Thanksgiving Weekend in Missouri

Thanksgiving Weekend in Missouri

Spent the long Thanksgiving weekend at my father-in-laws house 20 miles east of Branson Missouri. That’s the same as saying out in the middle of nowhere.

I had planned on driving around, which I did, taking pictures, which I didn’t.

The reason is that there are no straight roads in that part of Missouri. There are no flat stretches of road either. Taking pictures while driving was out of the question unless I wanted to drive off a cliff. Pulling over was also out of the question, the side roads with the best views had no shoulders.

What few pictures taken were all taken while wandering down the hill behind the house. We were tracking deer and following what started out to be a little trickle of water that runs past the house.

Mid day view from the house.

My father-in-law owns about 5 acres, but as far as I could tell, his nearest neighbor out his backyard was about three quarters of a mile away. No clue who owns all the land in between.

Out of the rocks, springs would flow.
The view down the hill.
Each spring made the creek a bit bigger.
And a bit bigger.
The woods are made up mainly of red cedar trees, this one was the biggest and oldest. The trunk was easily 3 feet in diameter.
My brother-in-law giving a waterfall some sense of scale.
That same waterfall. There's another, bigger one further down, but we never made it.
Why we never made it further down.
Even when you could see the sun light, it seemed much darker in these little canyons.
Chances are, out here, it will be number 3.
The view from the yard at sunset.

I’ve been to Missouri twice in the past. I’ve always noticed that there is something odd about the sky and how the clouds relate to their surroundings. Not sure how to describe it, but if you do a search on the paintings of Thomas Hart Benton, you’ll see I’m not the only one that noticed this.

Check this out, you’ll see what I mean.

Thomas Hart Benton

__

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Erin Block

    28 Nov 2011 Reply

    “I’ve always noticed that there is something odd about the sky and how the clouds relate to their surroundings.” — I’ve always thought this about Nebraska too, and it strikes be doubly acute now, going back. Gorgeous land, and gorgeous photos. Middle of nowhere is a great place to spend the holiday…I did the same.

  2. clif

    29 Nov 2011 Reply

    Southern MO is some beautiful country. I’ve been there at least once a year since birth.

  3. Ken G

    29 Nov 2011 Reply

    I had been to St. Louis a long time ago and Doniphan around 25 years ago. I don’t remember the terrain being like that. Lots of cliffs where I was this time. Should have pulled over more for more photos, but pulling over spots were rare.

    Drove through Nebraska 35 years ago on a road trip to California. Tired, burnt out a bit, flat terrain. After what seemed like many, many miles of flat nothingness, driving along in silence, trying to stay awake, the guy in the back seat announces “there’s a cow.” It was the tallest thing around.

  4. bob

    29 Nov 2011 Reply

    marvelous quick write up

Leave a Reply

Close Menu