Even more explorations of a bunch of places in St. Louis and its suburbs.Â
In my last post, I covered a few of the places I have visited in St. Louis since moving back to the area. Here’s some more. As in last time, every place listed here is less than an hour from the Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis.
Starting with the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis proper. I was greatly surprised in how lovely this garden was. I went in May just in time for lots of blooms.
Jana Irving Lovely brick greenhouse.
Jana Irving Pretty garden.
Jana Irving Some sort of Iris.
Jana Irving One of the rose gardens. I liked this one more because there are a bunch of other plants, too.
Jana Irving The garden has an English woodland garden. I really liked this area.
Jana Irving A good part of the garden is a Japanese garden.
Jana Irving The Japanese garden surrounds a large pond.
Jana Irving Another part of the garden and I found these gorgeous flowers. A daisy, I think.
Jana Irving A little Chinese garden.
Jana Irving Love this.
Outside of St. Louis proper is the Shaw Nature Preserve, another branch of the Missouri Botanical Garden. It’s a much larger park, with lots of different trails.
Jana Irving Crescent Knoll Overlook.
Jana Irving I think that is a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly.
Jana Irving Some of the trails are in the woods or out into grassland like this one.
Jana Irving You can cruise on by a lily pond.
Jana Irving My best attempt of getting a picture of a water lily without laying on the boardwalk.
Jana Irving Woodland Pinkroot. These flowers were all over the place in one of the gardens.
Jana Irving Butterflies were everywhere.
Next up is Castlewood State Park on the outskirts of St. Louis. This park actually surprised me. It’s one of the nicer Missouri state parks. I hiked the River Scene Trail on a surprisingly cool June afternoon. It was in the low 70s as a high. It was wonderful.
Jana Irving Scenic view of the Meramec River.
Jana Irving Lovely views from the bluffs.
Jana Irving The trail heads down to river level.
Jana Irving This was my favorite section of the trail. It was all shady and overgrown. My kind of woods.
Jana Irving So nice and full of ivy.
Jana Irving I liked the lighting.
Jana Irving Another river view.
On the other side of the Meramec River, there are two wildlife parks. One free and one a non-profit that saves injured birds. Both great. Lone Elk Park is a free St. Louis County park with free ranging elk and bison.
Jana Irving I didn’t see an elk, but I found this buck.
Jana Irving There were a bunch of lady bison blocked by this hill.
Jana Irving This guy came out of nowhere.
Last stop is the World Bird Sanctuary. They take in injured birds until they can be released or gives injured birds a new home.
Jana Irving Laughing kookaburra. He later laughed at me.
Jana Irving A hawk of some sort.
Jana Irving Someone is about to get some lunch.
Jana Irving This would be a perfect picture except for the chain link fence.
Jana Irving Another bird getting some lunch.
The St. Louis area actually has quite a bit to do. There are a bunch of free museums, a free zoo, parks and even bison. Enough to keep one busy for a while.
Check out my next update where I find a bunch of fungus!
or
Check out more of St. Louis with my travel guide!
