A Day in Columbia

I am delighted to report that we are in Columbia, MO visiting the Brinkerhoffs and Grandpa George.  We miss them.  They are too far away and we don't see them nearly often enough.  Grandpa is nearing the end of his time here on earth, and we felt that a last visit with him would be nice.  We flew into St. Louis yesterday evening and arrived in time to give everyone a hug and get the children in bed.  Kent and I stayed up late and talked, but eventually gave up and went to bed.  Traveling, even though you are just sitting on a plane or in a car, is exhausting.

This morning we had breakfast and visited.  Tad was unfortunately laid off from his job recently, so he has been home and around to visit with, too.  That's been nice.  While we talked and talked, the children played on electronic devices.  Brandt brought home a laptop from Kent's office a couple of days ago, and every moment he can be playing something on it, he is.  Blythe was content with her Kindle.  But staring at an electronic device is not the way to spend a vacation, so eventually Michelle and I dragged them and Lydia out to go visit Devil's Icebox.  This is the beginnings of an underground cave that stretched 38 miles under Columbia and can be traversed by hiking and canoeing.

We didn't go that far.  We "hiked" up a boardwalk trail to the overlook of the entrance, then walked down steps to the entrance.  The heat in Missouri is oppressive--although it isn't any hotter than Utah, the air is thick with humidity.  It is hard to breathe in the stifling atmosphere.  But going even a few steps down towards the entrance of the cave there is a dramatic drop in temperature.  Once in the cave, it is cool and lovely.  If you could set up a lawn chair and spend the summer down there, it would be very pleasant.  We hiked a bit into the cave, but Blythe was very nervous about us going any distance at all because we weren't wearing hard hats or carrying flashlights.  She encouraged (nay, ordered) us to come out.  The cave is home to bats and other interesting creatures, but we didn't see any of those.

Rock Bridge from above

It's very green in Missouri.

Looking down at the entrance to Devil's Icebox.

Children down there now

I'm sooo irritated that these are blurry.

I took them with the good camera,

but my near vision is getting bad and I can't always tell if what I'm seeing through the viewfinder 

is in focus or not.

These were not.

Grrrrrr. 

Near the entrance of the cave is an arch called Rock Bridge.  The high school Tess and Jace attend is named after this famous natural wonder.  We climbed around under it, too, tromping in the water and trying to stay cool.

We returned from our outing and had lunch.  The adults talked and visited while the children played on electronics.  The Brinkerhoffs have a Wii and Brandt and Lydia have been playing a Lego Indiana Jones game.  So fun!  We all sort of napped on the couch and then roused ourselves in the late afternoon to make dinner.

We are in the mission field, and one of Jace's friends from school, a young woman named Isabel, is having the missionary discussions.  This evening the missionaries came over to teach Isabel, and then stay for dinner.  In addition to Isabel, Lydia's friend Kate was also here.  Her father was killed at Christmas time when a tree he was cutting fell on him.  The lesson was about the Plan of Salvation, which certainly was pertinent.  Isabel had great questions for the missionaries, and I thought the discussion was quite nice.  Reminded me, however, that I'm grateful I'm not a missionary anymore.  It was hard work with little reward in may case.

We had a nice dinner with the missionaries and Isabel and Kate, then all the young people went off to young men/young women.  Those of us left cleaned up and visited while the children played on electronics.  I'm sensing an unfortunate pattern here.  While the adults talk, the children are plugged in.  I suppose, however, that we are all happy in our respectively activities.

But! As we can't be always in front of electronics, Tad and Michelle took me and the children, plus Buddy the family dog, for a walk around the campus of University of Missouri, more affectionately known as Mizzou.  It is a beautiful campus, very old and very green.  Their mascot is a tiger.  During the Civil War, Missouri was divided between those who were for the Union and those who were for the Confederacy.  I can't remember which side was which, but in battle, they fought "like tigers" and eventually took the tiger as their mascot.  We has the original headstone of Thomas Jefferson which was donated to the University after Jefferson's family replaced the original, which said nothing about him being President of the United States, with an updated, better version.  Jefferson was president at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri was part of the land acquired, and Mizzou was the first university established west of the Mississippi.  That's why they got the headstone.  We walked by the famous six columns that are the symbol of the university.  They were part of the facade of the first building erected on campus, a building that burned down leaving only the six columns standing.  It was decided they were safe and should remain as a symbol of the fortitude of men and the strength of learning.  Or something.  We couldn't see them well because they are undergoing restabilization or refurbishment or something and are covered with scaffolding.

Michelle and Tad looking towards the building below 

and watching a show put on by the children.

They did a show, but they were so far away from us, we were unaware.

They were happy to do an encore performance.

Hanging with Thomas Jefferson

His original headstone.

Brandt's got weird eyes that I couldn't fix.

If I was good at photoshopping,

I would stick Brandt and Blythe into the lower picture.

But I'm not, so I won't.

We finished off our outing with a trip to Andy's, THE place to go in Columbia for a tasty, cold treat.  They serve custard with delicious stuff mixed in.  We all got custard which we quickly devoured, both to prevent melting and because it is tasty yummy.  We brought some home for Kent and George.  Tess, Lydia, and Kate met up with us at Andy's, and Brandt and Blythe went home with them.  The girls are so much cooler to be with than us boring adults.

Kent was able to spend lots of time with George today.  George isn't very responsive, he sleeps a lot, and he is in some pain which is being well managed by Michelle.  He's thin and tired and looks older than ever.  None of that is surprising considering his age, but he's much thinner than when we last saw him in January.  We are glad we've come to see him.  And we are delighted to be able to be with the Brinkerhoffs.