Hannibal Halloween

Our favorite restaurant in Hannibal


Mike's new 'do



Dancing zombies in the Hannibal parade (dancing to Thriller, of course!)

Hot Springs and back to MO

Stained glass ceiling in a bath house in Hot Springs

Stocking up on some spring water in Hot Springs

Today was our last day in Arkansas. We drove back through Mt. Ida and, naturally, had to stop at just one more rock shop. Got a cool hunk of rose quartz, which we found out comes from the Dakotas (so another roadtrip is going to be necessary!)

Headed in to Hot Springs for lunch a quick look through an old bathhouse that has been restored to how it looked in the 1910s-1930s. Looks like a fun little town, and we would love to try to the hot springs baths! But alas, had to return to Missouri today.

By the way, dead armadillo count= 16. They really are either very stupid or very slow (or both.)

Oklahoma, O.K!

Why, yes, that IS the road we are going to drive up
in a few minutes.


Pam's Hateful Hussy Cafe in Talihina, OK. (Really good!)


Heavener Rune Stone


Sunset on the Ouachita Mountains

The best vacation is when you can get up in the morning and say, "Hey let's take a drive halfway across a neighboring state just for the heck of it." We set out at about 9 am to drive "part" of the beautiful Talimena Scenic Highway. If you have never seen the Ouachita Mountains that run from about mid-Arkansas well into Oklahoma, it is worth the trip. We had no idea there were mountains this large in Arkansas. The 54 mile drive is punctuated with Vistas where you can pull off and enjoy looooonnnngg views out over the mountains. The road literally runs along top of the range, so the views are amazing. Not wanting to miss a single vista, we decided to go ahead and drive to the end of the trail in Talihina, OK. Stopped for a couple of hikes along the way. Visited a Pioneer Cemetery in the woods (haunted, of course!) Had lunch at Pam's Hateful Hussy Cafe in Talihina. We took the "low road" back towards Arkansas, but made a stop in Heavener, OK to see some runestones carved in the rock over a thousand years ago by Vikings! Very cool. Got back to Queen Wilhemina in time for a quick dinner, then headed back out on the mountain road to find a great place to watch the sunset.

More nature in the Natural State

View from Queen Wilhelmina Lodge

Queen Wilhelmina Lodge

Lake Ouachita

Mike's rock sculpture

Lake Ouachita

An early morning visitor at Rose Ann's Cabin

View from the porch in the evening.

Rose Ann's Cabin


Moving a little slowly after the crystal digging adventure, haha. Relaxed at the cabin for a little while before we had to leave Mt. Ida.

Took a drive out to Lake Ouachita and to Hickory Nut Mountain. Beautiful scenery! Had a brief encounter with some angry ants which really cleared up the saying "ants in your pants." Discovered Lake Ouachita, which reminded us a lot of the lake at Kilarney. We definitely want to come back and kayak here!

Did a little shopping at one of the MANY cool rock shops in Mt. Ida.

Next we drove up to Queen Wilhelmina State Park to the lodge where we are staying Friday and Saturday night. Kind of reminds me of a 1950's resort. The mountains are amazing, and a LOT bigger than we had expected. I really thought they'd be more like the Ozarks, but they are WAY bigger and run west to east.

At night, took a drive in van with the park ranger and some other guests out to an area to stargaze. It's amazing how much of the night sky we miss in the city!

Please excuse the crazy order of the photos above. I am still figuring out this whole blogger thing.

Crystal diggin' fun!

The big day! We headed for Arrowhead mines. The road leading up the mountain to the crystal mine was not so much a road as a several mile long rut through the forest. Scary, but fun. We were greeted at the mine by Brian, who showed us the ins and outs of digging for quartz crystals. It mostly involves getting out in the middle of a big pile of rocks (tailings) and plopping down and digging through the red dirt. One fellow digger gave us the tip to look for "black" in the red dirt, and sure enough, those were the smooth sides of big crystals. We filled egg cartons, plastic containers, and buckets with beautiful crystals! Mike traded some magnetics for some gorgeous amethyst from Uraguay.
The weather was perfect....cool and cloudy with a nice breeze. No bear sightings, but a copperhead did make a brief appearance and was chased off (not by me!!)
Hauled our treasures back to the cabin. We were tired and covered in dirt, but it was fun!

Arkansas or Bust

Decked the car out with Razorback Magnetics (we are "recycling" them by giving them to people along the way).
On the drive to Mt. Ida, we decided to take the scenic route by the Boston mountains. Apparently by "scenic" they mean old trailers and rusty cars, because we did see several of both.
Made it to Mt. Ida and checked into a darling cabin called Rose Ann's Cabin. Dinner at Mt. Ida Cafe. Tomorrow...crystal digging!!
(Pictures are in reverse order. The cabin is up at the top.)
Dead Armadillo count=12

Day 2-Springfield

Julie pulled the cart all day. Mike headed to Bass Pro Shop. After work, Julie was somehow talked into walking on this horrifying bridge that crossed over the railroad switchyard. Dinner at cute Italian restuarant called Bruno's.