OTSHAB- Bluebells And Wine- April 23, 2023

This was a scheduled event I had been looking forward too. I had even planned to bring the RV the night before and have it ready if any of the others in the group wanted breakfast before, but then the night before was Wicked at the Fox Theater and we didn't get home till 12:30 am, so getting up at 6 am on a Sunday suddenly didn't seem so fun!  But, of course, it was. I didn't bring the RV! 

We were planned to meet at St Francois State Park at 9:30 and hike the Swimming Deer Trail, which is well known for its Bluebell spring flower display. However, it had been a bit chilly the past week, so we were prepared if the bluebells had lost some of there luster. 

We sort of overloaded the parking area at the campground 😆and were quickly told by the campground host that no more of our group could park in the bathhouse parking area. She was a bit grumpy so early in the morning, seeing so much hiker trash show up. To be fair, the small parking area only had six spots and there was going to be about 20 of us! The rest of our group had to park just up the road at the Pike Run Trailhead.

Everyone gathering at the trailhead. 

Gathering for the customary group photo 

Heading off into the woods, Being a big group we quickly broke up into small groups to not overload the trail or scare any others on the trail! 😆I was going to be slow as I was going to take lots of pictures and it is only a 3.5 mile trail. 

I did take lots of wildflower pictures today. The iPhone is a terrible platform for macro photography

Here are the bluebells. There were not a plentiful as expected but they are still very pretty none the less. 

The trail was lined with flowers 

I even saw quite a few Trillium, but for some reason I did not take any pictures of them? 

The trail takes you around and up the back of this cliff face to a ridge that gives you really nice views of the Big River 

Me and Cathy K on one of the overlooks.

Taken by Stephanie P

Big River view 

This park has many caves some closed off but some open like this one. 

Stephanie and Cathy enjoying the easy trail. It was quite a cool day. Even with the sun out,  it required an extra layer. 

Finishing up the trail in 2 hours, it was time to head over to the Terrace Winery in French Village, Missouri. This was a quick 20 minute drive from the Park.

Main wine tasting room- this is a very nice winery.

Ordering your beverage of choice and they have a really good selection of food as well. 

I tried one of their sweet reds and it was very nice.

I could not resist the parmesan fries with garlic aioli. I needed to get a snack to absorb the wine! 😋

Everyone had a great time 

It was a super group of people from the OTSHAB Facebook group. 

Stephanie caught me taking a picture of the landscape out the tasting room window.

photo by Stephanie P

the said photo

Thank you Stephanie for planning the event