Category: Photography

Spring 2023 Adventure Episode 5: Springfield—Greene County Botanical Gardens

On By LToddIn Missouri, Photography, RV Travel, Travel3 Comments

Botanical gardens are always a draw for Jon and I when traveling. And Springfield, Missouri’s gardens were so much of a treat, we visited twice. While our daughter was busy helping the grandkids with their school work, we explored Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park on Tuesday, April 4, a gloomy cloudy day, and then again on a sunny Saturday morning April 8, 2023, with the family minus one teen.

Springfield–Greene County Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park

The botanical center is a good place to start a visit. It includes restrooms, a water fountain, a gift shop, and information about the gardens. The Lois K. Boswell Memorial Botanical Reference Library, community rooms, and Wi-Fi are also located here.

Botanical Garden Center building
Redbud garden and gazebo available to rent for a group up to 25

Pre-schoolers might like the Garden Story Time, and the Summer Nature School will keep school-aged kids busy with activities and learning experiences. Check the website for daily and seasonal hours open. The grounds and gardens are open every day from sunrise to sunset.

We were hoping to see dogwoods blooming, but none to be seen.
Master gardener statuary
Black pansies contrasted with other colors
I prefer the red pansies
Persian lily
Butterfly Girl by James Hall III
Purple hyacinth
Yellow tulips

Dedicated in 2001, Lake Drummond is a popular place for people walking or jogging along the 7/10-mile loop trail that encircles the lake. Hidden gardens and lake views guarantee something of interest every few feet or so.

Lake Drummond and Anne Drummond’s garden

Sit next to the sculpture of Anne Drummond for a few minutes to contemplate the world as birds and pollinating insects fly around the native plant species.

Anne Drummond by James Hall III

Have a bit of stress to release? The sounds of water flowing and birds chirping may have those tense muscles relaxing in no time.

Spillway Plaza

Gray-Campbell Farmstead

Jon and I missed the Gray-Campbell Farmstead during our first visit, so we wandered over there with Laura, Jackson, and Natty the dog.

The house is one of the oldest still standing in Springfield, Mo. Built in 1856, by James Price Gray. He sold it to his brother-in-law, John Polk Campbell, nephew and name-sake of Springfield’s founder. According to the Gray Campbell Farmstead website, inside furnishings include one room filled with beds adorned with quilts. A table and chairs, photographs, a spinning wheel, fill another room some of which are authentic and others replicas. Another table displays marbles, buttons, bottles, utensils, and nails, found during an archaeological dig at the original site of the home.

Can you see anything? No. You? Not a thing. We’ll have to come back another day.

The log cabin was built from hand-cut logs and mud chinking during the 1840s in Spring Creek Mill (now named Hurley). It was once used as a family home until a larger home was constructed. Once the family moved to the house, they used the log cabin as a kitchen to protect the main house from fire. Built from hand-cut logs and mud chinking

Log cabin used as kitchen
Chimney is from another historic home

Laura, Jackson, and Natty found the grape demonstration vineyards where professors and researchers of the viticulture program at Missouri State oversee their maintenance. Another plot of vineyards is east of the Peace through People Pavilion.

Demonstration grape vineyard

The actual family cemetery is in another location. This is a mock-up of where and how the cemetery might have looked.

Replica cemetery

The barn was donated, dismantled, and rebuilt by Amish workers from Marshfield and completed in the summer of 1991. Inside is a wagon and various historic farm tools.

Tools and equipment hide inside

The Liberty School operated from the mid-1800s until 1951 when it was consolidated with the Fair Grove district. Renovations were made to the structure after it moved to the garden, using the current building and ADA codes. The blackboard, bell tower, and many of the desks are the same as those used during the school’s active life, giving it an air of authenticity.

When the flag is raised and the bell rings it’s time for school
Okay, class. Time for silent reading

The house and farm buildings are open from April to October during some weekends and for special events.

Peace through People Pavilion

The pavilion includes pillars with the “Let there be Peace on Earth” inscribed in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic. The benches are adorned with peace symbols such as the universal dove, the turtle of the South Pacific, and the lion and the lamb of the Middle East. Created with Missouri marble from a local quarry, the space offers another place for quiet reflection, tranquility, and connecting with nature.

Hoping for peace is never ending
Let there be peace on earth
Rows and rows of tulips
Pink phlox
A little lavender color for contrast

Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden

In the mood for something even more tranquil? Head over to the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden. The 7.5-acre traditional Japanese garden was established in 1986 as a partnership with Springfield Sister Cities Association and Springfield’s sister city in Isesaki, Japan.

Welcome to the Japanese Garden
Tea House

Walk along the winding path through mature landscaping and around three small lakes. Peek in the ceremonial teahouse, cross the moon bridge, and spend time in the meditation garden.

Inside Tea House
Moon Bridge

This garden is only open from April through October. There is a fee of $5 for adults and $3 for children aged 3-11 years, as of the blog post publication date.

Are those turtles on the boulders in koi lake?
Zig zag your way to the island
A turtle face off
Meditation garden

With so many different gardens to explore, this botanical wonderland will be a delight to visit once a month or even more often to see how the flowers and plants and trees change throughout the seasons.

Next up: We visit Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and take a tour.

Safe Travels

Spring 2023 Adventure Episode 2: Will Rogers Archway and Fantastic Caverns

On By LToddIn Missouri, Photography, RV Travel, Travel6 Comments

We had three more days of travel before arriving in Springfield, Missouri, on March 25, 2023. Beside the landscape beyond the windshield, the most interesting thing we stopped to look at was the Will Rogers Archway in Vinita, Oklahoma.

Will Rogers Archway

The Will Rogers Archway came along just as we needed a break and a bite to eat. “The Glass House” was its original name when built in 1957.

Big blue coming through

After a renovation in 2014, it was renamed the Will Rogers Archway. Inside, travelers can enjoy a McDonald’s meal or a Subway sandwich. Or, they can select snacks from the Kum & Go convenience store.

Statue of Will Rogers

We didn’t dally too long, though. With only 1-1/2 hours of drive time left before we arrived at our campground in Springfield, getting back on the road was our goal.

Come on. Time to go.

The vehicles and big rigs driving below and maneuvering in and out of the parking lots entertained us while we ate lunch.

The super short acceleration lane made it difficult to merge onto the turnpike and avoid the big rigs zooming toward us.

Fantastic Caverns

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources claims there are “approximately 7,500 recorded caves in the state,” which is probably the reason Missouri is considered the Cave State. The department’s website has a list of caves open for tours.

One such tour is Fantastic Caverns. Billboards advertising the Ride-Thru cave tours were a common sight along the freeways and roads throughout Missouri. Was this a hokey tourist trap or the real deal? We met up with our daughter and the grandkids to find out.

Jon, Maya, Laura, and Jackson pose with a cave explorer

Inside the visitor center, we found a gift shop and various displays to keep us busy while we waited for our tour to start. Once aboard, our driver/guide regaled us with the history and geology of the cave.

Display outside

Credit for the cave’s discovery goes to a dog who went missing in 1862. The dog had slipped through a hole in the ground and its owner followed it, stumbling into the cave. The dog’s owner, John Knox, kept the cave a secret to protect it from the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War. The armies had seized several other caves to mine the limestone for the production of ammunition.

Tribute to the dog that started it all.

After the war, the Knox posted a newspaper advertisement requesting someone to explore the cave. The Springfield Women’s Athletic Club obliged and documented their presence on the cave wall on February 27, 1867.

Names of the first explorers (sorry about the fuzzy heads)

Since then, the cave has had many owners and has served as a meeting place, a speakeasy during prohibition, a concert hall, and a broadcast studio in the 1970s. The Ku Klux Klan is recorded as having been owners from 1924 to 1930.

My favorite type of cave formation are these columns that remind me of cauliflower or a fantasy forest.

At one point, our guide stopped the tram in one room. I should have taken better notes, because I don’t recall what she was showing here, but it had something to do with saltpeter or gunpowder.

The orange and black gives an eerie abstract look to this wall.

One hundred years after the cave’s discovery came the first Ride-Thru tour. The Campbell family arrived in 1966 to manage the tours and in 1992, they purchased the property that included the cave. In 2017, LED lighting replaced the early 1970s lighting system.

View of one of the side rooms

An ancient underground river created the usual formations common to caves: stalactites, stalagmites, columns, soda straws, flowstones, cave pearls, and draperies. Water still drips from above, a sign the formation of limestone process continues.

Baby drapery formations hang from the ceiling
This drapery formation has had a long life.
Can you find us hiding in the tram?

So what was the hokey verdict? Not hokey. The visitor center includes a gift shop with cave and geological themed items to purchase. And we had fun riding the tram with an informative and entertaining tour guide. We recommend Fantastic Caverns for anyone, young or old or anywhere in between, to hop aboard the tram and take a ride among the formations.

Bring a sweater or light jacket to ward off the chilly 60-degree temperature. And tall people should sit on the right side because the tram comes close to low-hanging formations on the left side.

Up Next: Top of the Rock Heritage Preserve in Branson, Missouri.

Hawaii June 2022 Trip: Episode 4

On By LToddIn Hawaii, Photography, Travel1 Comment

On some days, we didn’t have a specific activity or destination in mind, so we just poked around. Some of us attended church, then we all visited the Kauai Coffee Estate, the Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park, and we ended our day at the Spouting Horn Blowhole.

Old Koloa Church

The history of the Old Koloa Church dates back to when missionaries first arrived in Kauai in 1820 and when Reverend Peter Gulick established the first mission in Koloa in 1834. Native grass houses served as meeting spaces until the mission constructed its first meeting house in 1837. Destroyed during a storm in 1858, the church was reconstructed and opened its doors in 1860. The congregation was formally organized in October 1923 as the Koloa Union Church and occupied the building until it moved next door in 1953. Pastors Harold and Christy Kilborn have led the current congregation at The Church at Koloa since 1981. Inside, the architecture is cozy and welcoming, as are the congregants and the pastors.

Old Koloa Church

Kauai Coffee Estate

On a visit to Kauai Coffee Estate, we learned the estate operates the largest coffee farm in the US. Not just in the State of Hawaii, but the entire US. We took the self-guided tour around the visitor center where there were places to stop and read information signs that talk about growing and preparing the coffee for packaging. After our walk, we purchased a pound of roasted beans to take home and bowls of ice cream to eat on the patio at the back of the visitor center. It seemed only right to choose coffee ice cream at a coffee estate. My first bite stirred memories of sitting with my grandmother on her front porch after dinner, digging into a bowl of coffee ice cream, and watching the sun set behind the houses across the street. Ah memories. What would we do without them?

Kauai Coffee Company Visitor Center
Signs lead the way around the visitor center

The estate did not always grow coffee. For over 100 years, sugarcane stretched from Koloa in the south to Kalaheo in the west. Plantings of coffee trees began in 1987 and now total 4 million. One tree grows one pound of coffee a year. I wish we could have squeezed two pounds of roasted beans into our luggage.

This piece of equipment drives over the trees and “tickles” the cherries off.
This shed sorts the cherries by maturity: ripe, natural, and immature
Logo stamped in the concrete walkway around the visitor center
Rows upon rows of coffee trees. Note the Cook Pines at the end of the row.
Hibiscus plants are common in Kauai. Love their paper-like petals.
Ripe coffee cherries

Among the coffee trees, we found a noni (Morinda citrifolia) tree, a member of the coffee family. With an odor so strong, the noni fruit may make one gag. Despite its awful stench, it’s believed to have health benefits and is often made into a beverage, powders, lotions, or soaps. Oil is made from the seeds and the leaves are ground to a powder and encapsulated into pills. Not enough fresh food to eat? Substitute noni as emergency food during famines. I hope I never have to resort to such a substitute.

Noni fruit

Ranchers brought 105 Cattle Egrets to Kauai in 1959 to control insects pestering their cattle. Today, they are the pest raiding the nests of Hawaiian duck, stilt, and other birds. In 2017, the state issued a control order calling for the culling of the birds from a population of over 30,000. Unintended consequences have the egrets running amok on the island.

Cattle Egret

Pa’ula’ula/Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park

There’s not too much to see at this state park that we could find. There are information panels that tell the history of the site with a map of what the Russian fort looked like, a rock wall, and a statue. We walked around the wall searching for the opening to the center and instead found the coastline.

Waimea river meets the ocean
Looks like a nice uncrowded beach to spread out a towel

On our way back to the car, we guessed the wall outlined the fort, and I neglected to take a photo. Was the entry blocked or hidden? Had we missed the opening? Then I noticed the statue across the field from the parking lot. It looked new and well tended.

The Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1962 and the State of Hawaii acquired the property in 1972. On the Fort Elizabeth.org website, they list plans for the 17-acre site, including a visitor center. One of their plans was to honor King Kaumuali‘i, the last king in Kauai, with an 8’ bronze statue. This we found.

Statue Honoring King Kaumuali‘i

The king faces toward the setting sun on the day of the spring equinox, allowing him to enjoy the sunset of the winter solstice to his left and the summer solstice to his right. A small and large crescent in the floor pattern represents moon phases and the past and present.

I hope to come back once the center opens to welcome visitors and learn more about the fort, the king and all the historical figures that set foot on the site. For more information, visit the websites at National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/places/russian-fort-fort-elizabeth.htm) and Fort Elizabeth (http://www.fortelizabeth.org).

Spouting Horn Blowhole

The Spouting Horn blowhole is a popular tourist stop. Whether they are walking, riding a bike, in a car, or on a bus, they come to take photos. Since this is one of the most photographed spots in Kauai, I joined in and set my camera on continuous shooting to capture the action. It was thrilling to watch the surf crash into the rocky shore and spout up through a hole in the rock like a geyser in Yellowstone. The gushers can reach up to 50 feet, depending on the tide level.

Spouting Horn view from left side of overlook

The hiss and roar that the water makes as it squeezes through a lava tube is the basis of the Hawaiian legend of Kaikapu, a giant moo, or lizard. There are multiple versions of the legend, as is common with legends. Was Liko a young boy who tricked Kaikapu, or was he a fisherman?

On the right side of the overlook, sea turtles played in between the rock formations. I couldn’t get close enough for a photo.

Whoever he was, he stabbed or speared Kaikapu in the mouth, swam under the lava shelf, and escaped through a lava tube. Kaikapu followed and got stuck in the tube. It is his moans and groans that create the hiss and roar. Or it could be her, depending on the legend. Who knows for sure?

Here a chick, there a chick, even at the blowhole

More to come in episode 5. See you then.

Safe Travels

Updated: August 20, 2022, to correct wording under the Old Koloa Church heading.

Where Have the Traveling Todds Gone? Or, A Bad Break on April 8

On By LToddIn California, Photography, Travel23 Comments

Our plan to visit more of the East Bay Regional Parks fizzled the day it began. On April 8, 2022, we selected the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve for our first visit. Since the green hills near us had already begun their fade to gold, we knew the wildflowers wouldn’t last much longer in the eastern part of Contra Costa County.

View of hills from Black Diamond Mines parking lot. The last clump of trees in the background surrounds the Rose Hill Cemetery.
Plaque commemorates the Mount Diablo Coal Field where twelve major mines supported five communities during 1860 to 1906.

We started out on the Atlas Mine trail until we encountered a closed sign, then transitioned to the Chaparral Trail. A few days earlier, I had watched a video about the wildflowers on the Chaparral Trail and anticipated all the wildflowers I’d be able to capture with the camera.

Up two short inclines and a walk through an overgrown area, until we hit a clearing where I stopped to take photos. Then Jon realized he had dropped the map. I offered to navigate the inclines again to retrieve said map. Sandstone isn’t my favorite medium to hike on, so I was proud I made it down and back up the steep inclines, not just once, but twice without sliding.

Hazel Atlas Portal trail ended at a closed sign.

With the map retrieved, we continued on a maintenance and fire road, also graded from sandstone. I found another patch of flowers to capture with the camera and squatted to get a closer view. With the picture taken and the camera turned off, I stood, then landed on my butt.

Pain gripped my right hand and wrist. My Lamaze breathing techniques kicked in. Between breaths, I prayed for a sprain and not a break. I didn’t want to look, I couldn’t look, I had to look.

Rough Cat’s-ear

A quick look revealed my right hand misaligned with the arm. Not a sprain. Dizziness and shaking left me sitting in place for several minutes until I could recover and stand. My camera and strap served as a handy sling and kept the pain at bay.

Luckily, we hadn’t gone more than a 1/3 mile from our car. Off we drove to urgent care where X-rays confirmed the damage and need for surgery. Our plans to visit the East Bay Parks or traveling in our RV ended that day, a disappointment we are only recently getting over.

Yellow Trumpet

I’m sure it’s easy to guess that having my dominant arm immobilized limited what I can do. Jon has been the perfect caregiver helping me whenever I couldn’t do something on my own, carting me to doctor appointments and other outings, and taking over all the household chores.

On Thursday, July 7, three months later and two months after surgery, the doctor released me from any splint, cast, or brace. Now I’m looking at several months, if not a year, of slow incremental progress until my mobility returns to what it was before.

Ithuriel’s Spear

So, there you have it. A bad break sidelined the Traveling Todds and kept us from enjoying our passion for poking around this great nation of ours. We are so looking forward to packing up and hitting the road in a few weeks, after a few PT appointments and assuming no other obstacles crop up.

Thank goodness I could trade my cast for a brace, and we didn’t have to cancel our trip to Kauai with the family. It was a trip we had originally booked for April 2020 and rescheduled for early June 2022.

Stay tuned for a post or two, or more, about our Hawaii trip.

Safe Travels

Updated July 14, 2022: corrected date from June 7 to July 7