All posts by Danielle Huddleston

Outdoors

TREC ~Bike Trail in Effingham, ILL

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Whenever we are going to visit my family in Indiana, we like to stop at Effingham, ILL.

This is the first time I had seen anything about this bike trail though.

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It was nice to get out and run around!

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It is a beautiful trail also!

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It took a lot to get my kids to stop getting in the shot of just Nick and I…

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Snake!

Nick moved it off the trail.

Glad we have a new place to run off some energy after the long drive through Illinois.

 It can be difficult to find the entrances so make sure you read up on it before you go.

There website is, here.

Outdoors, Wildlife Preserve/Reserve

Shaw Nature Reserve, MO

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While very beautiful and really close to Interstate 40, most of the trails are not accessible except by foot on weekends.

The main road that goes through the Reserve is closed Friday-Sunday to vehicles.

I can’t find any information about this on their website but we were told that was the case and they had the road closed when we were there on a Friday.

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I thought this rain garden idea was interesting.

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The garden at Bascom House was beautiful.

I would like to go again when all the trails are accessible or we are able to hike to the other trails.

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Beautiful stop right outside St. Louis.

Find more information at their website, here.

Outdoors, Parks

Maramec Spring Park ~St. James, MO

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This is a beautiful park in Missouri!

Maramec Spring Park is not too far outside of St. Louis and a short distance away from Interstate 40.

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They have these pools filled with trout!

There were so many, it seemed unreal.

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They have beautiful paths for you to walk along the river.

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They have several feeding stations set up also.

Someone was super nice and gave us some quarters they did not need, so we could feed the fish.

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My kids were just searching the ground for fish food people had dropped since we did not bring any quarters.

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They had a nice museum to go to.

There was another also but I found we all did better outdoors after being in a vehicle for hours…

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The kids really liked this watershed display.

It really rained.

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This is a great spot to stop for us on trips to Indiana.

Can’t wait to go there again!