Day 5

The cabin we rented was on a cove of Beaver Lake in the Ozark Mountains.   It is beautiful there, and we found ourselves in awe of the scenic drive in and out of the cabin. Until about day 2.  You see, we are flat landers.  I have always known this about myself. My kids are starting to realize why i say this.   A five mile drive should not take 45 minutes.   Curving around and around tends to cause carsickness, and steep drop offs cause all of us anxiety.  Not complaining at all, just saying that when you live where the land is flat, these things tend to not be comforting.  Even an idiot can look past all of that and see how beautiful it is at Beaver Lake though!  

For our last full day, we decided to go back to Eureka Springs and tour the Turpentine Wildlife Rescue. Jim, Andrew and Quincy opted to stay at the lake and fish.  I am so glad that we did went on this tour. This place is amazing.  Maybe partially due to the fact that during the pandemic we all got caught up in the Tiger King Netflix fiasco.  Some of the cats from that show were rescued and are now residing here.   

They mostly rescue big cats, however they also have a funny bear named Bam Bam, a monkey, some smaller cats, and a few other interesting things.  Each animal has a story.  Some are really sad.  We all liked hearing the stories and seeing these amazing animals.   We also somehow lucked out and didn’t get rained out.  This whole vacation was plagued by rainy cold weather.  

Sometimes, when the weather doesn’t cooperate, the best stuff happens though.  Last night, I looked around me. The internet was down, we were all sitting around playing trivial pursuit and laughing and visiting.  It was such a nice evening.  I couldn’t even post this blog post because the internet was down and there was zero service.  My younger crowd hasn’t ever really lived in a time without WiFi, streaming services, instant entertainment at their fingertips.  I don’t think any of my kids lives without taking a break from their devices, but it was good for them to play a game and sit and visit for an evening.