up and down the Ohio River. More recently, Walt Disney filmed the movie Davy Crockett here. More important, it's a cool 54 degrees inside and a great place to rest when you've been hiking in the hot August sun.Garden of the Gods wilderness area is beyond gorgeous.

The rock formations are unlike anything I've ever seen.

Hiking and bouldering around Rim Rock, we found some
narrow ledges that required crawling.

The tension between a teenager's sense of adventure

and her mother's fear for her safety was sometimes palpable.

Vacation Begins!

When I was very young, it was a special treat to go to the local Dog 'n Suds. You drove up to a spot, ordered from your car, and a waitress on roller skates brought your food to you. She hung a tray on your partially rolled-down window, and food would be dispensed. I don't really remember how the food tasted, but the root beer they served in frosty mugs still brings a smile to my face.

Dog 'N Suds are few and far between now, but Baird found one in central Illinois, and was willing to drive an hour out of our way so I could enjoy a taste from my childhood.

You can still order from your car, but the waitress isn't on roller skates anymore, and they don't hang the trays on your window.

The food is awful; the root beer is even better than I remembered!

Erin's always had a way with living creatures - both humans and animals seem naturally drawn to her. Tonight she enticed a luna moth to hang out with her for over an hour. It was initially drawn to the light of our lantern, but she was able to coax it onto her finger, and then keep it entranced with the light of a flashlight. Such a special treat, since it's an endangered species. This is one of the reasons we love camping so much - getting up close and personal with nature.