The Great Outdoors

Lauren and I recently realized that we don't take advantage of some of the great activities and destinations in St. Louis. This revelation came about after visiting some local parks and having a great time. A couple of weeks ago we visited Lone Elk Park with Lauren's parents and her brother, Brandon. The hike revealed that there is a definite reason behind the name of the park (see below).

However, the elk wasn't quite alone. We saw somewhere around 10 elk and then we found a "slightly" larger species (photographed through the car window).

This weekend we visited Forest Park. We went without a plan and wound up walking around the Grand Basin, up Art Hill and then to the Boat House.

While at the Boat House we decided to take a paddle boat ride (which, oddly enough, neither of us had ever done). This was a lot of fun once we figured a pace that allowed us to "evenly" power the boat. Direct quotes after 5 minutes of pedaling: Jason - "man, this is really hard"...Lauren - "really? I think this is pretty easy"...I proceed to stop pedaling...Lauren - "oh, is that what it has been like for you this whole time?"...Jason - "are all of the muscles in your legs on fire?"...Lauren nods with a grimace...Jason - "yep, that's what its been like"