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!