Amish Country

Another day trip, this one with a friend. We visited Arthur, Illinois to visit an Amish community. The Amish do not like you to take their photo, especially their face. It's ok to take from the back or from a distance.

Dad and son running errands

we also attended a quilt social. this quilt is 130 years old.

can't help myself from taking horse and buggy photos

one of our stops was Beachy's grocery store. this is the spice aisle; almost everything is bulk sold.

new foal

what do you do when you don't have a clothes dryer?

plowing the fields with a six team hitch

buggy and sulky

we ate lunch at an Amish home, everything made from scratch and after lunch I ran around taking photos of their land and building.

and made a new friend

since this sect of Amish doesn't use electricity, they use propane gas to have light in the house

visited an antique shop on main street

love these old feed bags I have a couple that I am going to make pillows out of

cross of the crossroads in Effingham, Illinois

Easter cakes

 I know by now everyone is tired of seeing the cakes; I only have 230 to go! It's going to be a long summer. This cake is at a small airport in St. Louis County. There was an airshow there with the Blue Angels

 This one was at the Kemp Auto Museum, one of the finest collection of Mercedes Benz in the world.

butterfly cake at the Butterfly house in Chesterfield.

Monkey Tales theater and Native American lessons

 L and I spent a beautiful Saturday morning at the park watching the Monkey Tales actors in "The boy who snared the sun"

 L got the chance to participate in the show by hopping like a frog

 We also learned about the game of Lacross

 made a dream catcher

 saw Native American dancers

 the most amazing thing was as the dancers were performing, a herd of deer ran thru the field behind us; this field is in the middle of a subdivision!

 

Eclipse of the Blood moon

My photos of the eclipse. I woke up at 2:30 pm to watch this phenomena on April 15, it was beautiful.

this photo shows the moon, mars and jupiter

April cakes

 The cake quest continues: this cake is located at Chuck a Burger drive in. A iconic drive in from the 1950's. A local hangout for the kids in North St. Louis county. In the summer and fall there are "cruising" events with classic cars from the 1950's and 1960's.

 this cake was at a ymca close to Creve Coeur Lake

cake at Lindenwood College with the water tower in the background. The water tower was build in 1912

Elsah, Illinois

Another day trip on a cool rainy dat. Pelicans at the National Great Rivers Museum, The birds waiting for the fish to come thru the locks and dam because the fish are knocked senseless and are easy picking for the Pelicans

 a lucky fisherman

this is a paddlefish, they have a long snout and look prehistoric

another birthday cake at the museum

Elsah church, the village where time stood still. Founded in 1853 it is located along the "Great River Road" and home to Principia college, a private Christian Scientist College.

The trip's theme was "discovering Benny" the excavation of a 21,000 year old wooly mammoth found on Principia's campus!

Professor Janis Treworgy showing some of the bones found

The is Benny's skull and tusks, his head has been flatten by the pressure of the earth above him

Our group was one of the first to see the beginnings of the display area

Principia sits on the bluffs of the Mississippi river. I've always been interested in archeology so this field trip was a dream come true. Dr. Treworgy was very kind to take time out of her day to show us around.

after leaving Benny, we were to go to the Lewis and Clark confluence tower, but since it was lightning and raining we went to the Lewis and Clark interpretive center instead

55 foot keelboat model that showed how Lewis and Clark traveled on their expedition

our last stop was to view 23 Sears and Roebucks mail order homes. These homes were delivered by the railroads and you had 48 hours to get the railroad cars unloaded. Everything was included for the homes except the furniture, you could build them yourself or hire a contractor.

You can find out more about Benny here: http://content.principia.edu/sites/mammoth/