Kick Back

This weekend we are kinda kicking it back, relaxing a bit. Friday we had a couple of beers and went out for pub burgers. It wasn't our original plan, but when you're kicking back you can be spontaneous. 

Saturday M and I woke up, decided on donuts from a favorite shop and Starbucks coffee. Then we ran a few errands and lingered through a home goods store. Later M napped and I basked in the sun, while sipping seltzer water. We BBQ'ed for dinner and watched a Redbox movie. Kicking it back. 

Kicking it back comes in different forms. Last weekend we celebrated the three-day holiday weekend by taking "The Wanderlust" out to Missouri's new state park.

It's a beautiful park. There was a peacefulness to the park, even with every camp site occupied. The sites, whether RV or tent, are dreamy. The RV sites are yards of beautiful concrete pad and patio. The tent sites tucked into the woods have wooden tent decks jutting out into the canopy trees. 

For this trip D played the role of only child. Like M said during our summer roadtrip, she "missed the sisters." Despite the lack of sisterhood King Ralph and I showed D a good kick-it-back weekend. 

We walked and biked around the park

Trolled Sinking Creek and rocked on the porch deck of the lodge

We drove through the Mark Twain National Forest to get to Alley Spring Mill...hiked to the lookout point, gazed out over the Ozark Mountains--God's touch on our state. 

We watched the spring meet the creek before meeting up with the Jack Fork River. 

It's fun to find places on a trail to let the inner child come out. D did just that.

Next we headed over to Round Spring to awe at more cold pools of turquoise water. 

Took a cave tour through Round Spring Cave. Not a huge cave, but with the lack of commercial influence...the cave's natural beauty is magical. The drape formations are like none I've, we've ever seen. And all seen by lantern. It was so fun! 

After a leisurely day of exploration we returned to The Wanderlust for Happy Hour. Kentucky Derby Bourbon Slushies were the speciality drink for Saturday. Just another reason to love the RV's refrigerator--boozey frozen drinks! 

D and I had fun playing Jenga. 

On Sunday the three of us discovered our new favorite way to travel the river--kayak style.

It was our first time on the Current River...we fell in love fast! It's so different from the Meramec River. The Current is crystal clear and in spots that magnificent turquoise spring water shows. The canoes and kayaks out number the rafts. No one was ridiculously drunk (like on the Meramec). Everyone was just floating along, bidding summer farewell...kicking back. 

We woke early Monday morning to hit the trail in the park before bidding the weekend goodbye. The trail is nothing spectacular, but would be nice for taking in Fall colors. Oh, and the trail is set up for mountain biking...has ramps and such. 

So, like I said kicking back comes in all different forms!