July 16, 2020

(click here for today's pictures)

Robby and I slept as late as we could this morning which wasn't incredible late. Then we just laid around the room like we didn't have any responsibilities for a good while. When it was decently hot outside, we did venture downstairs!

We walked down the sidewalk from the lodge to the start of the trailhead that takes you to the summit of Mt. Magazine. The total trail was just about a mile and a half. It wasn't too bad of a walk except that it was hot and it was uphill. 

Before we knew it though, we did walk to the top of the summit. We then sat in the shade a while to cool off. While we were there Robby did say "they tried to make it in the shape of Arkansas, but didn't do a great job." I looked up at the sign and thought that it didn't look like Arkansas at all-it just looked like a rectangle sign. 

As we were leaving, I stepped onto a large stone area only to realize that is built in the shape of Arkansas. I thought it looked very much like Arkansas since I was comparing it to the rectangle sign that I had been looking at.

We went down the hill a different way and explored the campground for a while. The campground was full so there was lots to see. Then it was back up a little bit of the hill to return to the lodge. We were pretty sweaty by then so we went to the room to cool off for a bit.

After a while, we did venture to the visitor's center for a few minutes. Then drove down the hill towards Paris, Arkansas. On the way we stopped at Cove Lake, where Robby went swimming with his grandparents. We didn't drive all the way to the lake since they charge admission-he doubted that they charged 40 years ago when he was there.

We then visited the local Sonic in Paris and had ourselves some ice cream. I was living on the edge eating Sonic ice cream while being in the car, but my tummy did fine. Next we drove the see all the sights of Robby's grandparents including a visit with his great aunt. 

Then it was back up the mountain for us since we had made a day of it. We did drive around on the top of the mountain for a little bit before going to the restaurant to order a pizza. We had intended to just get a to go order, but ended up eating there. It was a beautiful view even though we were not by a window.

We had spinach dip, split a tiny pizza and had a mini peanut butter pie for dessert. It was all delicious! Then we walked down a tiny bit of one trail that had the words "caution steep slope" on it. We were cautious for sure. We didn't stay on that long at all.

Soon we were back in the room laying in our separate beds! Robby is catching up on some work, and I am working on next year's curriculum if Reagan doesn't get to do her co-op and am blogging. 

I haven't heard from the kids much today. However, I do know that they went to the pool with some of the Heltz. Grannymom offered for Reagan to drive, but Reagan quickly declined. Anderson said that they had all done great. Also I do know that spaghetti was for supper since Graham wrote asking for the bread. I do think that they all had a great day-we sure did!