The Mighty FROZEN Mississippi!

Two weeks ago was a brutally cold week here in St. Louis, as it was in most of the country.  We heard news reports that the Mississippi was frozen over, so of course we had to go check it out.  We drove North on the Illinois side up the Great River Road to Pere Marquette State Park.  Along the way the scenery was just incredible, the river was frozen solid in some places, frozen into big chunks in others due to the current, or the barges that were trying to push their way through.  We also went eagle watching because this is the time of year that they are supposed to be nesting in the area, and feeding on the fish in the river.  We were not nearly as successful finding eagles as we were finding ice, but we figured out that part of problem may have been that we waited till too late in the day.  We plan to try it again some weekend soon and get a very early start.  When we drove back down the River Road, we went to the Migratory Bird Sanctuary which is located near one of the locks on the river.  Since the locks were blocking the ice, there were plenty of birds fishing below them, and we spotted several eagles there.  We also saw a flock of trumpeter swans that were just hanging out on the frozen ice of the river, and a few of them flew over us.  We had a great afternoon of "being earthy" as one of my friends called it!