Traveling Around Arkansas

When we left North Arkansas, we spent time with family, old friends and our Good Sam family.  During this time I attended the last home game in my high school football stadium.  It brought back a lot of memories.

Sunset on Merrisach Lake

Below the dam on the Arkansas river

On the front stairs of my High School

Some of the alumni that attended the last game

Lake Catherine

Water falls at Lake Catherine

Lake Catherine

Heber Springs

On the Little Red River

White Pelicans at Willow Beach

Festival of Lights

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Exploring Northern Arkansas

When we left Missouri, we drove to northern Arkansas stopping at Eureka Springs.  This is a very unique town.  It is built in the hills of northern Arkansas and has a feel of a little Switzerland.  You can find all types of stores ranging from specialty stores to the tourist type of store that you can find everywhere.  The shopkeepers are extremely friendly and always there to help unlike the large chain stores.  This has become a favorite town for motorcyclists.

These pictures were taken on Main Street.

When we got there we realized that the weekend was a Corvette convention.  We saw all types and colors of new and antique Corvettes.  We spent most of our time walking the main strip and riding the trolleys that will take you all around Eureka Springs.

After we left we headed to Harrison for a few days.  We needed to get the slideout on the motor home repaired again, since they didn't get it fixed properly in Minnesota.  We ended staying there longer than we planned due to the government shut down, which closed the Corps of Engineers parks.  We finally got the slideout fixed properly.  While there, we spent a lot of time in Ponca looking for the elk and doing some hiking.  We finally saw a few elk but not as many as we had seen on previous trips. One evening we took a picnic supper and sat on the side of the road watching for elk.

Pictures from our hike on the Lost Valley Trail.

Sunset was captured when we were having our picnic supper watching the elks.

One day we took a trip to Branson, Missouri for the day to do a little shopping and to see the changes in the city since the last time we were there.

We had a wonderful time in Northern Arkansas and now we are headed to the south central part of the state.

Trip to Arkansas: Missouri Part 2

After we left Macon, Missouri, we went to Joplin, Missouri.  The biggest reason for us going here was because D wanted to visit a parts and salvage place to look for some parts he wanted for the camper.

One of Missouri's most beautiful natural attraction is Grand Falls located on Shoal Creek.  It is the largest continuously flowing natural waterfall.  It is like a little Niagara Falls and when the wind is blowing you will feel a mist just like Niagara Falls.  The falls cascade over solid chert before flowing south.

We also visited the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri.  This was a place that I had wanted to visit for a long time.  Samuel J. Butcher said the Lord lead him to the rolling hills in the heart of the Ozark. As you enter the estate surrounding the chapel, you feel the beauty, peace and the presence of God all around you.  One side of the Chapel depicts the Old Testament, the time of law.  The other side depicts the New Testament, the time of grace.  The volunteers are wonderful and can bring the Chapel to life for you when telling the story.

The intricately carved chapel doors. Sam Butcher and understudy Nelson Lete carved the doors in Ilo Ilo, the Philippians.  They are made of Nara wood, which is one of the hardest woods to carve.  It took the two artists over one year to carve both sides of  the three doors.

This was Samuel's first project working atop scaffolding over 30 feet high.  He worked for over 500 hours. The angelic scene thrills visitors who are awed by the 1400 square foot mural.

There are 30 stained glass windows in the Chapel - Sam designed each one - He calls the experience the challenge of a lifetime.  After completing the designs, he worked with his sister-in-law to accomplish what he desired in the windows.  Each stained glass window has over 1000 pieces of glass.

There are 84 murals in the Chapel.

The Blessings of Hallelujah square.

This mural illustrates Samuel's personal belief that within the heart of each of us lies the hope of Jesus Christ.  When painting this mural , it was his desire to show Heaven as a place of reunion and new joy.

This will be Samuel's tombstone when he dies.  I think this is how most of us would like to be remembered as well.

The next leg of our journey will take us into the hills of the Ozarks in Arkansas.

Trip to Arkansas: Missouri

Our first stop in Missouri was Long Branch Lake State Park.  It is a beautiful park, but not as nice as the state parks in Arkansas.  We enjoyed the peace and quiet that we had there and we were able to have our first fire of the season.  We had beautiful view from all our windows.

While we were camped at Long Beach Lake State Park, we went to Marceline, Missouri to see the Walt Disney Museum.  Walt Disney and his family lived here for five years.  He lived here from the age of five to ten.  Walt felt like this was his home town.  This was where he first started tell stories with animation.  It was his job to babysit his younger sister, Ruth.  He would draw picture on each page of his tablet and flip it when he was telling her a picture while sitting under his dream tree.  The tree and the barn was his happy place.

He held his first show, a circus, in the barn and charged a nickel.  It was not a hit with the paying customers.  His mother made him give back the money and told him to always give the people what they would enjoy where they would leave happy and wanting more.

    

  

Walt Disney used the Main street of Marceline as the model for Main street in Disneyland.

The museum is housed in an old train station.  The volunteers that tell the story of Walt's life there and about how he adopted the town as his home town made the museum come to life.

Picture of Walt's parents

A miniature of Disney Land that was donated to the museum.

Walt Disney came back to Marceline several times for dedications.  He also left money each year for the elementary school.

Because he loved this town so much, his daughters celebrated his 100th birthday in Marceline.

I will continue our trip through Missouri in the next blog.

Trip Back to Arkansas: Iowa & the Amana Colonies

We made several stops on our way back to Arkansas.  We are traveling the back highways and trying to stay off the Interstates.  In doing this, we are seeing a lot different scenery.  Our first stop was Amana, Iowa.  This is an area that the Germans settled in the 1800s.  You can still see a lot of the buildings that they built. The wool mill is still there and operating and the furniture store is still making furniture by hand.  This furniture would outlast several generations.  We had a lot of fun sightseeing and shopping in a few of their unique stores.

This is a sample of the buildings built by the early settlers.

We saw these white pelicans on the Iowa river.  This is their winter coloring.

In traveling the back highways we have seen many clock towers on the squares, smoke stacks and some wonderful old houses.  We both enjoy seeing the small towns that are trying to preserve their past.

Clock tower in Bloomfield, Iowa

We saw several Amish buggies as we traveled through Iowa.

After spending several days in Iowa, we are now headed to Missouri for more adventures.

Our New Journey

We have ended one journey of our lives and now have started another one.  Life is full of journeys and new experiences.  This blog is a new experience for me.  It is being written where our family and friends can keep up with us and know where we are travelling.

The journey started with a trip to Minnesota to visit with our daughter and family.  We are enjoying spending time with our two granddaughters. We spent the day at a giant toy store, Lark Toys, and rode a hand-carved carousel. We visited a pumpkin patch and went hiking a few times. We even saw one of the banks that Jesse James and his gang robbed. But most of the time was spent enjoying our family.

Posing outside of Lark Toys

Taking a ride on the hand-carved carousel.

The pumpkin patch has a huge corn bin for the kids to play in!

Sliding down the giant bouncy slide

Exiting the corn maze. We made it!

Having fun!

Petting the goats at the pumpkin patch.

Enjoying the view at Rice Lake State Park.

Wild turkeys!