Welcome to my on-line newsletter about the Buffalo National River, the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and Harrison, my home town. It is always under construction! Greetings from the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. Wow, what a great start to spring! Our weather has been just terrific and those of you who have been able to visit our area have enjoyed spectacular weather as well as some of the most colorful spring dogwood and redbud displays in recent years. The wildflowers are out in force and it is a joy to just wander around in the woods and along the river and creeks, seeing the brilliant displays of color.

An Erbie Excursion

One of my very favorite areas of the Buffalo National River Park is the Erbie Area. For one, it is close to my home and second, it offers a wide variety of opportunities for swimming, hiking, camping, horseback riding, and just plain exploring. Recently a new vacation rental home, Buffalo River Retreat, has opened for business in this area and in early April I had a chance to stay there, along with my hiking partner Adventure Bill. Our host for the weekend was Susan McSherry and she met me on Friday afternoon and gave me a tour of the property, wished us a good weekend and departed. Bill was gonna drive out after work, so I had a couple hours by myself to get unpacked and relax. Buffalo River Retreat sits on 20 acres of land with a small creek running through the property. There is a very nice, cut lawn and a pond stocked with fish (catch and release.) The home is a two story structure and ideally suited for couples or families who want easy access to outdoor activities and a very comfortable place to rest and relax.

As I waited for Bill I wandered around the house, deck and the lower patio trying to decide whether or not to take the master bedroom upstairs or the one downstairs. I settled for the upstairs bedroom because it was closer to the kitchen and the food.

The upper level of the house features a master bedroom with an attached bathroom and another nice bedroom with easy access to a second bath. The rest of the upper level has a very open design featuring a full kitchen, dining area and living room with satellite TV service and DVD/VCR as well as a stereo. Outside the front, double french doors is a huge sun deck, perfect for catching some rays, eating a meal outside, or watching the sunset and stars in the evening.

Once Bill arrived, he chose the downstairs bedroom. The lower level at Buffalo River Retreat is also an open design with its own lounge area, complete with a seperate satellite TV service and DVD/VCR plus stereo. A comfortable queen bed and a twin bed sit off in one part of the room and just a couple steps away is another bathroom! This room is cool in the summer and from it you can walk directly onto the shade patio, where chairs, table and a gas BBQ grill await. Throughout our stay, we made extensive use of both the sun and the shade porches.

After we got Bill all moved in downstairs and all our food put away in the kitchen, we decided to take a quick look around the huge yard before making supper. My knee was aching pretty good so I hobbled about following Bill as he checked out the place. We both commented on how perfect the yard was for kite flying and hitting practice golf shots. We had easy access to the creek and decided that on Saturday, depending on how my knee felt, we would explore it a bit. We returned to the house for a light supper. The kitchen was well provisioned with all modern appliances including a bread machine! After supper we spent the evening watching the sun set and the stars come out. The weather was quite nice and we only needed light jackets to stay warm, well I had a glass of medicinal whiskey and a coke (just to ward off any possible chill.) We spent quite a bit of time that evening on the deck. I finally retired into the upper living room to watch some highlights from the recent PGA golf tournament while Bill headed downstairs to watch a movie on the other TV. We really liked the layout, being able to enjoy the days together but having the ability to have completely seperate areas in the evenings. I think this would be really nice for those who want to maybe spend a week vacationing in the Ozarks with another couple and not get on each others nerves.

Early the next morning I got up and went out on the sun deck for morning coffee. Later that morning Bill got up. We made ourselves a nice breakfast and then decided to walk up and down the creek, seeing how far we could get each way and what we could see. We decided to head up the creek first, then turn around and head down until we got tired of walking and taking pictures. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm with just a hint of a breeze to keep you cool. We traversed the creek, hopping on the rocks and skirting along the banks of this little creek until we reached some cross fencing. Along the way we found a set of small waterfalls.

We followed the creek for awhile until it seemed to get flat and featureless, so we turned back and headed to the kitchen for some lunch. After lunch we sat on the sun porch for awhile and when it got too hot we switched to the shade porch below. The shade and the wind were welcome and after a while Bill dug out a few golf clubs from his trunk. He had four balls and we each took two and started hitting them around the yard. I sailed one into the pond, and then Bill sent another one splashing. We figured we better aim the other way, and we spent some more time hitting the balls out into the yard. Eventually we lost all but one of them! We are not great golfers, but it was fun to swing the lob wedge for a bit. I suggest that if you are gonna hit some shots, bring glow in the dark golf balls, so when you loose them in the afternoon, they can absorb the sunshine, then in the early evening you can go out and simply pick them up!

We finished the afternoon and evening switching between the two decks, finally ending up on the upper deck looking at the stars again. We watched the Big Dipper rotate around the North Star and Orion make its way into the sky. In the distance we could hear an owl hooting away, letting us know all was well in the Erbie Valley. Bill headed downstairs to watch some tv before bed while I decided to sit up for awhile on the deck and enjoy the star show. I did see a shooting star before I retired to the master bedroom and an excellent nights sleep. Sunday morning we rose, had breakfast, cleaned up our respective areas and then headed back to Harrison, regretfully leaving Buffalo River Retreat behind.