Last week we took a short trip to eastern Arkansas and, after that, over to northeast Kentucky.

Our first campground was at Village Creek State Park.  The park is located on Crowley’s Ridge, a geologic anomaly of rolling hills in eastern Arkansas’s Mississippi Alluvial Plain. 

With five trails totaling 7 miles, we had hoped to spend one day in the park doing some hiking.

Unfortunately, there was some kind of gnats hatching out.  After taking one walk the first evening where we couldn’t get away from them, we decided to alter our plans and check out some of the other parks in the area. 

The first day, we went to Parkin State Archeological Park and Jacksonport State Park.  The next day, we drove over to Memphis and spent a few hours at Mud Island.  I’ll be posting more on these as I get the photo gallery set up for each one.

The last evening that we were there and the next morning before we left, we didn’t have much problem with insects at all.

Our next destination was Paducah, Kentucky, so that Karen could go to the annual Paducah Quilt Show.  Karen has several posts on her blog from the quilt show:

• The Quilt Show
• More from Paducah
• Second Day in Paducah
• Back from Paducah
• Our Last Day in Paducah (Saturday)

A couple of weeks ago, we took a drive down to Hot Springs to visit Garvan Woodland Gardens.

(Click on any of the images
to view larger version)

We’ve been in Arkansas for nearly 30 years and this was the first time we had visited this wonderful attraction.

Photos from the visit are included in my newest photo gallery, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The Garvan Woodland Gardens is a botanical garden  in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA. The 210 acre garden is owned by the University of Arkansas and open almost every day during daylight hours, for a fee.

The gardens are situated on a wooded peninsula with 4.5 miles of shoreline on Lake Hamilton. The gardens feature rocky inclines reminiscent of the surrounding Ouachita Mountains, floral landscapes, streams, and waterfalls in a natural woodland setting, plus a Japanese Garden with Japanese maples and tree peonies, a conifer border, and various flower and rock gardens. Its collections display hundreds of rare shrubs and trees, including camellias, magnolias, roses, and over 160 different types of azaleas. (Wikipedia)

Gallery: Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Click on photo to see larger version

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 13, 2009

On the Cliff Palace loop you may visit one of two cliff dwellings by guided tour, Cliff Palace or Balcony House. These sites can only be reached by a one-hour ranger-guided tour. Tickets for tours are purchased only at the Far View Visitor Center. Rangers begin the Cliff Palace tour from the overlook at the end of the entrance trail. To enter Cliff Palace on a guided tour, one must descend approximately 100 feet into the canyon on a steep trail that includes 120 uneven stone steps. Throughout the tour one will climb five eight foot ladders.

Gallery: Cliff Palace and More — September 13, 2009, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

I’m continuing to process photos from last year’s travels into photo galleries.

The most recent is from the day that we arrived at Mesa Verde National Park during our 2009 trip to Colorado.

Because it was actually a fairly short drive from Ouray to Mesa Verde, by the time we got set up at the campground, we still had plenty of time to go exploring, including a hike down to one of the cliff dwelling ruins, Spruce Treehouse. 

The gallery includes images from the ruins as well as other views in the park, including several images of the beautiful Colorado sky that we had that day.

Gallery: Spruce Treehouse and More – September 12, 2009, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

(click on image for larger version)

For all of the conveniences, though, we found that we were not doing the kind of camping that we really preferred.  We prefer national and state park and forest campgrounds, but found in some of those kind of campgrounds that maneuvering into sites that could accommodate the size of our 5th wheel was often difficult and, in some instances, there just were not any sites that we felt comfortable with trying to get into.

We now have a small motor home and are able to get into just about any campground that we want to with little or no difficulty.  The only ones we can’t get into are those restricted to tent camping and those that we can’t get to with the camper.  We’ve visited a couple of places where the curves were so tight that our 25 foot motor home was over the length limit.  We’re also not quite yet prepared to go too many miles down an unpaved road.

In 2009, we camped in 4 national park* campgrounds, 4 nights in each one.  We didn’t have satellite TV or internet and we were doing the kind of camping we really prefer.

Old Colorado City, Colorado Springs, August 22, 2004, teardrop trailer

There was some sort of festival in progress the day that we visited Old Colorado City.

(click on image for larger version)

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working on new photo galleries, mostly from Colorado and some from as far back as 2004. 

I’ll be posting a few images from these galleries over the next several weeks to exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

Except for photos while we are traveling, most of the images that I post from my photography are randomly selected from my on-line galleries.

I am currently publishing images on alternate days on two blogs, exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.  Except for photos that may have been posted during a trip, photos are only published on a blog one time and the images are not replicated between the two blogs.

We will be traveling again this year and will be visiting new places as well as old favorites – and, of course, I will have a lot more new photos.

Colorado

• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
  • South Rim – September 9, 2009
  • North Rim – September 11, 2009
• Cripple Creek, Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs, etc. – August 22, 24, & 27, 2004
• Dome Rock State Wildlife Area – August 29, 2004
• Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument – August 24, 2004
• Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs – August 22 & 23, 2004
• Gold Belt Byway – August 29, 2004
• Mueller State Park – August 28, 2004
• Ouray and Vicinity – September 8 & 10, 2009
• Pikes Peak – August 25, 2004
• Royal Gorge – August 23, 2004
• Silverton and Animas Forks area – September 6, 2009

Kansas

• On the Road, August 2004

Oklahoma

• Canton Lake – August 29, 200

Campground, Lake Fort Smith State Park, Arkansas, October 20, 2008

Located in a wooded valley in the Boston Mountains of the Arkansas Ozarks, the 259 acre Lake Fort Smith State Park reopened in the late Spring of 2008 four miles north of its original location, which was closed in early January, 2002.  As a park reborn, with totally new facilities, it has 30 camp sites, a group lodging facility, picnic sites, a pavilion, marina with rental boats, a double lane boat ramp, a swimming pool, playground, and an 8,000 square foot visitor center with exhibit gallery, gift shop, a meeting/class room, a patio with an outdoor wood burning fireplace, and a great view of the lake and mountains.  Activities for visitors include camping, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, backpacking, boating, hiking and mountain biking.  The park borders lands of the Ozark National Forest.

(click on image for larger version)

Gallery: Lake Fort Smith State Park

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

(click on image for larger version)

Class C motorhomes, Elkmont Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, May 4, 2009

In today’s economy, smaller may just be the ticket, at least for the near term, for many who are interested in RVing. Across the country, many surviving RV dealerships are downsizing their inventory, both in the number of units they carry on their lots and the size and type of units.

As well, many of the newer recreational vehicles may be more economical to operate. For instance, the two class c motorhomes in the picture above are probably about the same size.  The Coachmen motorhome, with its v8 gasoline engine, will probably be lucky to achieve more than 8 to 10 miles per gallon.  The Winnebago View, on the other hand, with it’s 3 liter Mercedes Benz diesel can easily achieve 15 or more miles per gallon, even when towing a small vehicle.  Some without a towed vehicle have even achieved over 20 miles per gallon.

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

The is one of two large offroad recreational vehicles we saw parked at one of the trailheads in Arches National Park on September 24, 2007.  The other offroad RV was of similar size but on a different truck chassis.  Later we saw both vehicles again, parked at a picnic area.

This RV is built on a Mercedes Benz Unimog frame.

September 24, 2009

Arches National Park

Gallery: Arches National Park

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.