Elephant Rocks, Art, and the Missouri River (again)

[Elephant Rocks State Park, Missouri. That's John and Jubilee out there.]

I’m getting a little behind here, so I figure I’ll start with today and work backwards.

John seems to think that we should start scouting around the Ozarks. All we know about the Ozarks is that they are somewhere south. On the map the beginning of the Ozarks didn’t look so far, so we headed down to a place called the Arcadia Valley and Elephant Rocks State Park. Supposedly the tallest spot in Missouri – Taun Sauk Mountain – 1700 ft high, is around here somewhere.

They call these mountains? The area is very pretty, but more like rolling hills. Maybe you have to get down into Arkansas before you see the real Ozark Mountains.

We went to Graniteville and hiked around Elephant Rocks State Park – a good park, a paved trail through the rocks with some side trails leading deeper into the forest. Jubilee enjoyed climbing the rocks.

I have been looking for a granite bowl for some months now, and thought that perhaps this might be where I would find it, but the one place we saw offering granite products only sold tombstones!

We had lunch in nearby Ironton, where there were only 3 restaurants – all fast food. Ugh.

St. Louis University Art Museum

My son, Eric, is a good art museum date. He helps me to see things that I ordinarily don’t see on my own. Nevertheless, I ventured into the St. Louis Art Museum last week without him. I found the SLU Art museum to be a very quiet and wonderful place to just wander around, looking. It was an interesting collection – some Andy Warhol, Dale Chihuly, Paul Klee, Miro … There was a side exhibit, "Persuasive Politics", a collection of presidential campaign memorabilia that included even the Palm Beach County voting booth of 2000 (I voted on that!). The life-size cutouts of Obama and McCain caused some elderly men (the only other people in the museum besides me) to comment that it was obvious who the people setting up the exhibit were voting for - look at those droopy pants!

I didn’t have time for the collection of the Western Jesuits on the 3rd floor, and hope to see that next week.

At the entrance to the museum there is a sculpture of an “Urban Francis”. This photo does not do it justice – I liked it a lot.

I also got of photo of the Jesus on the bench with the child this week. It is named “Heart to Heart”. People sit on this bench with Jesus and the child, waiting for the bus. And a sculpture of a coed on campus. (More photos on Flickr)


Finally, I want to post this photo of the Missouri River which crested on Thursday and flooded its banks. This is the place where Jubilee and I walk most every day. The water level is usually 30 or 40 feet down an embankment.