It's the most wonderful time of the year!

 Thanksgiving was fantastic.  Carl had several days off that week and that is always a treat!  He got up early on Thanksgiving to fire up the grill.  He cooked the turkey on it this year and it was the best ever!

 The sunrise was beautiful.

 We had a feast.  I have a new recipe for sweet potatoes and fresh cranberries.  I also added sausage to the stuffing and that was a big hit!

 We added several tables so we could all fit.

 This guy was the star entertainment!  He loves his Gpapa

 Here is our group.  The fellowship was wonderful and the food wasn't bad either!

I hope your Thanksgiving was a great day too!

AR Civil War 150- Gaze and Graze- last one!!!

Saturday morning we got up and headed down the road to where we used to live.  We lived near Pine Bluff for 10 years.  Andrew wanted to see our old house, the baseball field and the library.  I didn't put up a picture of our house because I don't know who lives there.  He was surprised how short the road to our house was.








Our library has a new front!!

We then went to the Pine Bluff Museum.  We had been there before but neither one of us remembered much that was there.  The building is an old railroad depot.

We remember seeing her swing when she up on a billboard.

I loved this super sized poster and wish I had one! 

 Since we had already been to one Depot we decided to take a picture inside by the poster that I wanted.

 A wonderful Confederate cemetery near Sulfur Springs.  Their tomb to the unknown soldier was very moving.  My pictures don't do it justice.  Look how well kept the grave markers are.  Uncle John- look where this guy died!

 Our last stop!  Here we are getting our last stamp.  She had never seen one completed and asked about our journey.  She was tickled to be a part of it.

These are the remains of a WWII plane that went down near here.

Lots of fun animals here.  An otter for Kaitlin!

 One of the many great thing about doing this trip the way we did it is the things we saw in one place were repeated or more info was added in another.  The above picture is the only place we saw the one star confederate flag that we saw the words for the song for in Prescott, that Andrew told me was the only song that was not allowed to be played after the war.


This is the battle site for this stamp.

Here is our completed passport!

Our last picture!!!!

What a trip of a life time!  Andrew, I am ready for our next trip!

AR Civil War 150 trip- Gaze and Graze 50!

 I realized when I started doing this post that Andrew and I covered some ground on Friday the 19th!  We woke up at our cabin on Lake Chicot.  We didn't take our picture til that morning.  Notice the jackets we had to don because the temps dropped and it was chilly.

We saw many downed trees as we drove that day.

There are 23 sites to be seen and stamps to get in the passport we did, but there are also 39 others sites near those 23 that we did many of.  One that is near Lake Village is the fighting that took place near the Ditch Bayou- who thinks of these names???
In this battle the Union soldiers had had enough of the Confederate troops sniping their ships as they came around the bends in the river at Lake Village.  The Confederate troops would fire at ships from one bend in the river then as the ship went further down the river they were waiting there too.  The Union sent in several thousand troops to stop this problem.  The Confederate forces set up just past a bayou that was hidden in the tall grass.  Many of the Union troops ended up in the bayou.  They lost many that day.



Our first stop of the day was the Japanese American Relocation camp site.  Very well done. You truly get a picture of how it was set up.

cemetery for those who died here

Besides the cemetery the only other thing left from the camp is a tower.  It is located between the break in the trees in the picture above.  It was on the other side of the camp.

a faux guard tower-very well done.

We came to Arkansas Post many times with all the children.  Andrew has very fond memories of what all he learned here.  They have a very informative movie and lots of open spaces.

I love Hudson Bay Blankets.  I have one that was my daddy's and Carl bought me one a few years ago.  It was fun to some here.

Andrew took about 5 shots of us at every stop.  We got into saluting.  I love the smiles on our faces.  Notice the jackets, the wind was whipping off the water.

This next stop was where the deadliest single shot of the entire Civil War took place.  We are in St. Charles, AR.  The museum was well done.  I loved the above diorama so we could see how the river played a part in the town and the war.  We had a very informative lady stamp our passports. She even told us where a Confederate cannon was that had be brought up out of the river.

  The monument above in at the spot where the deadliest shot was fired.  A confederate cannon fired a shot that hit the boiler of a Union tin clad that was sailing down the river.  It blew up and killed the 149 men on board.  The placement of the monument was funny to me because it is in the middle of the road!  Below is the Confederate canon.

Here is a spot that Andrew found to eat. It is on highway 49 in Barton.  It was yummy!!!  Highly recommend.

Andrew and I then went to Helena/ West Helena.  There were two stamping sites here.  The first we visited was the Delta Cultural Center.  Lots of stuff on Jazz and very cleverly displayed.  They have very nice restrooms too!

Andrew and I took a picture on the front porch that is set up inside for musicians to gather and play.

Next we went to the Philips County Museum.  Again another diorama telling of the importance of the water.  This was a very important area for both sides in the Civil War.  Below, Andrew and I are standing in a replica of a fort that stood in the city.  The fort stood, during the Civil War, on the land that the Baptist Church is currently on.

Andrew is getting our passports stamps by the cutest stamper ever.  She told us all about the museum.

After the museum, we drove all around the city looking at other sites.  We then went to the Confederate cemetery.  It was beautiful.  Several of the generals pictured above are buried here.

On our way home, Andrew and I stopped at the Louisiana Purchase State Park.  We were here about 20 years ago and much has been done to improve it.  I didn't know that baseline road in Little Rock was just that, a baseline for the Louisiana Purchase.

Whew!  Andrew and I had a busy Friday and we are just two stamps away from a full passport!  We spent the night at home and slept well!  Last day tomorrow!