Lobster and blues

We enjoy blues music and decided to give some support to the Spa City Blues folks by attending the 3rd annual lobster cookout complete with fun people and good music (CloverBlue from Little Rock) - a winning combination.

Not enough good things can be said about David who does so much to promote the blues in Hot Springs.

Now this is what I am talking about!

The recently upgraded farmers' market is a perfect place to hold an event like this and I hope we will see more going on down near the transportation depot (the old train station) in the future.

With our bellies full and our heads full of music we headed back to Crystal Springs.

Crystal Springs

We were so enjoying the beautiful weather and the camping experience that we decided to move over to Crystal Springs, a Corps of Engineers' campground also on Lake Ouachita. Don went with us - OH! where is Don?

We had a lot of laughs as we always do. 

Don couldn't believe the steep and winding dirt mountain that we were caching our way along until we reached the summit. We did want to share a view of Lake Ouachita with him.

We even convinced Arkekey to come geocache with us one day.

We loved site #53 and our view of the lake filled with plenty of privacy. Most of the campers seemed to be there for turkey season.

We got out the old camping equipment and burned some grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire with the back log.

I even tried my hand at some chicken pot pie in the dutch oven. 

It was still quite chilly at night and we sure enjoyed our fires!

Swagville 2012

April 13 provided a new twist to the 3rd annual SWAG (Southwest Arkansas Geocachers) event. For the second year in a row this was held at Jessieville, north of Hot Springs. Friday the 13th provided the theme for most of the events. Enter if you dare!

Mike, Sandy, Kay, Kay, and Sharon are ready for folks to show up. We had a nice turnout; not a huge group, but a good group of cachers.

There were prizes, and drawings, and games, and from the look on Layne's face a pretty good lunch.

Don seems happy in the back of the pickup accompanying the other cachers on a hayride; where else but down the main haul road, an old logging road once used by Weyerhauser.

After everyone was exhausted from a day of caching we had a hot dog roast and marshmallows. Some went on a night cache but we went back to the campground.

Lake Ouachita State Park

We decided to go north and camp near Jessieville for our annual geocaching event. Lake Ouachita State Park is much closer and it would be fun to pick up some of the other caches in the area. We were excited to learn that our friend, Don, would be coming down from Tulsa and camping with us.

Much of our time was spent geocaching in the area. Leon likes to climb in the rocks so he went after this one.

Don, stay in there while I log this for you.

Don relaxes around the campfire after a long day in the woods. The weather was chilly at night and pleasant during the day - perfect for camping!

From the end of our point in the tent area was this morning view of Lake Ouachita. I think it must be magnificent at sunset but we never seemed to return in time to capture it.

Once in awhile someone would leave us a reminder that we are still in Arkansas.

This is typical of some of the dirt roads through the Ouachita National Forest. 

Three Sister Springs is in an area homesteaded by John McFadden in 1875 and named for his 3 daughters. The three different springs are thought to heal different maladies. Later the area, about 12 miles north of Hot Springs, included cottages, a bottling plant, and a springhouse. This is now in the state park on land leased from the Corps of Engineers.

Yep, we are still in Arkansas.

Petit Jean

We made a daytrip to Petit Jean State Park, the first state park in Arkansas and one of my favorites. It was Leon's first time to view the Arkansas River Valley from atop the mountain.

There are lots of hiking trails but since it was a hot day we chose the shorter ones; such as, this hike to across the turtle rocks to the rock house.

There was a also a nice short hike down to the Cedar Falls overlook. The last time I camped here I made the steep hike down to the base of the falls. With all the recent rain, there was quite a good volume of water flowing.

The woods were such a lush spring green as seen in this view from the rock house. 

Play ball

Reid's team came to Hot Springs for a tournament. I believe we went to five games in two days - I lost count! Reid shows his form on the pitcher's mound.

So does he hit it or not?

Kay and I enjoyed lunch on the bleachers. I believe this was the first 90 degree day of the year! 

Jaycee Park in Hot Springs hasn't changed much over the years but I believe this is the spot where the swimming pool once was, or close, anyway.

The champions were a little surprised to get posters instead of trophies!