Mountain Harbor Resort, AR (part two)

 November 23, 2020 

It's a beautiful day, time to go hike at Hot Springs National Park

We will be hiking on West Mountain today.

While still in town and saw this cool rock wall, part of West Mountain.

"Visitors will notice that rock layers exposed along bluffs or road-cuts appear to be tilted, or even to stand up straight, rather than lay flat. This tilting of rock layers is a result of extreme forces that "pushed" the rocks into the tilted position, which we can observe today."

We will begin on the canyon trail, which began its origins

as Old Canyon Road built for carriages.

And, yes as the  1905 photo shows, it was uphill.

The Canyon Trail led us to the West Mountain Trail

that we took to the Mountain Top Trail

which led to the Whittington Trail

then we backtracked on the Mountain Top Trail

to the Sunset Trail then continued further on 

the Mountain Top Trail to the

West Mountain Trail and finally on the

Oak Trail and back to town.

We stumbled onto some signs from the Baseball trail while we were in Whittington Park.

"In 1886, Cap Anson brought his Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs) to Hot Springs for the start of something new: spring training. As many as 250 professional baseball players, including some of the biggest legends of the game, convened here in The Spa City each spring for training and recreation. Walk in their footsteps on the Hot Springs Baseball Trail, featuring 32 stops."

Holly in Whittington Park,

it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

A flowering bush in November, as a Chicago girl

I still find it unbelievable.

Back up hill on the Mountain Top Trail

Views from the Overlook on Sunset Trail

And a snapshot of us at the top of West Mountain.

Some Fall color 

it is past peak, with most leaves on the ground

but a few trees still hold some colorful leaves.

Evidence of large water runoffs on the mountain side

not quite sure how the town handles all the water that rolls down.

The tall brick building is the old Army Navy hospital

The white building with blue awnings is the Buckstaff Bathhouse

taken from the Oak Trail.

Time to grab a bite to eat.

A shout out to Marc and Liz for our lunch today.  Thanks so much.

And another shout out to TJ for contributing to the delicious lemonade.

Great work TJ.🍋

November 24, 2020 

I posted Let's Explore

see that post for morning walk

After writing RV Life, I thought it was crazy not to have used the oven

so challenge accepted.  I whipped up some cheddar bay biscuits.

The oven works fine too.

The biscuits as always disappeared quickly.

So, today I had my morning walk, we played some tennis,

went to the lake to read, the winds picked up so we came back to the RV.

By four o'clock the rain started.  No problem it should clear for a bit to grill 

some burgers outside.  Five, Six, Six Thirty.  Shall we have taco salad for dinner?

Cooked up dinner, the rains continued.  We worked on a puzzle we picked up from 

the office here, a great rain activity.  Headed to bed to read and our phone alarms go off.

tornado warning in your area, seek shelter.  It's raining out and the warning is only for another 

10 minutes.  We start googling.  I go turn on the tv to see the weather reports.

It's not our area, we have thunderstorms but no tornado warning.  Accuweather

alert thought we were in Dallas for some unknown reason.

We made it thru the night just fine.  But it did make us consider where would we go?

The area map for the lodge they gave us marked Safe Houses, so we would go to guest services

or the laundry room.  Well now we know.  Just glad I did not have to ride out a tornado last night.

And I might start noting what county I am in so I can understand the local weather report

and how it relates to where I am.

November 25, 2020

We drove over to Shangri La Resort to hike the Tompkins Bend Trail.

It's a cloudy day around 60 degrees, it feels chilly.

After the rain  yesterday and last night the water

level seems a little high.

The clouds are starting to break up

and the sun is trying to make an appearance.

Across the way are campers at Tomkins Bend Campground

here on Lake Oauchita.

A little cold but happy to be out on the trail.

The trail had 12 benches along the way to stop and take in the view.

What's with the orange vest you ask?

It is hunting season and even though I am not a deer, several people and 

the resort website suggested wearing orange vest to avoid a hunter shooting us.

We did see 6 deer in the woods, twice while hiking today, not sure if we 

saw 12 deer or the same 6 deer twice.

Two C-130's flew overhead.

The second one is at the very bottom of the photo.

Jim checking with his GPS to see how far along we are.

Today in the clouds the mountains in the distance looks like an inkblot.

Young pine trees are filling the forest floor.

This was today's trail blaze.

The color I would describe as the color of lichen.

This is a tree covered with lichen,

why would someone choose a trail blaze color 

that occurs naturally?

That is a very good question.

I have no idea why.

A little history along the trail. 

A root cellar from a homestead.  Collecting and stacking

all those stones had to have been quite a job.  I for one am

glad for modern refrigeration.

Here's an overall look of the thin forest we hiked thru today.

We had better views of the lake because so many leaves were on the ground.

Jim carrying his orange vest.

The Marina at Shangri La from the trail.

Views of Ouachita Lake from Shangri La Resort.

The area we are staying is on the other side of this hill.

Here is the route we took today.

My afternoon reading spot, the fountain in the marina.

My usual spot was actively being decorated for Christmas.

The resort puts up 2 million lights according to their website.

Santa will be coming on Friday at 6:00 pm.

Get ready for lots of pictures of decorations & lights come Friday's post.

November 26, 2020 

Thanksgiving Day

For the laughter of the children, for my own life breath, for the roof over our heads, the clothes on our backs, for our health, and our wealth of blessings, for this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends online, for the freedom to pray these words without fear in this great country, whose landscape is as vast and beautiful as her inhabitants. 

Thank you, God, for giving us all these. Amen.

Began the day with a little Alice's Restaurant

compliments of a text from Matt.

Watched the parade with Kayla & Melissa

then joined by Matt & Lorna

followed by our west coasters Mike & Sarah.

Picked up our dinner from the lodge restaurant

and discovered 

Southern egg gravy

It was good, as was the turkey, waldorf salad, veggie salad,

but my favorite was the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows.

The cornbread dressing was not to my liking but Jim enjoyed it.

You can tell from out empty plates we ate it all up.

We have enough for an entire second meal.

And maybe a third as we didn't even touch the ham yet.

There will be apple pie in a bit, still full currently.

The RV must have had wonderful aromas as a bird flew in.

At first I thought the movement was a shadow 

but then I realized that a bird was in the RV.

We had the screen door closed but the middle plastic slide piece was open.

That's all it took for the small bird to zip on in.

I went to the door to open it all the way and Jim did his best to 

encourage the bird to fly out, 🐤which it did.

No bird poop or evidence of his visit, phew.

Today's weather is picture perfect, sunny and cool.

We took a stroll to burn a couple of calories.

I took another lap after I had a slice of apple pie.

And found this snake on my path among the pine needles.

and so the sun sets on another beautiful day.

November 27, 2020

It's cloudy but pleasant today.  Notre Dame plays early this afternoon

so a hike up at Joplin Campground this morning.

It's a repeat but the lake views are great from there.

A picnic table bench allowed me to be taller than Jim in this photo

Lake view from Joplin campground.

An awesome turtle shaped burl on a Lob Lolly Pine.

Some ducks out on the lake.

And now a video, to demonstrate what a peaceful place this is.

While outside watching the ND game some deer came 

to munch on the grass behind our campsite.

Seven deer in all.  They are very good at staring back at us,

and ultimately decided we were not dangerous and kept eating.

GO IRISH! 

After the football game we headed to the lodge area to see SANTA

There were cookies for everyone

and hot cider.

Santa staging in a CoVid year.

A shield can't keep Santa from hearing your Christmas wishes.

Lights on the cabins across the water

Santa's reindeer and sleigh

Manger Scene

Mailbox for Letters to Santa

carefully watched by this elf.

flamingo santa

November 28, 2020

It's time to hike the Denby Trail

won't you join us

Sign noting Lake Ouachita Vista Trail

"Built over the last 10 or 15 years on both Corps of Engineers and US Forest Service land, the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT) covers 40 plus miles of shoreline and ridge top tiding. A favorite for both mountain bikers and distance runners alike."

Denby and Tompkins Bend are pieces of the Vista Trail

Right at the beginning a sign noting the age of this big old tree

Southern Red Oak approx 188-234 yrs old

Then some tree elves had set up this menagerie in a tree.

The trail is forested but being Fall plenty of daylight

on this blue sky day.

The trail is dry but we had several places that crossed water.

Here is a log serving as makeshift bridge 1

From the trail we can see another marina on the lake.

This lake has a lot of boats that call it home.

Further down the trail we come across

a second log to help us avoid this puddle.

Here is a video that shows a non water obstruction on the trail.

And some more trail video.

That leads to sunset point.

And since I can't download a panoramic photo

A video from sunset point so you can see from left to right.

A little further down the trail and it is a 

series of rocks makes up makeshift bridge 3

The trail turns and uses a service road

lined with young pine trees for bit.

An actual wood bridge is the 4th water crossing.

I am sure this trail in Spring has a lot more water on it.

And all this leads to Denby Point.

With a nice little bench to sit at and take in the view.

And finally a grand 5th bridge to go over water.

A great view over the marsh area out to the lake.

A peek at the deck area on the ADA bridge over the marsh.

And all that brings us back to the old Southern Red Oak

Thanks for joining us on our hike.

November 29, 2020

It's a rainy Sunday here today.  We will most likely have an indoor day

watch some football, a Hallmark movie, more football.

Jim is routing out our trip. Tomorrow we leave for a two day 

trip to Galveston Island where we will stay for the month of December.

Our stopover will be in Carthage, TX for an overnight, just a 

halfway point to break up the long drive.

Next post should have a photo of the Gulf of Mexico.

Until then stay well.