Dogpatch USA 12-07-14

Dogpatch USA has a new owner and he has opened up Dogpatch USA for the weekend so that people can walk around the old amusement park before he makes changes. The amusement park closed in 1993 and has been decaying slowly as nature took over the grounds.

The rumor is that the new owner is going to make it into artesion marketplace type set up, but he most certainly has his work cut out for him. 

Morning Magic 8-9-14

Dustin and I went on an early morning date. We went up to the lookout in Norfork, with caffeinated hot beverages in hand, to watch the sun rise. The fog drifting up off the water below along with the changing colors of the rising sun gave the whole scene a magical flair. It was beautiful and my camera hardly caught the splendor.

Ozark Highland Trail? 7-24-14

I went to the library today on my lunch hour to check out this book. And while I was there I just had to stop by Blackbird Cafe and get a half sandwich. I sat out in the sun, ate my delicious sandwich and let my mind go wild with the possibilities of adventure. I really would like to do this whole trail, I am sure there are some gorgeous places on this trail. I do not however want to do it alone, and when I told Dustin it would take somewhere close to two weeks to complete the trail all the way through, he quickly said it is not for him. Oh well, maybe someday, A girl can dream at least.

Summer Evening By The River 7-20-14

Tonight we took our pups on a hike by the White River on Big Bluff Trail out at Gaston's resort. It was a beautiful evening with our little family.

Sweet Summer Night 7-1-14

Dustin and I took the dogs for a walk at Cooper Park tonight as the sun was going down. The sunset was beautiful and the fireflies where showing off. It was perfect.

A Walk at the Spring 6-26-14

So I went to a walk down in Cotter tonight. There was a beautiful mist over the river and the setting sun made all the trees and flowers look golden.

This photo really needed a quote to make it whole, so I wrote one!

I was taking a picture of this pretty flower by the river
and a big bumble bee came and landed on it!

First Love of Arkansas 6-17-14

I was driving tonight and I had to pull over to get a picture of this gorgeous view. Arkansas really does have some beautiful sunsets. The sunsets were one of the first few things that made me fall in love with Arkansas.

Time To Go 6-8-14

We had thought about going canoeing today, but when we woke up after the second night of camping, we both just wanted to go home. We had plenty of fun and more than enough bug bites. It was a good thing we decided to leave because as soon as we had packed up our campsite and headed down the road it started raining!



6 years together!

I wonder what this little guy will turn into?!
 Found him on our tent while we were taking it down.

Leaving our campsite at Barkshed.

High Wire Anniversary 6-7-14

Saturday morning we woke up to no rain. It didn't even rain throughout the night. We prepared for the worst though and had a tarp covering our tent.

Sooo Handsome!

We woke up and I made a yummy breakfast then to my dismay we decided to go ahead and go to Loco Ropes in Mountain View. I was really hoping to be swept away by some catastrophic flash flood before we had the chance to go....but that didn't happen. So after a lunch at Angler's, we made our way to Loco Ropes. I was really trying to not freak out but when we think of NOT doing something, what do we do? Yup. But by the time we got there I decided I was just going to pull up my big girl panties and do it because Dustin REALLY wanted to. I am not keen on heights at all so it was scary. The staff was super nice though and I did fairly well. I didn't even totally fall off the course once, I was as slow as a tortoise, but I made it passed every element rather nicely.

Yea, I did that, 30 feet up in the trees!

All except one which required a free fall type experience and eventually I did make it through that one too....with a 10 min coaching from the facilitator, Kari, and a ummm encouraging light tap on my shoulder from my husband. I had scooted myself so close to the edge that the small encouragement tap on my shoulder had just enough push to rock me and then I instantly decided not to fight it and just go. Kari gave him the death look for that tap and rightly so, I was supposed to decide to go. But honestly, I was going to chicken out and I am actually kind of thankful for that love tap cause I would have been SOOOO mad at myself if I wouldn't have finished.

The Loco Ropes high wire facilitator , Kari.

We finished just in time before the rain came pouring down. All in all it is a lot of fun for people who don't mind being 30 feet off the ground, Dustin loved it, I on the other hand, would rather be finding my adventure on the ground.

We dropped by the soda fountain in Mountain View afterwards and shared a blueberry malt....so good but so very sweet since we aren't use to having much sugar anymore.

We decided to camp another night but before we left Mountain View we stopped by Wal-Mart and got some glow in the dark spray paint. When we got back to the campsite, we spray painted our croquet set and when it got dark we played glow in the dark croquet! I don't have a picture of that but it was just so much fun I had to mention it!

So happy this adorable nerd lets me drag him to the great outdoors!

Adventure, Rain or Shine 6-6-14

Despite the immanent rain in the forecast Dustin and I decided to go forth with our plans to go camping for our 6th anniversary. We landed at Barkshed Campground at about 5:00pm. We set up camp, and headed down to the creek to explore our surroundings. The mist was heavy and made the scenes take on an eerie, yet mysteriously romantic feel. I felt like I got into a time machine headed to the distant past to get to that moment.

There is an old road bridge over the creek that is closed to vehicle traffic. There is a trail into the woods across the bridge that we didn't explore, but I am sure there adventure lurking there.

Worth It 5-27-14

After I got off work and before my niece's softball game, I stopped at Clysta Willett to take some flower pictures. I got flower pictures, unfortunately I picked up some hitchhiking ticks and chiggers too, but I think these might be worth it. If you click on the pictures and make them bigger they look even better. My favorite out of this group is the little fragile poppy with the tiny grasshopper in it.

Buffalo River Fun 5-24-14

Dustin and I headed down to the Buffalo River this morning with three guidebooks in hand. We decided to go down to Woolum Campground and look for the trail that would take us to "The Nars" or "Narrows" Well here it is.....

So we went to the car and changed into our swimming attire and waded across the Buffalo River. It wound up being just past waist deep for me but the rocks were super slippery and the current made it tricky, but we did it without slipping an falling all the way in! There is actually an easier way to get here down a little dirt road, but it would have taken us 45+ minutes out of our way. Once we made it across there was a nice mile and a half walk down to the place you can scramble up the rocks to see the Nars. We had a picnic up at the base of the Nars and then I scrambled up to the top. Dustin was so stinkin' nervous for me. Later he told me it is because I am often so clumsy.......thanks hon. Half way up though I got a little nervous myself. At some points climbing up, your footing is less than a foot away from the dead drop off into the Buffalo River. I made it to the top though and Dustin came too. It was seriously an awesome view at the top. On one side you get a gorgeous view of the Buffalo River and Skull Rock then the other side you have a beautiful outlook over Ozark farm country with rolling hills in the backdrop. So worth the wading of the river, the hike and the climb!

The "Nars" on the Buffalo River. If you look close enough you might see Dustin!

The view of the fields as seen from the top of the Nars

The view from the top of The Nars looking out over the Buffalo River.

I loved the view from the top!

We also went to a swimming hole in Erbie Campground before we headed into Jasper to have dinner at The Arkansas House in Jasper. After dinner we watched one of my favorite bands, National Park Radio, do FANTASTIC job as they rocked out the little theater in Jasper.

Arkansas Jungle 5-17-14

My sister and I had a double date with our dad today. I took them both to a waterfall I had been to before, Funnel Falls. I had been there in the winter however and now, almost summer, it looked COMPLETELY different. It looked as if we were hiking down into a some kind of time warp that was sucking us back into the prehistoric days. Ferns and greenery where every where, it was magical. The waterfalls where running pretty good too. I even made it out of there without a single tick attached! My sis and dad loved the experience and we all had such a good time.

This was the trail we followed down to the falls.

A Change of Plans 4-19-14

I love Saturdays! We shopped at the Farmer's Market in the morning ate lunch at a park with our pups in Yellville and did a little clothes shopping. Then we headed just north of Yellville to a place called "Marble Falls". When we got out of the car to start bush-whacking down the hill what we saw was discouraging. An entire hill of poison ivy. We even tried to go around that hill and come at it a different way. We got less than a few feet into the woods and it and poison sumac could be found just about every where you looked. We had our pups with us too and figured the whole ordeal would probably not be worth the hassle so we got back in our car with defeated hearts.

 

We decided not to waste the day though, and went down to Rush, South of Yellville. We walked the dogs along the river bank and had a snack along the babbling creek that  flows toward the upper Buffalo River.

 

We also went on the Rush Historic Trail. On the trail we saw old mines.....

 

and what was left of a town that stood over 100 years ago.

The Blacksmith's shop was still in pretty good shape....

 

The larger building closer to us here was a general store and post office with fourteen post office boxes. Oh, and this is were you got the marriage papers too! In the house next to the general store lived the store's owner and operator and his wife.

 

This plaque showed a map of the mining town. Many of the structures had either burned down or just didn't pass the test of time.

 

Dustin and I both had a great time despite that poison ivy hill! 

Dogwood Blossoms 4-16-14

The Dogwoods and Redbud trees where beautiful on the Clysta Willet trails tonight. We went back to the Dogwood tree from the post on the 8th of April. I tried to find the same exact flower as I had photographed in that previous post, and I am pretty sure we found it! The whole tree was just filled with beautiful white blossoms!

 

 

Before I found that tree though I got this picture of these blossoms with the pretty pink shade in them. 

 

Good Times in Batesville 4-12-14

We went to the Scottish Festival in Batesville today with Dustin's parents. We got to see this man and his dogs give a sheepdog demonstration. It was a really cool thing to see!

For me the sheepdog demonstration was the highlight of the Scottish festival. My dog is an Australian Shepard Border Collie Mix, and although she doesn't get to get a lot of her natural herding instinct out on a daily basis, she exerts as much of that energy as we let her on our cat and our other dog.

The man doing the demonstration had recently lost his other herding dog and was sharing a touching poem he had written about the experience. He got choked up about it and as I listened I had to fight back tears as well. I love this picture of him and as he reaches for Hannah, the herding partner of the dog that passed away.

Then there is this dog in a kilt.....

After the Scottish festival we walked around a couple shops in Batesville and started to get hungry.

We had been told by a shop owner that there was a restaurant just down the street. Dustin went to grab a menu and check it out. He decided that would be the best place and being hungry and tired we didn't really argue.

 

We stepped into Big's and were pleasantly surprised. Before I could even really notice the super cool interior of the restaurant, a super friendly woman, Savannah, greeted us and asked if she could get us some drinks while we decided what we wanted to eat. The place is set up as a diner/sandwich shop, so you order at the counter before you sit down. She was real helpful asking questions and making suggestions.

We all finally decided and sat down. After we got our food, the cook, Dylan, came up and asked us how everything tasted. It was amazing to say the least. The fries were fresh cut goodness. My wrap was full of flavor and just plain scrumptious.

The inside of Big's

We asked why the restaurant was named Big's, turns out BIG is the first initials of the 3 children of the Owners, Anthony and Mindy. The names of the sandwiches on the kids menu are made up from the children's names. The whole place is just great, so next time your in Batesville, AR stop in at Big's and I can guarantee you'll come out with a happy belly and smile on your face!

Savannah, Dylan and Anthony