The Ozarks!
Last weekend, I trekked from Dallas to Northwest Arkansas to The Ozarks! My intrepid, little, white Hyundai made it over 900 miles, round trip, and the only issue I had was it started to overhead while we descending into Devil's Den - after a bit of investigation and phone calls to my dad, I discovered the car was out of coolant. Crisis, MAJOR crises, averted $11.38 & a gallon of coolant later!
Anyways, The Ozarks were very pretty. They were not as mountainous as I expected, but nonetheless it very a very lush and rich forest environment. The first night we camped in Devil's Den, there was a tornado outbreak and in the middle of the night, I woke up to the sound of a freight train, getting louder and louder; a sheer wind gust was sweeping down the valley like a dementor, and almost took out the tent. It DID sustain however! (The make and model of tent we used can be found here).
I couldn't believe how much lichen was everywhere. We went hiking around the bat caves and there was so much life around me. Moss, mushrooms, fern, birds, ants crawling on the moss, dead trees with new life growing on them..it was so wonderful. I could have stayed in the forest for hours, just sitting and taking in the life around me. I definitely want to return to a place like Devil's Den and take it all in.
We had to leave early because of the weather, but I did enjoy The Ozarks. My next camping trip is already in the works with some people from work - we are going to The Smoky Mountains!
Here are way too many pictures of the weekend, but I hope they are enjoyed.
<3 Tiff