Relatively Speaking - A Visit From My Sister

Bluff Near Sam's Throne

A Stroll Through Maplewood Cemetery

It is early December and winter is in the air. The Thanksgiving turkey has been consumed and all the hyped up shopping days are behind us. We are anticipating our first light snow this weekend, hopefully it will not be a bad storm.  It has been over a month since I last updated this site, and my apologies to my faithful readers. I have been quite busy and unable to turn my attention here. 

It was with great delight that I welcomed my older sister and a friend to Harrison for a weeks visit. She has been here before but only in the springtime and she wanted to see the fall colors if possible. She came the last week of October and while the color change was underway we were about a week away from full color. They arrived on Monday and I had them over for a spaghetti dinner, then we made our plans for the week. Over the years my sister has had some back issues and is unable to walk over rough terrain so I wanted to find places where we could walk without her suffering back pain. Before dinner we took a short 20 minute drive to the old Haggard Ford Bridge. 
On Tuesday we took a trip into town to do a bit of shopping and then went downtown to take a walk in the park. It is alongside Crooked Creek which flows through the park and the trail follows it.
Crooked Creek is a famous fishing stream here in Northwest Arkansas. It was a sunny and warm day and we enjoyed the walk. Once we got to the end of the "lake" we sat and listened to the creek make its way out of the downtown area.  After leaving downtown we went up to the Maplewood Cemetery to see how far along the color change was. This is always a benchmark test. Once we got up there we noticed that just over half the trees had turned, the other half were still either green or just starting to turn. We figured it was about a week yet till full color.
Wednesday we decided to eat at The Cliff House, one of the local restaurants that overlook the Arkansas Grand Canyon. It was a terrific view and the meal was not bad either. Then I drove us over to one of our favorite summertime swimming holes. You can access it through a opening in the fence. It is in the park so it is OK to walk there. We have walked extensively through these fields on warm fall days and find it most enjoyable. It was maybe a quarter mile of flat field to the river and I fell back a little to let them discover the area on their own. It is quite a beautiful spot and the swimming hole remains fresh and clean through most of the year due to the springs that feed this place and the current that usually keeps flowing here.
We returned to town after a delightful afternoon and went to eat at the Western Sizzler, which readers will know is one of my favorite places to eat in Harrison. My sister and friend were staying at the Hampton Inn which was quite convenient since the Western Sizzler back entrance to their parking lot is right across the street, so you can walk there if you want to.  Folks staying at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites enjoy the same location.
Thursday was sort of grey and drizzling when we started out. We thought we would drive down to Jasper and visit a few of the artist studios that are located there, but when we got there they were all closed. The trip was not wasted because we ate at the Ozark Cafe, another favorite restaurant of ours. Great food and very good service. One the way home I decided we should stop at Pruitt and check out the area. There were no other vehicles there and it was pleasant to have the place to ourselves. The picnic area is a large one, able to handle a big crowd.  Pruitt is a major canoe and kayak put in and take out point so it can get very busy. We followed a trail down to the river then along the bank which paralleled the bluff line. There were some large trees down in the river as a result of the big spring flood. The same flood that wiped out part of the Mill Creek trail. It was not exactly flat and it was a tad difficult for my sister but she made it with flying colors. When finished we wandered home via the back roads. Later than evening my sister and her friend wanted to go eat but I was still full from lunch, so they made their way to Neighbor's Mill Bakery & Cafe. They reported that the food was excellent and the service was also.

I really enjoyed this visit by my sister and friend. It was so good to see them both again. The weather was very cooperative and while the colors were not peak they did improve every day that they were here. My sister even commented that they could see the color change day by day. The Ozarks are a wonderful place to invite relatives or friends to explore. There is a variety of terrain to match most anyone's capabilities and physical abilities and of course, the Buffalo River National Park, the wilderness areas and the national forests in our area are simply beautiful.