6-3-2013 A great Day

It has been a great day!!

I am confessing today is my birthday!  Glen started the day by preparing breakfast AND washing the dishes!  Thank you very much, super husband Glen Hickey.

We visited Ha Ha Tonka State Park, near Camdenton, MO this afternoon.  We didn't allow nearly as much time as needed to fully tour the park.  

Ha Ha Tonka SP's first visitors were the Native Americans.  Early settlers including Daniel Boone and son Nathan who fur trapped in the area during the first years of the 19th century.  Zebulon Pike also visited the area during his explorations to the west.

Ha Ha Tonka is unique in the quality and number of remarkable geological features.  There is a natural bridge, sinkhole, caves, bluffs, and Ha Ha Tonka Spring.  The spring is Missouri's 12th largest spring, discharging approximately 48 million gallons of water daily.  

This state park is 30-40 miles from where Glen and I grew up, and today was our first visit there.

Robert Snyder bought 5000 acres to build a "private retreat".  Construction was started in 1905 only to be halted a year later when Snyder was killed in one of Missouri's first automobile accident.  His sons later finished the "castle.  It was leased as a hotel, and then burned in 1942 when sparks from a chimney ignited the roof.  

Notice the "castle" in the upper right

The brown-eyed susans were blooming.

The water tower burned by arsonists in 1976.  Water was collected in the top and then piped to the castle.

This is an impressive building.

All of the stone was quarried locally.

I like this perspective.

The large spring at the bottom of the bluff from the castle.

If you visit Lake of the Ozarks area, I recommend you reserve some time to tour this state park. There are lots of trails if you like hiking.  It is just 2-3 miles west of Camdenton on Highway 54.

My sister and brother in law invited us to their home for dinner tonight.  There was delicious burgers, brats, pork steaks all grilled.  The highlight for Glen was wilted lettuce straight from the garden.  (I would have enjoyed it also but right now it is not on the approved dietary list.)

My nephew Mitch , wife Abbie, and their two children also spent the evening with us.  Another niece (in-law) Teresa and daughter Mattie also made an appearance before the evening was over.

Thank you, dear sister Jan, Bruce for the wonderful evening--and food.  It was a great ending to a great day.