It appears the old saw “time and tide waits for no man” is actually true. As recently as last month I thought it wouldn’t happen, but I actually turned 40 years old. I’m dealing with it, but it’s going to take some time. To commemorate the august occasion, Gina booked a couple nights at Lookout Point Lakeside Inn, a nice B&B in Hot Springs.
Accommodation review: Nestled on the shore of Lake Hamilton, Lakeside Inn provides the comforts of a luxury hotel in a relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere. Each of the rooms is named after a town in Arkansas. The owners picked the names to convey relaxation and a sense of country life. (They eschewed my personal favorites: Bald Knob, Oil Trough, and Blue Ball.) My companion and I stayed in Evening Shade. The king-size bed was draped with super-soft sheets (Egyptian cotton perhaps) and the bathroom contained a glorious two-headed shower. Other amenities included a whirlpool tub, a separate toilet room and a fainting couch. Large windows provided a view of the lake. (I think all the rooms have lake views.) Couple of weird things: the television was tiny and we had to sign some kind of contract promising we wouldn’t smoke on the property under penalty of $500. Soft drinks, ice and breakfast are included in the rather pricey accommodations. We opted to sleep both Saturday and Sunday mornings in lieu of having breakfast.
We went to Branson to visit Abby’s Mimi and Papa about a month ago. We’ve been to Branson many times because Gina’s parents live there, but we hardly ever do any Bransony type stuff. We made a mini-vacation out of this trip so we thought it would be appropriate to bite the Branson fruit and let the nectar run down our faces. Gina’s mom works at a big resort and she got us a very nice suite to stay in. The place has several swimming pools so Abby was pretty happy about that. A huge draw in Branson is the World’s Largest Banjo. As you can see in the picture the neck goes all the way out the window.
I love me some Dukes of Hazzard, so you can imagine my delight to see this Cooter’s outlet just down the street from our hotel. Abby did not share my excitement at getting my picture taken with the General Lee.
We wrapped our adventures in Natchez by dining at the Castle restaurant on the grounds of Dunleith. For some reason we were expecting an exceptional dining experience, but all we got was average for a nice restaurant. We got off to a bad start when the waitress informed us the kitchen was out of filet mignon, which is both Gina’s and my go-to dish when we want to put on the fancy.
We woke up Saturday to cool temperatures, something we hadn’t expected just two days ago when the forecast called for springlike weather in Natchez. The forecast had taken a turn for the cold by the time we left Friday evening, so we packed coats, scarves and long underwear. I’m a hater of the cold, but I decided not to bitch about it like I normally would. This trip is for Gina’s 40th birthday and I didn’t want to ruin things like I normally would.
After a pretty long drive through deepest darkest Arkansas and Louisiana, we arrived at Dunleith, our antebellum home in Natchez, Miss., for the next 36 hours.
Team Jackass reunited for some geocaching on Saturday, this time in the rugged terrain of the Ozarks. Team members were able to overcome the heat, humidity and elevation changes, but six miles of bad road felled the team’s elder statesman. While he was attempting to recover from a punishing case of car sickness, the other members scaled Round Top Mountain near Jasper, Ark., to claim a cache called Knife Edge.
I didn’t document the expedition very well. I think the pressure of topping last year’s film got to me. I didn’t take many pictures and the footage I captured on video is mostly people walking through the jungle-like terrain. I got a decent shot of the sisters, though, and one of Katie examining the goodies in the cache.
We’re spending the weekend at Creek’s End Riverside Retreat in the middle of BFE. West of Parthenon, Ark., down a rough-as-a-cob road. Cabin is very nice, but we can’t figure out how to hook up the Wii to the Dish Network box. Amazingly, this place has high-speed Internet. Grabbed a shot of star trails over the cabin. Inside lights and Christmas lights strung around the outside were way too bright, and I don’t think I got the focus right. Exposure was 20 minutes at f/10.
For those of you interested in Yampa war stories, I found this trip report this morning: Desolation Dory Blog. Lots of great pics and narrative.
I also found a new YouTube video of a raft flipping in Warm Springs on May 30.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQNnFYJJffM&hl=en]