Discovered more pictures from our time together with family.  These pictures were taken by my beautiful niece, Molly Stephens.  She is our family photographer.  I think she is gong to follow in our aunt's footsteps.  Our Aunt Penny was a professional photographer and we are looking forward to her book on her travels down the Mississippi to be published, posthumously.

Back on track....

Fourth Leg of Trip
We woke up early for the next leg of our trip.  We decided some walking and a workout was in order.  We wanted to reward ourselves with a nice swim, but the key would not open the door.  We found out afterward that we could have gotten in and had a lovely swim if we had informed the attendant up front.  Silly us for not pressing the point.  Oh well, we needed to get on the road.

So back on I 40.  I took a few shots of what a common vantage point we have on this lovely road.  One truck was quite undressed.  I was a bit embarrassed to see its back-end and roof quite exposed. 

We stopped by chance in the quaint little town called Russellville to get some supplies.  It was a sweet place that made you want to go to a sock hop!

Then it was getting about time to eat.  We made a few false stops, then we saw a sign.  We were unsure, but hopeful.  The sign said village, so we were counting on something picturesque and we were not disappointed.  It was like a little bit of Switzerland landed in the middle of Arkansas!  In a town with a population of 46, Wiederkehr Village had a delightful restaurant, vineyard, and winery.  It was so sweet.  As you can see from these pictures, they have gone the extra mile for authenticity.  Roger and I had our second German meal in such a short time.  Roger was so excited to get some schnitzel! 

 They had a wonderful dog there also who was so friendly.  I wanted to take him on the rest of our trip, but alas, some of our stops do not allow dogs.  His name is Chucka and he is only one year old, but a sweetie!  He definitely did not want me to stop petting him.
Jennifer has asked if I was going to pet every animal I see along this trip. Why, of course, only the deer are not cooperating!

Then we got back onto the road to our destination of Lake Fort Smith State Park, where we decided we were going to rough it a bit and do a some camping!  As you can see, you need to feel very sorry for us.  I mean really, we have been off-line for two whole days:)  This is an absolutely gorgeous state park and I would highly recommend it should anyone be out this way.  The cabins have absolutely everything anyone would need to be comfortable.  

There was a nice size boulder at the end of the road before the cabins.  I was informed by Roger that I was to point out all the big rocks for the rest of the trip.  This will be a difficult task.  But here is number one.

The only issue we had was grocery shopping.  Of course, we had just come from a four hour jaunt on I-40, remember earlier picture!  Well, we asked about a grocery store, of which we knew, I mean, WE KNEW, we should have picked up food before we got there, but… we did NOT.  So the closest real grocery store is over 18 miles away.  I mean, really, our ice cream is going to melt by then!  So that is a no for ice cream (boo!) and a yes for what will not spoil on such a trip.  We had Lola to guide us, so we were optimistic.  So we set out with smiles and energy.    We even saw a deer and took its picture!

Then we go aways and we start looking at each other.  We go aways more and we start questioning.  We stop and ask a local at a mini mart, who could not answer our question.  We consult Sugarbritches once again thinking we plugged something in wrong.  We stop again and finally get a semblance of a confident answer and end up at a grocery store.  Lola was right all along, but seemed to take us among quite a winding road.  We decided to see if she would take us back via the interstate, since we could see it but not how to get onto it.  Well,  she calculates and tells us to go….then she tells us a few more turns.  All of a suddens, Miss #*#!@ is telling us to go off road.  OFF ROAD?!?! Really.  Then she conveniently leaves us.  She is gone. 

We go a bit further around this crazy rainbow silo I have pictured for your pleasure, only to find we have gone in a big circle.  So we hung our heads and turned the car to go back the way we came.

I got up early this morning to sit on the back porch only to find it felt too heavy.  After coming in for about five minutes, it started raining.  This must be why it felt so heavy.  After the rain, things cooled off quite a bit.  Roger and I went back out on the porch and had our Devotional.  There was a lovely breeze and the bugs evidently were not awake yet!  We decided before breakfast we would go down toward the lake.  I took a few pictures of the walk down to the lake and around the Day Use area. 

I happened upon a deer while walking and didn’t want to get too close, hence the not so clear picture.  I think this one was an adolescent deer.  It was not too big.

This is the trail I followed, but when I first saw it, I immediately thought of my friend, Warren Herron!  Funny how the mind works.  Warren Hollow, Warren Herron.  Silly me!

Later we decided we wanted to eat at Grandma’s House Cafe.  It was a wonderful place to eat.  Local culture as well as great food.  We met a WWII Vet who served in the Pacific front including Iwo Jima.  He was quite in good health and willing to talk.   The atmosphere was perfect with doilies and dolls just as a grandmother would have.  The place was also quite crowded with what appeared to be regulars.

After lunch we stopped at an Indian Museum that had several artifacts that were quite interesting. 

The pictures above were taken outside of the museum.  You can see the lake in the distance.

I also found this parking sign quite humorous.  It was down in the gully quite a bit.  I would like to see the brave soul who tried to park here!

We are sad to leave our little utopia, but quite excited to see SARAH!!  We will also be seeing Cathy and Shawn once again.  We are going to Oklahoma City to see our niece and my sister and brother-in-law.  We are going to celebrate the fourth with them!  Happy Birthday America!!! 239 years old!