Arkansas Wandering (Nov. 2021)
- deanh951
- Sep 5, 2024
- 5 min read
I have embarked on a new blogging journey. Which involves the total makeover of my website. The whole kit and kaboodal as they would say.
Becky and I go on quite a few adventures each year but I have been neglectful in my documenting our journeys about the country. So off we go on a new blog journey.
I thought I would start off with an adventure Becky and I took into Arkansas a couple of years ago. We decided to go and chase waterfalls around the state and just see what we could see.
One of the areas we spent quite a bit of time in was called the Steel Creek campground on the Buffalo National River.
The sandstone cliffs that lined the river were so majestic. It was like this 200 foot wall
that ran the length of the river through the Steel Creek area. This was a beautiful place to camp for those of you who do camp.
Buffalo National River Horseshoe bend
It took a bit of back country roads to find this spot. Also a little precarious hike to the edge for the views of the horseshoe bend.
Buffalo National River
As I said earlier we were on a hunt for waterfalls. But mother nature was not on our side for this trip.
We drove to the first waterfall and hiked a little over a mile up this hill. It was suppose to be visible only a couple of hundred yards off the road. Well that one turned out to be not flowing at all. The state was in a drought period and so most of the waterfalls we came across had little to no water flowing.
Falling Water Falls
This waterfall was one of the nicer ones we ran across. It usually is about ten times wider when it's flowing during a wet season.
Branson, MO Aquarium
Then we were off to Branson, Mo. , where we took in a couple of shows. The Sound and Light theater was amazing and a must see if you are ever in Branson. We also off course had some great food while there. There is a lot to see in do in this town that is for sure. We really enjoyed the aquarium. It was beautiful and awesome. Here are a few images from the aquarium.
Poseidon Hall
The Jelly fish room was like a mirrored maze and really beautiful.
A view of one of the many tanks that you can gaze at for hours.
Night Shots in Branson
We decided to see if we could be some night shots while there as well. Above is the entrance to the aqurium at night. The giant octopus was really an eye catcher at night.
Below is the Branson Visitor Center at Night.
We ate at the uptown Cafe and also loved how it looked at night.
Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, Branson, MO
Now the Dogwood Canyon Nature Park is outside of Branson. It was developed by the founder of Bass Pro Shops. He also has a couple of resorts that are very cool in the area that would be a lot of fun to stay at. So next time for sure.
Dogwood Canyon Nature Park is just what it says, a very beautiful man made nature park. There are numerous waterfalls. Some are man made and some are natural. You can walk or check out a bike or get an overall view of the entire park via trollly. We chose to do the trolly first and then do some walking. It is a very beautiful place.
Below is the main building the has a very good resturaunt, giftshop and small museum.
The park has a creek that runs through the entire park and has so many beautiful spots along it's course.
Here is one of the many natural waterfalls that flow in the the creek.
This beautiful waterfall is outside the main building and is gorgeous. This one is man made but they made it very natural looking.
We happened to be there during the fall when the leaves were starting to show off their color. So that made it even more beautiful.
One of the cool features along your walk through the park.
Here's a little over view of the creek with the walking path in the background.
This is a natural waterfall with a small grato. Everywhere you look in this park there are beautiful scenes to take in.
Natural waterfall.
Natural Waterfall.
Another view of the man made fall at the main building.
They also have a beautiful tree house that was made by the folks from the show " Tree House Masters". It was very cool.
Bentenville, MO
We had to do a brief overnight in Betenville just to see what it was like. They have a very quaint downtown square which host the original Walton's 5 and Dime store. Who would have thought that the mega company Wal-Mart would spring out of a simple 5 and dime store.
Downtown Bentonville on the square.
Mr. Sam Walton and his humble Wal-Mart beginnings. Do any of you have any good memories of a 5 and dime store? I remember getting a plastic Indy car at the 5 and Dime in Elkhorn, Wis. when I was about 4 years old. Such a wonderful bygone era.
Jeepin in Arkansas
Of coarse we had to find some back country roads to take the Jeep on. We did come across a couple of cool one lane brides in our wanderings.
This was a cool wooden one lane bridge.
We always make time to stop and get some shots of old barns and structures. Below is just a great over look view of the Ozark mountains in Arkansas.
Always fun to get the Jeep wet as well forging a pretty creek.
This road lead us to a place called Car Wash Falls. It's too bad it turned out to be only a trickle but was still a great side trip. Check out the short little video below of the Car Wash Falls in action. If you go when it's a wetter season you are sure to get a great car wash.
Car wash falls video.
Wildlife.
Becky and I always keep our eyes out for any wildlife that want their photo taken. Here are a couple of those we found on our journey around Arkansas and Missouri. Just a friendly Rat Snake, a Bison and a nice majestic Bull Elk giving us a great bugle.
Till next adventure, thanks for tagging along with us. Hope you enjoyed and we'll post another journey very soon.
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