Arkansas, Ashdown Mar 26 - Apr 2

This is the first time Kay and I ever camped in Arkansas.  What a beautiful state.  Millwood Landing Resort is a very small campground.  There are only about 30 sites.  It is also close to Millwood Lake State Park where we went kayaking and saw some interesting things.  Have to go through the blog to find out what.  The other thing we did here was go out to eat a lot, BBQ, Mexican, and Catfish.

Ashdown, Arkansas

Our first kayak trip was from Bullfrog landing on Millwood Lake.  This launch site was about 15 miles from the campsite.  Lots of trees and high water.

This is the floating bait shop by the launch site.

This Water Moccasin looks like it just ate something.  The middle of it is kinda out of shape.  They are nasty looking snakes.

Kay once again doing her thing.

You can see the boat through the trees with a couple of fisherman in it.

After seeing the snake, one had to be aware of what was up in the branches of the trees as you paddled under them.  Did not want any snakes dropping into my kayak.

We stopped and talked to this guy about the lake for a long time.  He had some very interesting things to tell us.

We drove about 40 miles north of the campground to try our hand at finding diamonds.  This was in the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, AR

This is how Zoe helped me dig for the diamonds.  It was quite warm out in the middle of the field.  She gets warm fast and likes to find shade wherever she can.

I tried digging up buckets of dirt and than washing it in these big water tanks.  We did not find a single diamond but it was a fun afternoon anyway.

Kay and the dogs resting in the shade after we stopped to eat our lunch.

This is the road in the campground.  They had a lot of cabins here.

Our campsite.

Our next kayak trip was out of Millwood Lake State Park.  this launch site was about 2 miles from the campground.  Kay thought this tree was very interesting standing by itself.  So did I.

As we kayaked into one of the inlets, we found this little alligator.  He was hard to see, because he only would stick his head out of the water a little.

I guessed he was about 4 feet long from nose to end of his tail.

He did stick around for a while so we could get lots of pictures of him.

I found a fishing line along the shore and am trying to untangle it.  I try to get this kind of stuff out of the water so wildlife doesn't get tangled up in it.

No pictures of flowers this trip, but Kay did find this plant growing on a log.

At the end of each inlet, there was this kind of bird house.  Not sure what kind of bird would use it.  We didn't get pictures but saw and heard a lot of birds. 

Some of the local deer close to the campground.

Got the truck all washed up and the kayaks and bikes loaded for our trip in the morning.

Once again we met up with Dale and JoAnn Southerland from MN.  We first met them in Abita Springs, LA.  They are traveling north about 6 days behind us.  Too bad our timing was not more in sync.  They are a wonderful couple, and we plan to visit them in MN sometime.

Relaxing with the dogs and our new friends from MN and TN

We met Ima and Phil from TN the last night we were at Ashdown. They were camped by Dale and Jo.  Kay had fixed enough food so we invited them to eat supper with us.  It seems like you meet the most interesting people when you are about to leave a campground.

I am trying to teach JoAnn how to play the Native American Flute.  She did give it a try, and wants Dale to buy her one.  I hope she gets one.  Did you hear that Dale?

One of the places we ate at.  Very good catfish.