Back to the grind!

Today was our first day back to work and I have to say, it was a little hard to get back in the "groove". We had such a wonderful time and were able to really relax and unwind, which was great!

We went to Mountain View, AR and stayed at a lovely Bed & Breakfast there. I've posted a picture of where we stayed. It was our first B&B experience, but it definitely won't be our last. We met some really interesting and nice people during breakfast each morning. And the breakfasts! We were impressed by the variety of things they offered. The house and grounds were so pretty -- flowers everywhere, and a fountain and pond in the back yard, with lots of swings, Adirondack chairs, benches...lots of little nooks custom-made for relaxing.

Here's a shot of a little portion of the back yard:



Mountain View is a beautiful, very scenic town, sort of "small town America". There's a courthouse square, an old-fashioned pharmacy with a soda fountain, and lots of neat little antique/junk shops. The pace is slow and leisurely, and it was a perfect place to get away from the craziness of life.

It's also a mecca for "pickers" of mountain music. Right outside our room there was sort of a little park, with three gazebos set up in different places, with benches and seats spread around. Guys would show up with a guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, bass fiddle, or whatever, and sort of form an impromptu group. Every now and then someone new would just walk up, sit down, and start playing. Then when they got tired, they'd get up and go home. It was great.

We also visited the Blanchard Springs Caverns while we were in the area. It was really impressive. Our guide told us they have been named the prettiest caverns in the United States. I thought they were great. So much bigger than I ever dreamed they would be. A lot of my pictures didn't turn out inside the caverns, but here's one:



Of course, it doesn't do justice at all to how beautiful and striking it really was. We took the easiest of the three tours; it was an hour long. Steve wanted to take the "Wild Cave Tour", which included knee pads, gloves, helmets, and head lamps and went to the more unexplored areas. The guide said, if you survive, you even get a t-shirt! Yeah, right!

Anyway, it was a terrific trip and it whetted our appetite for our week's vacation to the mountains coming up in October.