Dogwood Canyon

Last Wednesday we took a trip to Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, built by the founder of Bass Pro Shops. It's a beautiful 23,000 acre park set in a canyon (duh) that borders Missouri and Arkansas. They offer two hour tram rides through the park, which we took. Following are a few of the beautiful sights throughout the park.

The first of many bridges we crossed.

This is a chapel along the way where weddings and other special events are held.

This is the view out the back of the chapel.

This is a herd of elk they keep in the park.

They sure are friendly......

As well as Bison.

They also keep a few Texas longhorns.

We cross this covered brdge as we leave the trail.

It was a fun and beautiful trip through the canyon.

Ron & Barb

A bit of Arkansas

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon and 70 degrees......WOW, what a change in the weather! The rain is desperately needed in these parts as the Table Rock Lake is down about six feet from normal.Considering it's a lake of about 45,000 acres, that's a lot of water.

We've been to a few more shows since my last post, but they all seem to be running together. I know they were generally very good, though. Our entire group of volunteers went to dinner one evening and later went to a '60's Hits' show, which I remember being very good. I think they all enjoyed it also.

One afternoon we went to Branson Landing where they have 'dancing waters' shows every evening, and also many shops. It's a 'Mandy' paradise. We'll be visiting there again before we leave. Very Nice!

One day last week we took a day trip into northern Arkansas. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was impressive, very much like the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. Of course, I took lots of pictures, which I've attached. Enjoy!

Just outside Harrison, AR is this old abandoned amusement park called Dogpatch. It is being overgrown with trees and brush, but you can see enough of it that it looks like a ghost town. This was the entrance.....notice the warning.

This is a dam with a bridge on it and the remains of a tower for a water ride.

Would you walk on this old footbridge?

This is part of a train track that ran thru the park.

One of the many abandoned buildings on the property.

After leaving the ghost town, we headed toward Jasper, AR and stopped at this bakery for made-from-scratch pastries.

There is also this antique and junk shop in Jasper.....Ann, this one's for you. ;)

Route 7 out of Jasper was closed due to the road collapse from flooding last year, so we took a more scenic route toward Eureka Springs, AR.

We went into the Buffalo River National park for lunch where there were also riding stables.

After lunch we headed to Boxley, AR to see the elk.

After touring around the quaint little hillside town of Eureka Springs, we found this little restaurant. The food was quite good and the folks who ran it were great.

Then it was time to head back to Branson after 9 hours of touring around. It looked like another beautiful sunset coming up, so down to the lake to see it.

A sunset shot of our'office'.

Bye for now.

Ron & Barb

August......continued

Hello again. We're having a 'cool' spell today, only 96 degrees here in the middle of the afternoon. Mornings have been cooler lately with temps in the mid-upper 60's. Tomorrow is only supposed to be 84......break out the jeans. ;) Hope this is a trend.

We've been busy with shows and a picnic. Last week one of the performers of the group SIX pulled his jet ski trailer into our campground with a bad trailer bearing. A couple of the guys helped him unhook and let him keep the traler here till he could get around to fixing it. Earlier this week he came back with a backup trailer and the guys helped him move the jet skis to it so he could take the broken trailer to get fixed. He was grateful for the help and suggested a picnic here to pay us back. He brought the steaks, the rest of us chipped in with the drinks and salads, etc and Tuesday evening we had a very nice picnic.

Here's the volunteer gang

And here's Kevin and his wife from the group SIX

Last night we went with Bob and Terri, fellow volunteers, to see SIX. We had seen them last year when we were here, but this was a mostly new show, and they were FANTASTIC!! Definitely a MUST SEE show when in Branson! The theatre was almost full, but Kevin got us seats in the VIP section. We bought a DVD to show everyone how really good they are when we get home.

Earlier in the day we went to see Keith Allyn, a Neil Diamond tribute artist. We had also seen his show last year, but returned again because he is just GREAT! Lynn and Barry, fellow volunteers, were also there. After the show we had lunch and then on to the Buffterfly Palace. It's a really neat place and I've attached a few pics.

There were also some birds in there sharing the food.

This one is a 'Honey Creeper'

And what Butterfly Palace would be complete without an Elvis butterfly......

Today we have nothing going on as of yet, but that may change. Barb has been looking for shows, so we may end up at one tonight.

Anyway, I leave you with another sunset over the lake.....wish you were here.

Ron & Barb

August

It's been about a week since I last posted, so I'll catch you up with what's been happening.

Here it is August already. Time sure flies when you're having fun and we ARE enjoying ourselves. We work, go to shows, we shop and just drive around enjoying the scenery. We had some excitement last Wednesday when around 3pm I noticed smoke coming from a condo across the lake from the visitor center. Since we were working, we had a front row seat. It started out small in about the middle of the complex, but slowly spread its ugly fingers to the rest of it. In the end it was completely destroyed as the firefighters fought increasing winds and a couple thunderstorms. It was a terrible sight to see. I've attached a pic taken a couple hours after it started.

Barb and I decided to volunteer next year for September and October. Hopefully the heat will be gone, or at least on its way out, by then. Would be nice to be able to sit outside more often and just get outside more. We've also decided to head to Alabama and North Carolina when we leave here the end of August. It'll only add about another 500 miles to our trip home. Thought we'd take the opportunity to visit our good friends again at a reduced cost. ;) We also are going to try to meet, in person, internet friends who live in Tennessee. They preceeded us here at the visitor center and have been in touch with them since I made a computer desk for them a year or two ago. Looking forward to meeting them.

Growing around an oak tree at the corner of our campsite is this trumpeter vine with lily type flowers on it.

Well, that about brings us up to date. Don't know what we'll be doing later, but I'm sure it involves another show. BTW, last night we went to see show #16....the Acrobats of China, and it is truly amazing what those folks can do. My hands were sore from clapping. Afterwards, the performers, about 30 of them, lined up in the lobby for a meet and greet session. Few, if any, spoke English, but we thanked them for their talents. Most of them were very young and looked like children. I believe they understand 'Thank You' though.

I sure hope someone is reading this blog. There are still unanswered questions on the previous post.

Talk to you again soon.

Barb & Ron