Saturday, November 25, 2006

Thanksgiving 2006

We are lucky enough to be able to spend this Thanksgiving at DeGray State Park in Arkanas. This is our first stay here. It is a large park and has plenty of large trees. The fall colors are beautiful and the air is crisp.








How lucky are we to live in such a wonderful place that we can pack up and spend our holidays any where we want?











This is a quite place and there is a lot of places to explore. The friday after Thanksgiving we drove a short distance to Hot Springs.











Hot Springs, Arkansas has a beautiful historic downtown. The Hot Springs National Park include classic hotels, Victorian architecture, art studios, restaurants, nightclubs and famed Bathhouse Row. Hot Springs, AR is also the hometown of our nation's 42nd president, former President Bill Clinton.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Locked Out

We were both so excited to finally get on the road to start the annual Thanksgiving road trip. We spent two days loading the motor home with everything we needed. The most important things, being the pots and pans for preparing our holiday feast. We also need to pack plenty of stretch pants, this trip was all about eating and relaxing. We pulled out of the driveway on Sunday morning heading for Dangerfield State Park, TX. That was our first planned stop before venturing on to Lake DeGray State Park, AR. Lake DeGray is where we planned on spending our Thanksgiving holiday.

We made it to Dangerfield State park and the trees were alive with colors. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of the foliage. The park was quite. For the most part we had the place to ourselves. We walked the trails around the lake. The dogs love Dangerfield in the fall. That is the only time we walk the trails. I am terrified of snakes, copperheads are plenty here in the spring and summer months. The dogs love to explore the area and we get our exercise too. Did I mention that in the fall and winter here it is really dark at night. The trees are so tall and thick that it is so dark at night you can't see a thing without a flashlight. We discovered how dark it can be one night when the dogs decided at ten o'clock they needed a potty break before going to bed. We leashed them up and took them outside. The walk was short, it had gotten really cold and it was extremely dark. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a scary predicament. Somehow the door had locked. We were standing out in the cold with a small flashlight and no keys.


How could this have happened? How could we have just locked ourselves out? We decided to put the dogs in the car while we came up with some sort of a plan. That idea went sour in a hurry, We had locked the car earlier in the day. Dawn held the dogs while I got the ladder out of the basement compartment and checked all the windows. I felt sure that the windows would be locked. I have always been good about securing the windows at home. There were ten windows on this motor home and I checked them all. They were locked alright! It was getting colder outside and the dogs wanted back in. They were cold and it was dark. After a few minutes of discussion, we decided that I would break a window latch and crawl through to open the door. I was afraid I break the window trying to get the latch to break free. Everyone knows that everything to do with a motor home is expensive! Motor homes don't have very large openings in the windows and they are not close to the ground either. We decided I would try to break open the kitchen window latch. I pulled on the window one last time and low and behold it opened! Once it was opened I realized I would not be able to fit through it. I am not anywhere near skinny, and skinny is all that would fit through that window. We could see the keys to the motor home and the car hanging on the hook by the door. The problem was that the window I was able to get opened was a good five feet from the door. We took a moment and put our heads together and came up with a plan. I dug around in the basement compartment and found a coat hanger, walking stick and a roll of electrical tape. I straightened the hanger and taped it to the end of the walking stick. Now we have a long stick with a hook at the end of it. I stuck the stick through the window and fished to get the keys off the hook. After several attempts I had the keys on the end of the stick and was pulling them towards me when they fell to the floor. I am standing on a ladder with my head and arms through a window trying to rescue the keys and they fall to the floor! It has been a half hour since we started this fishing expedition and it is getting colder outside. I am standing on a ladder on my tip-toes with my head and arms through a window that has an opening no larger than a 22" by 14". I can't see the floor from the angle I am standing. Dawn stands on the top door step and tip-toes to see if she can see the keys. She calls out that she see the keys! She said she will give me directions on where to place the hook to retrieve the keys. I follow her directions and after another half hour of fishing we successfully hooked the keys. We didn't realize until we opened the door what a mess I had made with that walking stick. I had knocked over a rather large glass of Pepsi that was all over the carpet and cabinets. We laughed for a few minutes and then thanked God for watching after us. We decided that first thing in the morning we would be hiding a key somewhere outside in the rare event this happens again.













We made it to Lake DeGray State Park and had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

Beavers Bend State Park















The scenic beauty of Beavers Bend Resort Park makes it one of Oklahoma's most popular resort areas. This park includes a state park, Lakeview Lodge and Cedar Creek Golf Course. The crystal clear water of the lakes and rivers, as well as the 100-ft. pine trees.
If you want privacy in a natural setting with all of the comforts of home this is a great place. We took a drive up in early November just for the day. The colors of the fall foliage was great. This is a large park with a lot to offer.



















We have not camped here yet but we plan to. You can rent canoes and explore the river. They have miles of hiking trails and see the wildlife.