Lewis and Clark

This week, my family and I went to the Missouri River Basin Lewis & Clark Interpretive Trail & Visitor Center (or the MRB L&C Center, as printed on my receipt, whew!). This little jaunt out to Nebraska City, NE, reawakened an old fascination I have with these explorers. There is something for everyone in the Lewis and Clark exploration story. I love the adventure, the natural history, and the detailed journal keeping.

The Visitor Center was well worth the time. I especially enjoyed seeing the example of a medical kit that would have been used back in the 1800s. The interpretive display also discussed the fish the explorers caught, and the hooks they would have used, which is something I have not seen anywhere else.

Outside, the trail was muddy, but the view of the Missouri River was beautiful.The woods were quite like the Eastern Deciduous Forest I know from my time in Tennessee.

While there, I bought a copy of H. Wayne Phillips' Plants of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. And I found myself wanting to reread Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage and Lewis & Clark: Voyage of Discovery.

 An old love is reawakened. I'm already thinking about how to interpret some of this in a contemporary way. Their story never gets old. And I hope that an appreciation for the natural world, the value of wild places, and the importance of a person's recorded thoughts is never lost.