I have always said that life is too short to get up in the morning and go to a job you do not enjoy. Tom has been doing this for quite a while now. But the tipping point came about when the company owner's young son-in-law laid out a new plan in which salaries were cut in half, then implemented a commission based pay scale instead. Shortly after, Tom gave his notice. After more than 16 years working there, Tom let them know that this new program was not a good fit for him. His last day there would be the end of September.
So the third week of September we went on a vacation! Yeah!
Our first stop on this vacation was to check out our adopted section on the Ouachita Trail, which is about an hour north of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. We watched the sunrise on the drive north as it rained on us some but the rain stopped about the time we made to the Big Cedar Trailhead.
Our adopted section of trail did not require a lot of trimming or lopping and we were so proud that there was not any litter along the way or at the parking area! We soon made it to the end of our adopted section and stopped for a break before we turned around and headed back down the mountain.
I love looking up thru the tall canopy of trees!
And the views along the trail are awesome!
As always we had to rock hop across Big Cedar Creek which was flowing good due to the recent rain.
After we finished maintaining our 2+ mile section of the Ouachita Trail, just for fun we drove up to the Talimena Scenic Drive and over to the Winding Stair Mountain Trailhead where we left our car and walked the mile up to the top of Winding Stair Mtn. where Tom placed a rock onto the massive rock cairn.
We then walked over to the Winding Stair Shelter to rest for a few minutes and have a snack.
We were sad to see how "grown up/weedy" it was around the shelter!
Next we drove over to the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge which sits atop Rich Mountain (3,000 feet above sea level) where we had a reservation for the night.
The first lodge was built in 1898 by the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad and was designed as a mountain retreat for passengers on the line. The three story structure became known as the "Castle in the Sky". Several years later it fell into ruin. In 1957 the area was acquired for development as a state park, a new lodge was completed in 1963, destroyed by fire in 1973, but a new lodge was built by 1975 and operated for three decades before closing for a short few months for a major renovation resulting in how it is today.
The Queen Wilhelmina Miniature Train was operating when we arrived but we did not ride on it. Maybe next time.
The lodge was really awesome!
The rooms were spacious with all modern amenities as you would expect in a 4-5 star hotel.
We even saw a black bear! Yikes! In the lobby!
The following morning we made our way further eastward into the mountainous terrain of northwestern Arkansas. Our next stop was at Mount Magazine to check out the scenery and the Lodge.
The Lodge atop Mount Magazine is much, much larger than the one at Queen Wilhelmina.
There are awesome views from the Lodge.
Inside it was very spacious but also with a cozy feel. Definitely a place we might visit again sometime.
The mountain road leading up to and away from the Lodge was bordered with an array of wildflowers.
We left there and headed eastward to Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas's very first State Park.
We booked a campsite, got our tent set up with our cots and sleeping bags inside, and decided to go for a short walk. We headed over to the Cedar Falls Overlook Trail. {Tomorrow we will actually hike down the canyon to the bottom of Cedar Falls.}
I sure thought I took a photo of our tent set up but guess what, I just thought I did, but I did not. Duh!
However I did take a photo the following morning of my little 4-cup percolator plugged into the electrical outlet at our campsite! Ahhhh...luxury in the woods! EVERY campsite in Petit Jean State Park has water and electric. Nice.
Even though it was warmer than we would have liked for camping, we both slept well. We enjoyed breakfast at our campsite and then decided to walk the paved bike/hike path.....
.....and saw this unusual mushroom!......
to the Petit Jean Lodge to access the Cedar Falls Trail. We then headed down the steep trail to the base of Cedar Falls.
.....more about that in my next post.........
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