Sylamore Campground

 

 

Claudia Kayaking
Sadie on the Sylamore Creek

This has a busy week.  There is so much to do and see around Mountain View, Arkansas.  It been rainy all week, and that has put a slight damper on things but I have managed to have fun.  Sadie has been able to swim almost every morning at the Sylamore Creek which runs through the campground. I usually get up and knock on  John's door to see if he wants to walk with me down to the creek and we have coffee together and let Sadie swim for a long while before the WIN hugs and mugs meeting at 9:00.

Thursday we all went to Blanchard Caverns, which are by far the best caverns I have seen.  They are rated as one of the top caverns in the world and I would agree. The lightyng and presentation were spectacular. I hear  some of our  group liked them so much they took the tour a second time.  Millions of dollars have been spent preserving the caverns and providing  walkways and special lighting  so the public can enjoy them. My photos do not do them justice. 

Friday morning brought some drizzle, but that did not deter me from taking a maiden voyage in my new Kayak.  We kayaked up the creek for a while through some short rapids and continued until we came to a bridge that had rapids we couldn't paddle up.  Here we put out and portaged the kayaks a short distance then headed back down the creek through the rapids under the bridge.  I made it through the rapids without dumping.  Not bad for an old lady.  There is a video floating around somewhere of me shooting the rapids and I'm going to try and get a copy of it.  True to the continuing weather pattern it rained most of the day again.  You asked why we paddles UP the creek vs down the creek.  The creek runs into the White River and the nearest put out is about 14 miles down river.  Since the weather has been extremely uncooperative, rainy with sever thunder showers in the afternoon, we opted not to take a chance, thus a paddle up the river was the "special" of the day.  Tomorrow the weather is suppose to be sunny and we will had down river this time, that if the weather cooperates.

As a mentioned earlier, the area is known for its Folk Art.  Yesterday it poured rain all day. Not just a shower here and there but poured, cats and dogs.  So we decided to go the Ozark Folk Art Center.  This is a very interesting place.  Beware, the volunteers love their job and will talk to you at length for hours about their particular craft they are exhibiting.  One craftman makes small wooden tops and I learned all you would ever need or want to know about how to make tops and where to get the wood and spinners.  We spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon there.  I suspect if it hadn't raining so hard we would spent more  time, however, we were getting cold and were very wet even though most of the exhibits were indoors.  We also sat and listened to a folksy quartet for a long while which was much fun. All that was missing was a nice warm fire. 

Oh, I almost forgot about the night life around here.  To begin with, this is a dry county. There are no liquor stores...even Walmart doesn't sell wine.  You have to drive 18 miles to the next county to get booze, according to some of the WIN members who took the trip and forgot to invite me.  There are no alcoholic drinks sold any where.You're wondering how can there be night life without alcohol and beverages?  Its appears this county knows how. Anyway to get back to the night life.  Every night, except Sunday, there is some kind of folk dance, or folk music going on. We all  joined in the various impromptu jams and concerts and everyone one seems to enjoy the country dancing..including me believe it or not.  I've actually learned to do the two step and the country waltz.  The other night we all went to Taylor & Sons, which is a dance hall of sorts.  It has theater type seats as well as a dance floor.  This costs a grand total of $5.00 to get in.  No alcohol is served but you can get sodas and ice cream for $1.00.  Yes $1.00. The other night we went to the town square and it was raining so the events moved over to the porch of the B&B and we listened to a wonderful quartet for several hours.. free.  The muscians didn't even put out a cup for tips.  Everything is pretty reasonably priced here and I imagine it is a popular weekend spot for the folks living in Little Rock.  

Monday the weather is suppose to be partly cloudy and we are planning our "epic" trip down the White River.  More to follow along with some pictures. 

Kirt shooting the rapids through the bridge.  Claudia  and Claudia 2 look on.  Yes folks there is another Claudia here.  We call her Claudia 2 but we may end going with Claudia Sue( her name) and me as CJ or Claudia Lee. 

Claudia shooting the rapids.