10-29-16- on to the World Bird Sanctuary and Lone Elk Park:

In the 40+ years we've lived in the St. Louis area, we had only been to Lone Elk Park a couple of times and had never been to the World Bird Sanctuary.  Why, I don't know!  Both are really cool spots.  With the trees in a lot of color now, we decided to head out to the woods.  Lone Elk Park came to mind.  Right by it is the World Bird Sanctuary.  It happened to be open, so we stopped there for a while.  They have a viewing area by a little museum.  Apparently they bring some birds out here during the daytime.  There are a lot of trails throughout the area, too, but Ken isn't a hiker, so we just looked at the bound birds and walked through the little museum. 

 Then we headed the 5 minutes or so over to Lone Elk Park.  It was a warm Fall day.  There weren't many animals out in the heat, but we did see a few.

 Same guy, but with a different back ground.

 But it was a pretty ride through the park---and it's free!

 The buffalo were way back in the woods this time. 

 Maybe not peak leaf color season, but still pretty.

 an old ammo bunker.
An occasional tree with most of it's leaves still on it.

 love seeing the sun rays through the trees.

 a few more pictures from our colorful ride.

 The lake within the park.  I understand if dropped about 7' a while back due to a sink hole under it.  But it seems to be stable now.  They even hold fishing tournies here.

 Along the road out.

So from not going here but a couple times in 40 years to going here twice in the last couple months!  Seems we get to a lot more sites around the area now that we're gone from St. Louis a lot more.