St. Louis Site: Castlewood State Park // Labor Day Weekend

As planned, Hubs and I saved Labor Day as a day to get out and relax. We left the house by 8:30 am and were off to revel in the sub-60 degree temps at Castlewood State Park. I had heard good things, but we weren't sure what to expect. It is only 17 miles from our doorstep, right in the city of Ballwin [one of the places where we looked for a house].

We weren't dissappointed. What a great spot for a family outing - picnics, hiking, biking, gathering, grilling, swimming [if you do that sort of thing in a river - I do not]. It was gorgeous. And, it's FREE!

Part of the reason we chose this activity was to get the Pups out and exercised. We loaded him up with full Nalgene bottles in his pack [water for us and him] to make him work a little harder. It was pretty chilly - not being used to such reasonable temperatures - so Hubs made a stop and surprised me with some coffee. Made my day.

As you can tell, Ransom had a blast. It was fun to see him working - dogs are so happy when they have a job to do - and he even took a little jump into the river. If we would have been more prepared with a long leash, we would have let him get in further. Hubs and I enjoyed the calm, quietness of the woods.

After we finished a pretty lengthy trail, we decided to do another short one. I'm excited to go back again sometime, maybe in the fall when the leaves are changing. Afterwards we got some fast food, dropped the pups off at home for a nap, and went to a matinee for $7.25 each! We finally concluded the Harry Potter movie series.

And the weather is still perfect. It really was the break we needed before we settle in for a semester of school and work!

Layers

I have this thing. I like to find the most obscure way for me to post about an event without just giving a ordinary recap. Two reasons: 1 - I can make one event into multiple blog posts, and 2 - I am forced to use my creative mind. I like this challenge.

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Hubs and I love to hike. Our trip to Estes Park was extremely short, so we took our one free morning, woke up super early, picked out a long hike, and did it. Since my body's thermostat can fluctuate at the slightest wind or ray of sun, I knew I needed to dress in layers.

This is towards the beginning of the hike. It was pretty shady and very cool. I was wearing my first layer, a super-soft North Face fleece (which, by the way, I purchased the week before for a mere $19, aka 75% off). It was very warm and was perfect for this portion of the hike.

By the first stop, Alberta Falls (.9 miles), I had shed the fleece and was now comfortable in my long sleeve tee. My hands were cold, but at least my body was the right temperature.

I stayed in the long sleeve tee for the majority of the hike. Since it was early morning, the trail was mostly shady.

As we got closer to our final destination, we had gone higher in elevation. The moment we hit the sun, I shed the long sleeve tee for the short sleeve tee. It was cool, but much better than sweating. PS - my bleached pants worked GREAT for hiking!

Our final destination was Black Lake at 10,656 feet. The area we were at was shady, windy, and freezing! If you look closely, you can see my goose-bumps!

So, we put the fleeces back on as we worked to get a picture where we didn't look so dark. This is the best we could do. I think it looks like we are standing against a backdrop, but that is truly the real thing.

As we headed back, we were almost always in the sun. The layers came off and we were very comfortable for the rest of the hike.

Good think Hubs was carrying the back pack.