Notes
The big Team Rodrigo field trip to Pere Marquette State Park, which feature the toughest trails in the St. Louis area. It was 30 degrees, and had rained a bit overnight, so...there was some icy spots, which made it interesting.
However, for the most part, a pretty fun run. We took a few photo breaks, some of which were much needed after climbing some of the major hills on the trails. We did have a few near falls/slips on some icy spots, however...which produced some interesting sounds from Amy. We did stop at one point to attempt some photos on a fallen tree...which ensued in some hilarity as Amy struggled to climb the fallen tree. Then...of course, screached as she almost fell. We both ended up with moss on our gloves...awesome.
There was a brief conversation regarding poop, in which it was theorized that Raisin Bran was great for bowel regularity, because the raisins make you go, and the bran keeps it solid. That led to some weird story about Amy's sister saying she needed stool softener because her butt was hard...or something quite odd. I don't really remember how it all started...but...I remember at some point going..."How did we end up talking about this?"
There were numerous ponderings about Father Marquette (the namesake of the park), including: Is he still alive? (He is not...he's been dead for 330+ years), is that his cabin? (not sure...), he must have been quite the trail runner, because he rated all these trails "moderate", but they are really hard!, and something about his profession...but I forget that one.
Sadly...we decided to not spend the time to find Stump Lake and get a picture of Stumpy next to a Stump Lake sign...but...perhaps another time. It'll happen.
We concluded the day with some lunch at this weird Cafe/Coffee/Dessert place. We both felt like french fries...but...we couldn't find anyplace in Alton that had fries that wasn't a hoosier bar. So...we went with the cafe in the hope it had fries. it did not. However, we both enjoyed our sandwiches. However...they actually were quite lacking in the dessert department. Also...they had these hilarious placemat advertisements...including one that had a dog saying to the Thinking Man statue: "He sniffed me, so I bit him." Next to the image, it said "Does your dog have issues? Call xxx-xxx-xxxx". Also...there was another one that said "Want $25? Call xxx-xxx-xxxx". Odd. Just a weird place.
Luckily...we did stop by a Starbucks in NoCo...which was funny...but...comfy as Starbucks is. We got dessert and caffeine. Perfect.