The Flowers Explore - Crystal Springs Arkansas - 2021/07/12-15

Our fourth stop on this RV adventure is Crystal Springs Arkansas!

Just a short little 1 hour trip from our previous spot at Maumelle State Park. It's nice to have a short travel day. 

We're on a small offshoot of Lake Ouachita. Lake Ouachita is the largest lake in Arkansas, and is surrounded by Ouachita National Forrest. We're staying in a National Forrest for the next 3 days!

That little red castle symbol is the logo for the Army Corps of Engineers. They maintain many RV campsites, almost always on the banks of some water feature. Great for us!

We checked in at the gatehouse through the speaker system. Theresa had already reserved and received our spot number a while ago, so this was just a formality to let them know we were here. 

These 90 degree spots require a bit of room to maneuver the RV. When I was practicing in a parking lot before this trip, my truck would take about 3 lanes of width to get the right angle to back in. 

When I pulled up, someone had parked their boat right beside the road (not in their campsite), leaving me no room to maneuver! Luckily they were in their RV at the time and were able to move it out of the way. And I needed all that space. Beauty (the RV) takes whatever room she needs to get into the proper place. 

But the Beast was able to push her back in. 

I like going on a walk when we get to a place too. That way we can look at everything there is to do. 

Looks like there's Quartz Crystals here, but we're not allowed to dig them up per Federal Regulations. That's okay. Later in the week we're going to a private mine to go digging. 

The kids saw this playground on the way in and wanted to make sure we stopped at it. They loved the see-saw. 

What a gorgeous place to put a swing-set. Looking out over the water by sunset. Alli loves the swings. 

Ian loves the monkey bars. 

On another walk, we found some deer. They all turned to look at us as soon as they heard us. Then when one decided we were a little too close for their liking, it took off and all the rest followed. 

At the end of this path we found a large boat dock! Ian is looking for fish. 

And you can shake the dock too, until mommy tells you to stop. 

We did a lot of fun things while we were here, but that'll be the topic of another post. This one is mostly focused on the campground. 

Time to make use of some of the things we've been hauling around with us. The kids made sure we left some time for swimming while we were here. 

They're in their float-vests for now. We'll work on swimming shortly. 

These floats have been places, like Hawaii and Bora Bora. We love them. They have handles so you can attach them together and make a flotilla. 

 

Kids - Daddy come swim with us!

Can't relax for too long. We ended up swimming out past the buoys and then back. It wore them out! 

We've seen quite a few geese while we've been in Arkansas too. Even at the last campsite, there was a group of 20-30 wandering around. 

One of our many walks Ian found himself a frog. Just so long as he doesn't go putting them in his pockets. 

Remember the movie Old Yeller? Where Arliss keeps frogs and even a snake in his pockets? That's what I'm thinking of when I see him like this. 

Crystal Springs was a nice little campground to stay at for 3 days. 

As we were packing everything up to leave, the kids were outside playing around. The flock of geese decided to stop by for a visit. I asked what they thought geese ate, and let them know they eat leaves, grasses, sometimes insects. 

Ian found a few leaves on the ground and tossed them out to them. That certainly got their attention. I think they are used to being fed by campers, because all the geese started heading towards Alli and Ian to see what else they had to offer! 

Let's get out of here! Off to the next campsite!

Alli - My favorite prt was swimig. I likt the prk to. 

Ian - My favorite part was swimming. Diamond mineing was ok.