What's A Bollard?

This area has lots of bicycle trails. One starts just north of downtown and runs through an old, somewhat barren industrial area along the Mississippi to a point north of the city limits. It's not too busy. The part seen here is on the river side of the flood wall. If Big Muddy rises about two more feet this trail will be covered.

I had never run into the word bollard until they became a ubiquitous security device. The parts of the Arch park along streets are lined with them, like rows of little soldiers protecting the monument. I looked it up. The term comes from those posts on docks that boats are tied up to. Here, they block cars from driving onto the southern end of the trail.                 

Snake In The Grass

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Thar be monsters.

There is a walking and cycling trail that runs along the Mississippi, starting in a semi-derelict industrial area a couple of kilometers north of the Arch. It has a mini park at the entrance - we're using the term park loosely - set up by our town's late mad genius and entrepreneur, Bob Cassilly. (He even got an obituary in the New York Times.) The theme of the sculptures he installed seems to be sleepy or amorous serpents (more about the latter soon). Visitors find it jolting to pull into a lonely gravel parking lot, only to be confronted by a huge cement snake. Could they be scarier than baby snakes?