Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Monday, February 18, 2013

An Arkansas Valentine Week

George and I took a little trip this past week to celebrate the joy of being each others' Valentines!!!  We went to one of our favorite places,  to Mt. Nebo in Arkansas.  Many of you know about Mt. Nebo if you have followed my blog awhile.  We visit there at least once a year --and even went twice a couple of years.  It's just a piece of heaven to us!!!!

We rent a cabin on top of the mountain (we call it 'our' cabin since we ask for the same cabin every year)---with a view of the valley below and of the sunset.  The picture above shows us sitting outside on top of our picnic table --while waiting for the sun to set.. It was a gorgeous late afternoon in Arkansas on 2/14/13.  




Here is the sunset we saw that evening.  Isn't that just fabulous????




The cabin is a place where we can go to RELAX.   We see wildlife all around the cabin and there are lots of places to hike in the area.  We also visit other nearby areas each time we go.  There's just no place better for a REAL vacation.    Here's a picture of the back of our cabin. 




The cabin has a fabulous wood-burning fireplace ---so you can imagine how much we enjoyed sitting by the fire when we were there.




We enjoyed all kinds of weather --and even had a little snow one night.  BUT--for the most part,  the weather was really really nice this year.  However, the day we went to Mt. Magazine (2/13/13) --the wind was VERY cold.  You can tell in this photo at one of the overlooks how cold we were.  It was fun though!!!!




One of the joys each year is seeing WILDLIFE while we are there.  There are deer on our mountain which are almost tame.   AND of course I have to take a bag of birdseed with me--to feed the little birds.  They must wait for me to get there since they found the birdseed quickly!!!!  One bird that we don't have too many of in my area of Tennessee is the Dark-eyed Junco.  Arkansas has lots of them --along with Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Nuthatches, etc.

BUT---to my great excitement this year,  I saw a new 'life' bird for me,  a ROADRUNNER (pictured above)...  I had never seen one before ---so this is one of the highlights of this trip for me.  Isn't he amazing???   All I could think about was the old cartoon... Remember "Beep Beep"???????




We did quite a bit of hiking that week.  On this day (2/11/13) ---we hiked the King's Bluff Loop Trail --and saw a fabulous (HUGE) waterfall.  We also walked along the cliff's edge (note picture above) ---and looked at all of the different rock designs and pedestals.




On another day (2/14/13) --- we hiked on the Pedestal Rock Loop Trail --and saw some very unique pedestals (which I will show in another blog post).  Here is a picture of us on that trail.





After leaving the Pedestal Rock Loop Trail,  we drove down a dirt road in search of a beautiful waterfall,  Falling Water Falls.   I will share more pictures later of this beautiful waterfall with you --but I wanted you to see a tiny bit of it today.  The water here is a gorgeous shade of aqua!!!!  Beautiful!




I will end by showing you a picture of a sunrise. We saw the sunrise about 7 a.m. (after a drive down the street) at Sunrise Point 3 different mornings.  All of them are different --but this one (2/12/13) was a favorite.  Mt. Nebo offers benches at Sunrise Point for one to sit and enjoy the sunrise...  SO beautiful!!!!

Well--as you can tell,  we had a glorious week in Arkansas.   Hope you all had a good week also.  I have MUCH more to share---but those will come in time!!!

Have a fabulous Monday.

Hugs,