Gone to Arkansas

Last weekend we left early in the morning on Saturday and took off to Arkansas. Just a 2 1/2 hour trip south. Love our road trips to Arkansas. We headed down to Gainesville then took Hwy 5 south all the way to Mountain View. Quite a pretty drive, even though it was rainy and some foggy..

We went to Mountain View, to the Ozark Folk Center, to the Mountain View Bluegrass Festival. Saw some really good groups. Probably our favorite was Flatt Lonesome. We also saw the Redmond Keisler Band, the Cobb Brothers, Farm Hands Quartet and Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers. We had seen a couple of them before but always enjoy seeing them again.

It was rainy and foggy last weekend so we decided to stay all night there instead of driving home in the fog. I booked a room in Mountain Home because I couldn't find anything online that looked good in Mountain View. I'll look a little harder next time because that hour drive back to Mountain Home was miserable. It was foggy and we weren't used to the road, made me a jumpy mess and I know Bob got tired driving in it.

We didn't get to the motel until 11:30 so we slept in the next morning and finally started home around 11:00, which of course was check-out time...hahaha.

I wanted to go back a different way than we went so we went west on Highway 412 which was a much better highway and that took us through Cotter. I wanted to go over the pretty bridge there at Big Spring so that is what we did.


I am bridge crazy. If there is a pretty bridge or an old bridge somewhere, I want to see it or drive over it. I don't know why I like them so much but I do. It's just part of who I am. I wish I had taken pictures of all the bridges I have seen and loved through the years but it didn't really occur to me to do that until I had a digital camera.

 I just love the arches on this old bridge. The inscription on it said it was built in 1930 and it looks as sturdy as ever to me. I think they must have added the light posts later but I think they are a very nice addition. At night the bridge just glows.

                                                                                                                                                              Cotter, Arkansas claims to be the "Trout Fishing Capital of the World". There were plenty of people out at Big Spring Park trying to catch them. We walked around and watched them for awhile. Bob hates trout. Says they are too bony and mushy for his taste. I guess I agree with him but I sure ate a lot of them when I was a kid. My dad would take me trout fishing in Lake Taneycomo and we ate all we caught, which were quite a few. If I ate them now, I would score them like we do suckers and I think they would be better, but Mom always just fried them up and we ate them, with lots of cornbread to catch any stray bones we missed. We thought they were good, but I do admit we probably spent as much time picking out bones as we did eating them! haha

It turned out to be a beautiful day Sunday, all the fog was gone and it was warm, even hot. Lots of flowers and bushes were bloomed out just that much farther south. All the redbuds were bloomed out. It was simply gorgeous.

Quite the pretty hole of water. You could see the spring running out of the ground. I am glad we came home this way. We really needed a weekend to just get away, and our little Arkansas getaway fit the bill. We will be going back to the Fall Bluegrass Festival at the same place. Only thing about fall that I can find to brag about.

It turned out to be a beautiful day Sunday, all the fog was gone and it was warm, even hot. Lots of flowers and bushes were bloomed out just that much farther south. All the redbuds were bloomed out. It was simply gorgeous.

We came home up Hwy 125 through Peel, and rode the ferry across Bull Shoals. We stopped at Protem and got a sandwich for lunch and came on home. A good time was had by all....