We have been traveling...
We have had no internet service...
We have had no phone service...
We have been in a very wooded area...

I'm pretending today is the first day of our adventure in Arkansas...Most of these events happened about a week ago...

Ready?  Here we go...remember it sounds like today, but it's really a week ago...(remember--no internet service...)

I’m always surprised when rv’ing…Husband and I have met some of the nicest people…We have spent the night at Queen Wilhelmina State Park in northern Arkansas.  We will stay here tonight and then head to the arts and crafts fair at War Eagle Mills tomorrow.

I cooked breakfast outside this morning…

The very large RV, across the way, a Fore Travel, 1994, 'houses' Carol and Larry, from San Francisco.  They sold their home and planned to travel one year, then find a place to ‘settle’ down--7 ½ years ago. 

I don’t know if I could live in a 40’ RV for 7 ½ years; however, they appear to be perfectly satisfied with the arrangement. 

We also met a couple from Wisconsin…left WI in January with the temp -18…They are traveling home after staying in Louisiana and Mississippi for the winter.  They love the south, too!  They learned, in Louisiana, how to eat crawfish, gumbo and shrimp...in Galveston—how to fish from the shoreline into the Gulf…

The park staff  is not very friendly...looks like they are just waiting to retire; however, the park is very clean…they must be doing at least that…They don't seem very impressed with their very beautiful surroundings.  I mentioned how lovely the park is and they both seemed surprised I thought so…They seem, like many of us, to take their beautiful surroundings for granted…I am very sure the Wisconsin team doesn't take this beautiful southern beauty for granted…

‘Down the mountain,’ as the locals call it, we had supper at the Branding Iron…our waitress, a Jennifer Biel look alike, was very friendly and suggested the dinner special—grilled chicken topped with everything but the kitchen sink…boy was it tasty…Husband had some sort of ribs…he reported their total deliciousness!

Spring Trail was the first hike we had in the park.  This trail is a very easy 1/2 mile walk taking us through a beautiful part of the park...it was directly across from our camp spot.  On the way, we passed this vacation home, built in 1931, called Wonder House...It became part of the park in 1958. 

Huh?  Did I read this correctly?  How 'bout yes I did!  These signs were throughout the park.  Okay, let's be careful...

I was mindful of this sign as we hiked the Lover's Lane Trail...

Great little hike…be ready for steepness and strenuousness…We were rewarded with beautiful scenery…Cloudiness, bear watch and ‘almost dusk’ gave the hike just the right amount of creepiness...I'll leave you with this beautiful scenery...

I love coffee.  I haven't always, but now I have a Keureg.  This coffee maker makes all the difference in the world... 

Now, with this little invention, it's virtually impossible to 'mess up' a cup of coffee...I know I'm not alone on this one.  I, often times, mismeasured the coffee, 'eye balled' the amount of water to use--generally just didn't have my heart in it...With this little gem, the keurig, I can be 'half hearted' in my 'coffee cooking' and everything will turn out 'a okay' in the end... 

It's an ugly little machine--unworthy of 'full time' cabinet time.  I use it, daily, and then it's 'stored' 'til tomorrow in the cabinet above the counter in the 'coffee making' area of my kitchen.  (I really don't have a 'coffee making' area--I made that one up!)

The hardest part of this entire operation is deciding what flavor of coffee I want to drink...I have narrowed my choices, through the months I have had my wonderful machine...I love hazelnut and macadamia cookie. 

Husband is a 'plain jane' dark roast kind of guy.

After that very critical decision on what flavor to make, the fun begins.  I simply fill the cup with water and pour the water into the top of the keurig... it does the hard work.  In less than a minute, I have a beautiful cup of coffee.  No work, no mess, just deliciousness... 


I then add sweetner, half and half and whipped topping...

Wah lah!   Beautiful, great tasting, with little to no effort. This grueling process took a whole two minutes to create. 

This is a fabulous way to start my Sunday morning...