Hockey Tournament and Time in St. Louis

 The tournament was fun and they. Finished 4th with a 4-2 record. It was fun to be a part of but I was thrilled to be on the 12th floor and not the 4th with the hockey families. In my notes during the trip I wrote simply, "4th Floor Chaos". The hotel floor was a circle and only the hockey families were there so the kids while supervised were allowed plenty of freedom to have what my granddaughter Haley called "Hall Parties". 

 

 The arena was in a nice park where I did some walking between games. 

 

I spent a lot of my time in St. Louis doing things that I enjoyed while the kids were in school and Stacie was working. I read a lot and went to a lot of bookstores finding books on my reading list. I spent time hanging out with Barley and I tried to get more consistent with running between rain storms. One day I went hiking at Castlewood State Park. The trails were steep and challenging especially in the humid conditions. 

 

Castlewood State Park

 

 

 

Everyone was busy with the kids activities including a violin concert that Chase's class had, scouts for both kids, Haley's gymnastics and Chase starting another season, lacrosse. 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching Up

It's been way to long since I've spent time doing anything except thinking about this blog. Since my last entry I've traveled many miles, visited family and friends and running races. I had originally planned to leave a week later than I actually did because my grandson Chase had his final hockey tournament of the season and it was going to be held in Jefferson City, Missouri. I left on March 21st and drove to Flagstaff, Arizona the first day. The next day I drove to Shamrock, Texas. I didn't do much stopping either of the first two days because it hasn't been that long since I made the same trip and stopped at many places on the way. 

 

 

The third day I would normally have driven all the way to Tom and Stacie's but since we were meeting in Jeff City I decided to stop in Lake Ozark. It wasn't a particularly long drive so I took a side trip to visit the George Washington Carver National Monument. It was a nice peaceful place with a walking trail. 

 

    

The next day I had all day to hang out before I could check in to my hotel so after breakfast I walked to an overlook at Lake Ozark. I was amazed and disgusted with the amount of cigarette butts on the roadside. When I checked out I went to a really nice bookstore in Lake Ozark and then drove beyond Jeff City to Fulton, Missouri to visit the National Churchill Museum. It was a very good museum and outside there was even a section of the Berlin Wall. 

 

  

Churchill Museum 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I left the museum I walked around the historic downtown district of Fulton and of course visited a used bookstore. 

 

 

 

I spent the rest of the day visiting Katy Trail State Park and Jefferson Landing on the Missouri River in Jefferson City. Then I went to the hotel we were all staying at during the hockey tournament.