Wow. Thatsalottaphotos!

Okay, Okay, I get it, I know. It goes against some unspoken "good-blogging" guideline to post eleventy-trillion photos in one post. But I have a lot of photos from our vacation, and I don't want to break them up into two separate posts... and gosh-darnit, this is MY blog & I will do as I please.

So, for our vacation we spent four luxurious nights & nights in St. James, Missouri. We stayed at Maramec Spring Trout Park. Four days of camping & fishing in the Middle-of-Nowhere-Missouri. Aaahh... I can't think of a better way to spend our vacation.

Every morning started with a scene similar to this:
And every evening ended with a scene similar to this:
And in between, we did lots of things. We walked through the Agricultural Museum, which was much more interesting than it sounds.
There was a big, grassy field across the road from our campsite. Throughout our stay, they cut it down and made hay bales. I always wondered how that happened... it was interesting to watch.
The bales were huge...
... and the cut field provided a great place to find bugs & stuff. It also made it easier to see the herd of 11 deer who came through every morning & evening. I tried to get a photo, but couldn't get close enough.
We did lots of fishing (as one would expect at a trout park).
Tyson loves to fish. He's pretty good at casting, too.
Matt & Ty tried to catch the big one, but didn't have much luck.
Riley enjoyed hanging out on the bridge. We actually fished off the bridge, but didn't catch anything. It was more like feeding the fish; I think they were toying with us.
We fished here...
... and here...
...and here.
Tyson was always ready to scoop the fish out of the water.
And Riley was happy to keep track of the bobbers.
When we weren't fishing, Tyson kicked my butt at washers (seriously... it was painful)...
...and we had plenty of time to rest & relax.
It was a great week. It was quiet and peaceful, and wonderful.

The park is also the sight of the Maramec Old Iron Works. They made all kinds of things out of iron at this massive forge around the turn of the century. We walked around the area, and I snapped several photos, but this one was really strange:
I'm not sure I could have planned this any better. Honestly, I took this on my iPhone and I couldn't really see the screen on this sunny day. Doesn't it look like God is shining his light right down on Riley? If I had noticed it, I would have tried to get Ty in the same light, but I didn't see it until after we got home.

Check back again later this week, when I'll be unveiling my most recent BIG project.