I realize it's been quite here lately. The end of the school year was not only exhausting, but I developed a cold that turned into a two week long sinus infection.
Then we wandered off after school ended to spend a week in Mountain View, Arkansas. Last year we loved it, this year Elliot and I tried to convince Jeremy he needed to buy us a cabin here. Basically what I've learned is that my happy place is zone 7b and up. I can not vacation in the tropics, we live in the tropics. Take me to the Ozark's.
Gunner Pool is a small rec area stretching along a stretch of the North Sylamore Creek. All camping is primitive, which is why you won't find us camping here. We shall be cabin people in this area.
The water is absolutely clear and no more than chest deep in the deepest area. I've heard that when the water is higher (early spring) that you can float from Gunner Pool to the Blanchard Springs area.
Over the next few vacation blog posts I want y'all to play a game of "who took that photo?" I'm going to break down and offer a photo lecture to my fellow family members. I love y'all, but photos just ain't ya thing.
Theres a sections of the creek here that starts to trail back off into the wooded area and the rock set up is either man made or naturally formed, who knows. But the water rushes through it and it's perfect for little people wanting some fun.
These areas remind me a lot of how I grew up in Vidalia/Natchez. It feels close enough of our camp life in Monterey and summers spent swimming on the Homochitto River in Franklin County Mississippi. One of my goals this summer is to find the Low Water Bridge area with the kids when we go to Vidalia. The hidden aspect of Gunner Pool feels a lot like Low Water on the Natchez Trace.
This far south it feels like we are missing a lot of the swimming hole aspect of where Jeremy and I grew up, and I think that is what continually has me wanting to take the kids to these areas. I want the boys to know the fun and simplicity of hanging out by a creek with your ice chest full of snacks and playing all day.
Isn't that bluff just gorgeous.
My poor little terrified of fish and butterflies child. He swore the butterflies at Gunner Pool weren't going to terrify him this year. That was an inaccurate statement as he went straight to the spot they all hang out and then proceeded to scream bloody murder.
I bought the kids the tubes and myself the blue float. As you can see it didn't work out well. That cheap blue float wouldn't hold air and the second I sat on it I went straight into the icy creek water. I quickly abandoned my float and hijacked one of the tubes.
I think that above photo was part of an Elliot rescue mission when he once again realized that animals lived outside. He is kind of like his mother in that sense. I'm great as long as I don't think of what is in the water, hence my constant desire for clear water.
The joys of being in a cooler weather area, and also why we camp the last week of May every year. I drank my coffee outside in the cool air every morning while reading the coffee books at our AirB&B. Expect me to share some of what I found over the course of the summer.
The boys enjoyed listening to the birds every morning, there was quite a bit of chatter and woodpecker noise. There was a little sparrow living in a bird house on the porch that we got to watch. The most interesting was a huge turkey vulture that showed up and was communicating with the other big vultures in nearby trees.
Dill was informed to be on the lookout. 😆
We toasted some marshmallows and looked for more lightning bugs that night. Which I really need to improve my bug identification because the braconid wasps on the stumps were in fact not a lightning bug and I quickly abandoned catching one. 😬
A dear friend of ours gave Harry a big pack of Reese's cups for being Student of the Week, he held onto them until we got out here camping and specifically to use them as chocolate in his S'mores. I wish I had kept count of just how many he ate, and then started using Oreos instead of graham crackers.
