Exploring our Ozark Home

For most of our vacation we stayed at a little cabin right outside of Ponca, AR population 9.  We had fun exploring in the backyard, building a fort, and roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.  It was a great central location for the hikes and fun we had.

 The Fort

Yummy

Sabrina and I went on a hike just down the street from our cabin.  We had a great time together taking selfies, flower pictures, and enjoying the beauty around us.

Zip-lines

The oldest three kids and I spent the afternoon on a Zip-Line Course through the trees.  There were 8 zips in total we went over a mile.  After getting past nerves on the first zip, all the kids did wonderfully and had a great time.  At the end we got to do some four wheeling back to the start.  Our little rover steering broke so we had to wait for another ride. What a great Adventure we had!!

 Here are a few of the zips we went on.  There was a wide variety of speed, and length. Eric is pictured on the longest one, Wendy is on the fastest one, and Zachary shows how the break system worked.  All of them let us see some gorgeous scenery.  

Whitaker Point Trail

 Whitaker Point Trail was another beautiful hike.  It went up to some bluffs and a gorgeous view.  

 On our drive home we came across some Elk.  They were beautiful animals.

That evening we roasted hot-dogs for dinner, and had yummy smores for dessert.  

 

Lost Valley Trail

Lost Valley Trail was a great hike.  We were able to see two waterfalls, a cave, and a lot of gorgeous scenery.  The weather was very kind, and it waited to rain until that evening and was a perfect temperature to hike.  A great introduction to the Ozarks.

Driving and The Gateway Arch

Fall Break (October 13-20) our family took a vacation.  We visited stopped in St Louis and Branson Mo, but spent most of our time in Arkansas, enjoying the Ozark beauty.  

Flowers from our first stop, where we ate a picnic dinner and played at the park.  Kyle had a great spanking machine going on the swings.  The kids willingly agreed and even had fun being spanked.

We began the first day of our Fall Break Family Vacation at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

We then started our long drive to Arkansas.  We made a couple hour stop at Meremac Caverns on the way.  It was a beautiful cave system.  We even saw an orange cave salamander.

Our drive was mostly on the Freeway, but it follows the route of the old Route 66.  We took a short detour so we could drive on Route 66.