Fall in Northwest Arkansas

After Rachel headed out on Friday morning, we gathered our stuff and Mack and Helen and headed out ourselves to Northwest Arkansas and the War Eagle Craft Fair. Beautiful fall day for travel, sunny and cool. We stopped in for breakfast at the Waffle House and then hit the road.

Only a three hour drive and no mishaps. Easy. Met up with Mark and Teri and the fine time commenced to be finer. We lucked out and had adjoining rooms which turned out to be much nicer than the one Mark and Teri had left in Branson. (They'd been making a tour of Eureka Springs and Branson for the last several days and this was their last stop before heading home.) We got caught up with one another then ran out for a bite at Mimi's Cafe down on the Promenade Parkway. Delish. Back to the room, then, and we called it a night.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful. All you can eat breakfast in the lobby and then out to the twisty, turny highway to the Craft Fair. We were earlier than we had been in years prior so the traffic wasn't bad but we still had to park rather far out; we dropped off the ol' folks at where it all started, parked, and then hiked back and made plans. We'd go our separate ways and catch up with each other later.

Clara had the camera so I had to use my Blackberry. I took shot of, well, nothing it turns out:



I was holding my phone high above my head to get a downward shot of Emily but she dodged out of the way. That's her ponytail - and part of my forehead - in the lower left hand corner of the shot.

Let's try that again:

Ah, much better. More what I'd intended at least. A beaming Emily and a serious Clara shopping in the bright Fall morning, with the crowd shuffling by in the back.

We finished up, met across the river, and camped out in the canvas chairs we schlepped back from our car. Enjoyed the day, and the company, had a something to eat and drink, and then people-watched until it was time to go.

Back to the room. Dinner at Red Robin. Another hit. Then back to the room for good. We'd rented 3:10 to Yuma for Mack and Helen since they hadn't seen it before and both pronounced it good. Clara had her time with her Russell Crowe so I'd say that was a pretty good ending for a perfect day, wouldn't you?

Back to home the next day. Mark and Teri were up ahead of us and hit the road before we sat down to eat. We weren't far behind and we rolled back into our driveway by 2:00.

A short, but wonderful trip. Best to grab these days while you can.