Category Archives: Uncategorized

Fit and Healthy on Route 66: Queeny County Park

November 15, 2024Outdoor Fun, Route 66, Uncategorizedbiking trail, dog friendly, Dog Museum, dog walking, Fit and Healthy on Route 66, Fitness Opportunities on Route 66, hiking trail, Manchester alignment of Route 66, Manchester Road, mountain biking, pet friendly, Queeny Park, roadside attractions, Route 66, Route 66 Trip Planning, St. Louis Countychasenfratz

Originally published on February 27, 2012

Queeny Park is just a few minutes north of the Manchester Road alignment of Route 66 as it traverses West St. Louis County. The park has two entrances. If you are traveling West on Manchester, turn right on Mason Road and look for the entrance that says “Dog Museum”. If you are traveling East on Manchester, turn left on Weidman Road to access the park. There is no way to drive from one entrance to the other without leaving the park, but you can walk between the two entrances.

When I was young, I used to love to go to Queeny Park to play on the very advanced and unusual playground equipment for the time. Lately I’ve used the park for biking and hiking. There are some paved trails and some gravel surfaced trails. The park is hilly so either way you’ll get a good workout – it’s especially good in my opinion for practicing hill climbing if you’re new to mountain biking. You’ll get enough of a challenge to give you something to work toward but most of the hills are not so difficult that you’ll be overly discouraged. The park is large and there are enough trails to enjoy a moderately long or short excursion depending on what you are looking for.

Yes you read the first paragraph correctly – at the Mason Road entrance there is indeed a Museum of the Dog. I remember the controversy surrounding this Museum when it was first proposed. A lot of people thought it sounded ridiculous – I haven’t visited it myself. It consists of a collection of artwork devoted dogs in an historic circa 1853 house. I’ve had very enjoyable visits to a barbed wire museum and a vacuum cleaner museum which probably sound like very odd attractions to most, so who knows, it might be good – perhaps it’s worthy of the tradition of eccentric attractions on Route 66. There are lots of dog walkers in the park so there does appear to be a large built-in audience! If you’re traveling Route 66 with canine companions this might be an especially good stop to make – dogs are allowed in the museum and you can give your pets and yourself a workout on the trails.

Photos of Queeny Park

Queeny Park Web Site

Fit and Healthy on Route 66 – Floating the Meramec River

November 15, 2024Outdoor Fun, Route 66, UncategorizedAllenton Acess, boating, canoeing, Eureka, Fit and Healthy on Route 66, Fitness Opportunities on Route 66, float stream, float trips, kayaking, Meramec River, Meramec River access points, Missouri float trip, Pacific Palisades Conservation Area, paddling, put-in points on Meramec River, river safety, roadside attractions, Route 66, Route 66 Trip Planning, St. Louis Adventure Group, Super Smokers, trip report, water recreationchasenfratz

Originally published April 15, 2012

On Saturday, April 7, 2012, I joined members of the St. Louis Adventure Group (SLAG) for a float on the Meramec River. The Meramec is a prominent feature of the Route 66 corridor from Phelps County to St. Louis County, where it makes it’s way toward the Mississippi River. It is visible from Route 66 in St. Louis County and crosses paths at Valley Park and Route 66 State Park. Once you leave St. Louis County you will have to travel a little way off of Route 66 to see the Meramec River at spots such as Onondaga Cave State Park, Meramec State Park or Robertsville State Park. In between the parks are additional points where you can put in and take out boats.

The Missouri Department of Conservation has provided maps to show where the put-in points are. On our April 7 float, we put in at Pacific Palisades Conservation Area (147.3 on the map below) and Allenton Access (154.2).

This was a fairly short float. We stretched it into about three hours by really taking our time. It was also easy – there are only a few spots where you really have to pay attention to navigate around snags that always seem to be right where the current is swiftest! Our group was made up of experienced paddlers but the Meramec River should always be respected regardless of experience level – it is deep and fast enough to drown people, so if you are going to float it please be sober, make sure you can swim, and use a personal floatation device. You might consider carrying a knife on your person to cut yourself free in case you get tangled in anything. Read here for more safety tips and legal guidelines.

After the float, several members of our group headed to Super Smokers (a Route 66 Association of Missouri Business Member) for a delicious BBQ dinner. We were very impressed by the swiftness at which they served our large group. The food was fantastic!

If you would like to try one of Missouri’s many beautiful float streams but don’t own a boat or need a shuttle, check out our list of Business Members – there are a couple of outfitters on there who will happy to tell you about their offerings.

See photos of our float:

Carolyn’s photos

SLAG member photos

Recycled Christmas Cards – Christmas Mini Cards With Envelopes

December 21, 2023Holiday Crafts, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, Uncategorized, UpcyclingChristmas card, creative re-use, creative reuse, Janet and Alex D'Amato, kid's crafts, mini card, rubber stamping, upcycled cards, upcycled paperchasenfratz

Introduction

*Front cover and an activity page from “Fun Till Christmas” by Janet and Alex D’Amato, published in 1965.*

Pictured just above are the front cover and one of the activity pages from a book that I had when I was young. I bought a barely used or written in copy at the St. Catherine Laboure garage sale this past spring. The copy I had when I was a kid is long gone and by the time I was done with it, it was all cut up and torn up and written in. I obsessed over every inch of that book. It was a huge influence on me. I loved the activities and graphics. Many of the projects involved creative re-use, like making things out of old Christmas cards. I’ve enjoyed upcycling cards for a long time. I’d like to share with you some of the creative re-use projects I’ve been enjoying. Of course if you don’t celebrate Christmas, the theme of this project could be adjusted for any occasion that involves cards.

Today I’ll show you Christmas Mini Cards With Envelopes.

*Mini cards and envelopes made from recycled Christmas cards, envelopes, and wrapping paper.*

Tools and Materials

Old greeting cards
Christmas and holiday theme papers and images – new or upcycled
Template Valentine Pocket Card
Self-sticking laminating sheets
Pen or pencil
Paper cutter
Scissors
Scrap chipboard
Glue stick
Metallic paint pens
Small rubber stamps
Assorted colors rubber stamping ink
Clean scrap paper
Burnishing tool, such as a bone folder
Optional – stickers

*Clockwise starting at top left: paper scraps, mini envelopes before assembly, sentiments cut from greeting cards, Mini Envelope Template, Mini Card Template made from scrap chipboard.*

Instructions

First download and print out the template Valentine Pocket Card. Cut out the Mini Envelope Template and for durability, laminate it with self-sticking laminating sheets. Use this template to find and trace around holiday themed papers and envelopes to make cute tiny envelopes. Fold the tabs at the dotted lines, and use a glue stick to glue the bottom flap to the bottom of the side flaps.

Next make a little rectangle out of scrap chipboard to use as a template for finding and tracing around greetings and sayings from old cards. The dimensions for the rectangle are 2 7/8″ x 1 7/8″. Trace with a pen or pencil around sections of cards you want to use for a mini card, then cut out.

After cutting out the greetings and sentiments, outline the edges with a metallic paint marker, and use some small festive rubber stamps to apply holiday related designs around the border. Add stamped accents to the fronts of the envelopes as well. If needed, use clean scrap paper and a bone folder to blot the inks you’re using before handling the cards so that they don’t smear.

Glue colorful festive papers to the backs of the cards with a glue stick. Burnish well, and trim.

Once they are dry enough to handle, the cards are ready to insert into the envelopes. You can seal the top flap of the envelope with the glue stick, or use a festive sticker to close the flap.

Further Reading

If you would like more ideas about how to have a more sustainable holiday season, here are other articles of mine on this topic.

Decorate Gift Packages with Stencils and Chalk

Make a textile out of fabric and thread scraps

Christmas Trees from scrap fabric

Making Greeting Cards From Scrap Papers

Making Holiday Centerpieces From Natural Materials

Upcycle a Metal Tin with Decoupage

Decoupage Gift Box

Christmas Journaling and Icebreaking Activity Cards

Welcome from carolynsstampstore.com

January 30, 2018UncategorizedCarolyn's Stamp Store, carolynsstampstore.com, GoDaddy, Integrated Technology Associateschasenfratz

Hi! I just set my domain carolynsstampstore.com to redirect to this web site. I’ve had that web site for 15 years and it’s going to take ages to fix all the broken links. So please be patient with me while I cope with this disaster.

Here is what happened – the hosting company for that web site, Integrated Technology Associates, is a reseller for hosting services provided by GoDaddy. One or the other companies set my web site so that no edits or updates can be made to any of the files on that site – in other words they broke it. Each company blames the other for breaking it and both companies would rather lose me as a customer than fix it. So after almost two months of pleading with them to fix it, I have given up. Those of you hoping to access content on www.carolynsstampstore.com, please be patient while I try to rebuild the content from that site and fix the links. It will take a LONG time. I apologize for the inconvenience!