The Zoo has gone to the Dogs!

Wow! What I trip I had on April 18^th! I accompanied Erin and her kindergarten class to the St. Louis Zoo. It was a lot of fun, but it rained all day. We had to wear our ponchos and tried to look at most of the exhibits that were indoors. All of the animals were very fun to see. We checked out the animals in the “River’s Edge” that were commonly found in plains/desert type areas, such as a capybara, an anteater, four hippos and elephants that were really enjoying the rain! We also watched the seals play and saw the giraffes seek shelter from the drizzle. Even more, we went to the insectaruim and the butterfly geodome in Discovery Corner after we visited the goats at the petting zoo. We visited the penguins in their new exhibit also. They were very excited, swimming quickly through the water and enjoying the cold air. We saw lions, and monkeys, and bears…oh my! We ended our day by riding the train through the zoo and buying some post-cards at the gift shop. We did not go to the snake house thankfully! However, you can see the scary hyena we encountered in the photo above. The hyena’s were seeking shelter from the rain, and took the time to take a nap, fortunately while we were visiting!!! The St. Louis Zoo is a non-for-profit establishment that has free admission. All proceeds from food and souvenir sales go to support the zoo and conservation efforts. The zoo is open everyday of the year, except Christmas and New Year’s Day. The zoo houses hundreds of various animal species, many of which are endangered or threatened. The zoo focuses on conservation and is working on many programs to rebuild certain animal populations. You can find out more information about the zoo at www.stlzoo.org. My day at the zoo was very fun and I’m glad that I got to go. I learned a lot of important things about animals, their habitat, geography, and animal interaction. After we returned from our trip, I spent the weekend at Erin’s playing with her dog, Brown Dog. You can see our photo from when we took a break playing. It was a very nice “vacation” and a fulfilling weekend!

Rocio, Annie and the Mississippi River

Today was a beautiful day to go sightseeing, and I had promised Annie that I would take her somewhere new, exciting and fun all rolled into one. I don't think that she believed me. First, we had to journey 23.7 miles to a city called Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which is not far from where I live. We stopped on the Bill Emerson bridge to look down upon the swollen but Mighty Mississippi river. What a sight she is to see. Being on that bridge was even more scarier!! Annie kept on yelping, and running around. I had to calm her down. The traffic was busy and the bridge was swaying. We couldn't wait to get off! Annie did love the view. Well she did while the car was moving. Actually from where we were on the bridge, it looked as if the flood gates had been closed. The flood gates and walls are used to keep the river from coming into the town. A good thing that is was closed;because when we were down at the flood gates, water was seeping under the gates. That meant that the water was actually up to the flood gates. When you look up at the concrete flood wall, there are markings. These markings tell you some of the rivers past and how high the water has been in different years that it flooded. The river was at its highest in 1993. That really wasn't that long ago. I can remember that like it was yesterday, even though it wasn't. On the flood walls are beautiful and lively pictures that tell of Missouri's history. These compilation of pictures are called a mural. The name of these pictures are the Mississippi River Tales mural. All of the pictures are in chronological order. So that makes for an interesting history lesson. In front of these enormous pictures are plaques of the same exact picture but smaller. It also tells what that particular picture is about and how it correlates to Missouri's history. I had to make sure that I read each and every one to Annie. She had fun running from each picture. I had to constantly tell her not to drink the river water because it was not clean. We would go to eat lunch after we left. Way down at the other end of the flood wall are pictures of famous Missouri people. Missouri has such great history. There are also many other murals painted on pictures in downtown Cape Girardeau, Missouri. You can almost drive any where and find out bits and pieces of Missouri's history. This is a place worth visiting. I promise you will not be disappointed!!!

Annie went to the Veterans Living Memorial

Dear friends,
Annie and I went to the Veterans Living Memorial in Marion, IL. This memorial is dedicated to all veterans, living and nonliving. It was created by the VFW Post 1301 in order for people to become more aware of veterans' sacrificies, especially the ones that fought in the War on Terrorism. Annie and I had a great time. We looked at the memorial and played on the old tank in front of the VFW. Did you know that the memorial has names on it from the Civil War up to the war in Iraq? What a generation gap! War has touched all our lives, young and old, and this memorial is a perfect representation of that impact.

Stephanie and I went to the BEACH!!

My friend Stephanie's family went to Destin, Florida on their Spring Break and she invited me to go with them. Of course, I was not going to pass up a trip to go to the beach!! I rode ten hours in the car , passing through Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and into Florida. There were many stops made on the trip down because Stephanie has young cousins who had to take bathroom breaks. When we got to the condo in Destin, we went to bed because it was early in the morning. The next day was cloudy, however, Stephanie went to the beach anyway. I stayed in the condo and relaxed after the trip down. The next day was beautiful! This is when we took the picture beside the warning flag. The flag was red, advising us not to get in the water because of the tide. The white sand was so pretty. The sound of the water was very calming and relaxing. The day we left the beach, Stephanie wanted to get one last look at the beach. So, we got our last picture by the palm trees, because this is another thing we do not get to see everyday. It was good to get away for a short break before all of my friends start preparing for the end of the semester and studying for finals.

I went down to the southern tip of Illinois, right to the banks of the Ohio River. Charles and I went and visited Fort Massac Park; in 1908, it became Illinois first state park. The historic site is a replica of the 1802 American fort that was on site. The historic fort area contains 2 barracks, 3 block houses, officer quarters, well, stockade along with a fraise fence. The site also has the archaeological outline of the 1757 French Fort. There is also a visitor’s center along with a museum area.
This fort was originally built by the French in 1757 during the French and Indian War and was called Fort De L’Ascension. Later it was renamed Massiac in honor of the then French Minister of Colonial Affairs, and came under fire only once, when unsuccessfully attacked by a group of Cherokee.

The French abandoned the fort after the war and was burned to the ground by the Chicasaws, Captain Thomas Stirling, commander of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment took control of the site but did not rebuild the fort. They did rename it “Massac”, however. Not rebuilding was a mistake as Colonel George Rogers Clark led his “Long Knives” regiment into Illinois at Massac Creek (1778) and was able to capture Kaskaskia, 100 miles to the north, without firing a shot-thus taking the entire Illinois Territory for the State of Virginia and the fledgling United States. President Washington ordered the fort to be rebuilt.
The fort has been rebuilt other times as well; eventually a reconstruction of the fort was built in the early 1970’s off site and was based on the 1794 American fort. In fall of 2002, the fort was used to create a replica of an 1802 American fort. The original archeological outline of the fort is right nest to the replica site.
The thing I really liked was the people who were there. They were pretending to be people from that era living in the fort, dressing up and using items from that time. Charles and I climbed up into a watch tower and took some pictures. It was pretty high up there, but I wasn’t scared. We even took pictures with a lady there and Charles’ son Wyatt and I went up into one of the buildings for some pictures, it was great. I enjoyed my adventures at the fort, even though we didn’t fight any British, French or Indians. Oh well, maybe next time.