Arkansas, the Natural State

On October 26, 2011, we went for a little vacation to Arkansas. Neither Harry nor I had ever been there, so neither of us knew really what to expect. What we saw was beauty unmatched.




Our first stop was a Motel 6 in St. Joe. It was nice. Very basic - an end room, and lots of grossy areas to walk the kids. JoLee had lots of fun chasing the flies in the room, too. We slept as long as we wanted to the next morning (unusual for us) and continued on to our next destination, Eureka Springs. Harry wanted to check out this community of artists tucked away in the Arkansas mountains. I was amazed - even the Days Inn motel was picturesque! Once again, we were given an end room, but this room had a king-sized bed. What a wonderful invention - the king size bed - especially with two dogs!



This is the view from the parking lot at the Days Inn.



JoLee rode most of the way on his Daddy's lap.



Finally, we arrived at the vacation home of Jolie Bank's parents, in a small town near Bull Shoals. What a wonderful place. Harry spent a little time reading out on the deck, while the dogs got acquainted.



The next day we went for a nice hike at Jolie and Jim's property. For the first time, I got to see Boudreaux's Rock. It's a pretty special place.



Jolie and I were hoping to get a good photograph of JoLee and Star together. I'm not sure we succeeded, but we all sure had a good time trying!



































Ms. Jolie Banks is a great person - and a beauty, inside and out. She also has a wicked sense of humor and a heart as big as Texas. I love her to bits.



JoLee was pretty good at camouflage. Can you see him?



The Buffalo River was our next stop. The entire shoreline was made up of round river rock - just perfect for skipping stones. I'm not sure it made for the comfiest footing for the dogs, but they seemed to manage!







JoLee and Magoo ended up being the best of friends. They had such fun chasing sticks in the river!















The eatin' was great. Jolie made her famous gumbo, and Jim made sausage gravy and biscuits. Made me want to grow a couple more stomachs so I could just keep on eating! Harry made breakfast, and I brought green chili. Everyone worked together to make meals and clean up. Here is proof that men can do dishes. Thanks again, Jim!



The Kitchen Magician.



Every morning, Jim gets up when all the world is still, and as soon as it gets light enough, he goes out to the bank and fishes.






These little beauties were the lucky ones - Jim let them loose.



I wandered around with my camera and tried to capture some of the mystical beauty.












The visit was over way too soon. After we packed up, Jim and Jolie led us to the Bull Shoals dam.























Then it was back on the road for us. At one point I looked over and look at what I saw - a sun dog! I've never seen a sun dog in any time of year but the winter - it was pretty darned cool.




The dogs rode in style on their new blankies their Auntie Jolie made for them.







And when we finally got home, they sure did enjoy their bully sticks. They laid close together and chewed until they fell asleep. What a great time we had!