Gates of the Mountains (Family Visit, Part 3)

This is going to be a long post, sorry!

"Gates of the Mountains" is part of the Lewis and Clark trail which is on the Missouri River. Why it is called the Gates is that a part of the river and the rock formations is in an S shape and when you come upon this part the rocks part and it looks like a gate opening up then when you go through and look back it looks like a gate closing. (If and of that made any sense.) The captain/guide had been doing this for thirty years and was able to talk the entire 2 hour trip about the history of the area. He knew a lot. My mother-in-law loved all the information because she is an elementary school teacher and they study Lewis & Clark every year. There is a big forest fire there and the kids were enthralled by the whole thing. We couldn't see the actual fire but we did see a few little flames here and there. The guide told a story about 15 smoke jumpers who died in a forest fire in the exact same area about 50 years ago.

I love this man's SMILE!!

Goofin around!

Cole.

Who doesn't do this when you have the opportunity.

Cole checking out the yellow jacket trap.

Waiting

Getting ready to leave on the boat ride.

US!

There was a big forest fire in the area, and this picture shows how smokey it was up there.

We saw two adult, Bald Eagles, and a young one. The young ones are all brown and don't get their white heads for about 6 years, and they look as big as the adults.

They call this the "Monster of the Mountains".

These are Indian hieroglyphics of "dream quests". I don't remember how old they said they were.

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The captain of the boat let all the kids steer the boat for a little while. The kids thought that this was pretty cool. I thought that this was pretty cool! And they all did a good job, because we didn't crash or sink.

Cole

McKenna

Hallie

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Just hangin' around!!

"M"

"C"

"H"