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! Well we certainly did get some rain in late April and early May which brought up the river quite a bit and made floating the Buffalo quite exciting. Temperatures have returned to normal this week after a couple weeks of well above normal highs. The wonderful spring bloom of flowers is an excellent and welcome sight as is the wild azaleas now blooming. You can smell them long before you come upon them in the woods. Although the woods have grown up and it is not the best idea for you to be out bushwhacking due to the abundance of chiggers and ticks, trail hikes are still a fun part of our summertime. The Buffalo National River Trail from Ponca to Pruitt is a wonderful hike whether you do it all in one hike with camping along the way, or break it up into manageable day hikes, I think you will enjoy the experience. Sometimes, during the summer months when the river is a bit on the low side you can forgo the trail and simply walk along the river which I always enjoy very much. When it gets too hot just stop and take a dip! Mater of fact, I have a little writer's block so I think I will make my way done to the river for my first swim of the year. Will let you know how it was when I get back.

Man, oh man, oh man! What a glorious afternoon. I got down to my spring swimming spot at noon, and set up my chair. The water was low, but the sky was blue and there were white, puffy clouds floating overhead. The sun managed to shine through and there was a nice, 15 mph south wind that felt mighty good. After getting up some courage, I made my way down the gravel bar and into the water. Brrrr....it was still cold but after splashing around and getting used to it, I dived in! Very invigorating! I spent the whole afternoon there, alternating between catching some rays in the full sun and dipping into the clear, cold..um I mean invigorating...water. I did see about six or seven canoes heading downriver and the folks in them sure looked like they were enjoying the day also.

Paradise In Ponca

In Ponca, on the upper section of the Buffalo National River, sits one of the finest, architecturally stunning vacation rentals I have ever had the pleasure of staying in. The owners, Scott and Andrea Arend, had contacted me and asked if I would like to spend a few nights at Cedar Crest Lodge and I jumped at the chance to see this beautiful home.

Cedar Crest Lodge is a three story, hardwood and stone, luxury vacation home. Scott and Andrea met me and gave me a quick tour of the place, then helped me bring in all my stuff (I usually bring along way too much junk) into the lodge. There are four completely seperate bedroom suites, each with it's own master bath and a two person jacuzzi tub! As I made my initial walk through I could see that the craftsmanship on this building was superb, with a huge, unique, winding staricase that leads from the Great Room upto the second level.

There is a huge fireplace in one corner of the Great Room with large, two story windows flanking it. Glass doors on both sides lead onto the big deck whick spans the entire back of the building and across the creek. Two of the four bedroom suites are on the first level and two more are on the second level, insuring quite a bit of privacy for the large groups that this place can handle. Each of the bedroom suites has its own sitting room (with a fold out sofa that can double as a bed) and it's own private screened in porch with two chairs and a hammock. Since the lodge itself is a non-smoking building these porches are set up for those who smoke. As mentioned above each bedroom suite also has a brilliantly designed bathroom with jacuzzi tub, shower, and a large changing area.

One of the really cool things about this place is the use of wood. In my bathroom, in the tub area, all the plumbing is run through a hugh cedar log giving the apperance of this tree growing right out of the floor AND the water came out it's trunk! Just one of the very interesting details about this place that is very hard to get a good picture of.

The second level of Cedar Crest Lodge has a extremely large area set aside for various activities as well as the two upper bedroom suites. There is an area for reading, for playing chess, for just sitting and thinking, and of course a TV area, complete DVD/CD player and full satellite services (although the TV in this area was set up with parental control ON, and as such was safe for kids to use). The open design and the full skylight above made this area a pleasure to spend time in. Everywhere there were large cedar trunks used as main beams and support for this home. It is a beautiful use of natural resources found in the Ozarks.