It appears that serendipity struck again! I happened (in the virtual world first) upon Queen Wilhemina State Park in Arkansas and in the very brief couple minutes I took to give the website a once over, it passed. Good enough, I thought. Even seems like there's a pretty building and nice views.
Sometimes the world does just work in your favor.
We arrived to a grand inn with much history which doubled as the state park offices and the most stunning vistas from atop the second highest mountain in Arkansas. (Side note to all our friends in North Texas: this would make a wonderful long weekend trip. We are so glad to know about it now!) The first night we had just enough time to set up and admire the stars, as seen in the last post.
Days 2 and 3, however, we took full advantage of the state park offerings, participating in three scheduled activities, thereby also becoming friends with the park interpreter who we spent quite a bit of time chatting with and with whom we look forward to keeping in touch.
The first was a tour of an early 20th century 9-level house on the grounds of the park called "The Wonder House." Besides Petunia being disappointed when she learned it wasn't a nine story house, we all enjoyed what we learned and it was the subject of Petunia's first paper. That night we went on an "Owl Prowl" into the woods which might have been a tad more vigorous than I anticipated, but with Mark rightbymyside the whole time, we all did great and enjoyed ourselves. And heard an owl!
Day 3 of our adventure was our last day at the park, but not before we went back for one more activity--the Touch Table. Below are a few pictures from the couple days at the park. People were so friendly and we highly recommend this place!
The views were not too shabby!
My family always seems to find the nearby train. The railroad played a big part in where the inn was built in the 1890s.
Not nearly a train, but our own comfy little set up. Or, for the next year, "home."
My wonders at the 9 level Wonder House.
We did some exploring of our own. Petunia found a heart-shaped rock near the Lovers Leap Trail. :)
The legend is that young men could take the women they were dating to Lovers Leap and ask them to marry them. There is a beautiful overlook there. The story goes that one native American young lady was taken there by her beloved and was not asked to get engaged, so she jumped over the cliff.
At the Touch Table, learning about different kinds of snake skins.
We all learned so many things from the Park Interpreter.
A wasp's nest! Ewwwww! Best part? The sweet girl's face in the back!
After a great (almost) two days, we're off to put a few more miles between where we are and where we want to spend the rest of the summer. Hint: Far up north, in beautiful country, with much-loved family!
Thanks for joining us in our journey! We'd love to hear from you all and keep in touch!