Sister's Weekend

. . . . . . . The Wescott Girls . . . . . . . . .

After talking about it for many years Dana, Ginny and I finally took our sister's weekend. Ginny was working in south Missouri and had a cabin at Roaring River State Park. She has started staying at state parks instead of hotels. Easier to eat healthy and enjoy the beauty of our state. Roaring River is known for the trout hatchery and trout fishing. Ginny has started fly fishing for trout. Dana and I joined her Wednesday night at the cabin shown below. She warned us to bring flashlights since copperhead snakes would lie on the stone steps to warm up. Dana commented that three women, cabin in the woods, snakes on the step all made for a the classic horror film plot. We stayed the first two nights in the cabin just past this one. We then moved to one much newer and much easier to get to.
This shot was from a lookout on a hike Dana & I took. You can see the hatchery on the far side, the curved 'runs' and in the second picture the spring fed area.

Below is the spring area - the actual spring is to the far right.

If you walk to the top right of the picture above you come upon the spring itself (below). This spring dumps millions of gallons of water everyday into the river.

A lot of fly fishermen & women line up on the banks down stream from the hatchery. Every day a certain number of mature trout are released and wished godspeed.

Can you tell where the fishing camp is held on Saturdays???

The stone buildings fit perfectly into the hills.

This video was taken in one of the tanks on the left.

Here is Ginny talking fishing with some of her new friends. We ate trout Saturday night that Ginny had caught, cleaned and smoked.

Friday morning we drove the 'back roads' to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We stopped at a picnic spot and took the video and pictures below. It was breathtaking but not nearly as much as it will be in the next few weeks.

We had started descending when we saw this scene with the old red barn.

Dana took some incredible shots of the great buildings in Eureka Springs. Here is an example of some of her pictures. We had a wonderful time checking out all the little art shops, gem shops, jewelry shops and the FUDGE shop! There had been a motorcycle rally in nearby Fayetteville and the bikers were enjoying the gorgeous weather and winding streets. Dana & Ginny commented on how noisy they were (& they were) but I hadn't much thought about it. Finally it dawned on me I am used to vacationing in Oshkosh where you have to wait for the F-16s to fly over to continue the conversation.

Saturday Ginny spent most of the day fishing and Dana and I spent most of it hiking. Thank you Dr. Haas for my new knees - I had a ball and not one twinge of pain.

We think we hiked around seven miles over the course of the day and involving four different trails. The most exciting was a simple service road which offered some great photo ops. It also offered a very large copperhead snake 'hiding' under a large leaf.

This incredible shot was taken with Dana's telephoto lens.

After throwing rocks and getting no response (actually thought he was dead until Dana took this shot) we decided to slowly walk past on the far side of the road. The snake never moved and we tried not to break into what would have been a very laughable run. We found out later that copperheads 'freeze' when threatened which does not work well on the highway but worked out very well for us. Below are some of our prettier shots.


Dana taking some shots

Through the trees

Looking down from the top of the spring.

Ozark woods

Beautiful little fungus - probably called 'the angel of a slow and lingering death'!!

I'd like to say this is the spirit of one of the scotch irish who settled the Ozarks but I think it is a sun reflection.

Can you see the emerging face?

Breaking surface . . .

Looking up - this tree was growing on top of stone

To many more sisters weekends and many more Ozark trails . .

Thanks Ginny & Dana - I'm honored to have you as my sisters and friends!

Texas Trip!

Over Labor Day weekend we headed south to deliver John & Lindsey's household goods. Seth and Noah accompanied us. They were a bit nervous because Uncle John had warned them that just any old boots may not get them across the state line but they would definately need a 'Texas' hat. Before we left Jeff & Steph took the boys to the local farm store to get them ready for the trip. It is important to fit in when you are visiting new places. To commemorate this historic crossing we woke them up about 2 a.m. (make that we woke Seth up - just like his Mom Noah was bound and determined to stay awake) to take their picture by this subtle stateline marker.
We stopped outside of Hempstead to get the boys outfitted in both the hats and boots. Pat had rehearsed a "Texas swagger" with them, since Wisconsin boys know how to do that sort of thing, but Noah lost all composure at seeing his girl Lindsey.


John and Lindsey were very impressed with the hats and boots in spite of the comfy sweats the boys were wearing. The farmhouse John & Lindsey live in is located on acerage that has been in John's family for some time. It was used as a country retreat by John's grandparents, especially his much loved 'Pops' whose picture hangs over the fireplace. The hats located in the corner were also his. As you can see the house has a character all its own and it fits it perfectly.

This is the living room with the photo taken from the dining area. Directly behind the photographer and the dining area is the kitchen.

Here is a picture of Lindsey's Texas guys.
And, once they figured out the timer on the camera one with Lindsey also!

This picture is just too cute - it should be on a stamp or something .....

John proved his worth as an uncle when he pulled out two huge rubbermaid bins of Lego toys. I believe he also had a huge bag of some others. Countless battles were won and lost in the sun room - also known as the 'new room' since it was built in the 70s! Here is a video of the most epic battle which turned into a lego bath once the stuffed animals got involved. They just look warm and fuzzy.

On Saturday morning we went with Tom & Kay (John's folks), and John & Lindsey to met with Aunt Ann and John's brother, Rob. We had a wonderful breakfast at a favorite local breakfast place called "The Snowflake". Besides great doughnuts they had something called a Kalachi (am I right John?) which is a flaky dough wrapped around a sausage. Lots of coffee, conversation and calories.

This picture was taken Sunday morning before church on Tom & Kay's front patio. They built a lovely new home just a stone's throw from John & Lindsey.

Surpise!! We found airplanes! After church we went to the Brenham airport where they have a fifties diner complete with girls in poodle skirts and saddle shoes. John's Uncle Charlie, Pat and Noah were checking out the airplane they were selling $50 chances to.

The boys posed for us in their cowboy best - we had been warned by their Mom not to come back without a proper Texas picture in proper Texas attire.

Tom has a full-time job in the fall feeding hummingbirds. We didn't realize they migrate through Texas towards the Gulf and actually fly across the Gulf to South America. At times there were up to 20 or more literally diving for food. One of the best airshows I've seen.

Remember when you were a kid and summer vacation or Christmas or something made you so happy and excited you could NOT contain yourself?? Well, here it is on film. You may think the video is about Seth but watch Noah. We would like to point out he did not actually go down the slide but the possibility of it made him dance and, ummm, apparently cool off.

Can you sing with me? He ain't heavy, he's my brother . . . . .

Sometimes a cowboy just has to take time to walk and think about . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . being in Texas!

Thank you John & Lindsey, Tom & Kay, Charlie & Ann - we had a wonderful time!