All Over and Back Again

Also on our Arkansas agenda was visiting a cavern.  Closest to us was the Mystic Caverns, a place that was creepy in a bible-belt-Arkansas kind of way.

 

 

It was definitely fun and interesting, but the tours were too long for our little ones.

 

The kids preferred sitting outside with leaves and tree branches, munching on M & Ms.

 

 Lunchtime took us to the Cliff House, a restaurant looming above the gorgeous hills of Northwest Arkansas.

 

While we waited for a free table, Dale tied this plant in knots.

 

 This restaurant had great old fashioned southern food.  Rose loved the fried green beans.

 

 

Feeling a renewed sense of energy, (fried chicken and biscuits with honey will do that to ya), we went straight from lunch to a gem of a spot hiding just behind the Steel Creek Campground.

 

Steel Creek is a section of the Buffalo National River that lingers below Roark Bluff, making for a ideal and picturesque place to toss rocks into the water.  I do believe this spot ended up being the kids' favorite place to hang out.  It was nice and relaxing, and I was even able to sit down for a few minutes.

 

Yes, that sure is mud on Rose's face.

 

It was such a nice stop, but we soon needed to head out once again.  Our next stop was Beechwoods Cemetery.  Because who doesn't take their children to old cemeteries on vacation?

 

Most of the graves belonged to members of the Villines family, but there were a lot of interesting unmarked headstones and rocks, and there were even a few graves from the Civil War.

I think of visiting cemeteries like social field trips.  There is so much history resting in one small area, so much to wonder about, to learn about.  I'm certainly not afraid of visiting old graves, and I am teaching my children to have that same anthropological curiosity.  Go ahead, explore.

 

We left Beechwoods Cemetery just in time to see the Boxley elk herd wander across the valley.  Us and everyone else in the state of Arkansas.  Actually it wasn't that bad.  No more than us former Coloradans could handle.

 

 It was a beautiful fall evening, and the kids really enjoyed getting out of the car to see the elk one more time before we headed back toward the the cows and rolling hills of Kansas.

 

No, Rose isn't smiling at the elk this time.  She sees her big brother.

I love that Dale wanted to stand with Mommy and watch the elk.

For the last night at our peaceful cabin, we ate Doritos (oops, forgot about dinner) and watched the cabin provided movie, Snow Buddies.  Dale and Rose were in vacation heaven, and if the kids are happy, so are we.