Mammoth Goes to Petit Jean..and Eite Site, Day 5

 Sunday 5/15

Driving time! Not that I was particularly eager to go to EiteSite--been there, done that, and the only redeeming virtue is that it allows us to easily visit Ed's mother--but I was eager to go. If I could have a do-over, I'd have only scheduled three days at Petit Jean. I'm beginning to learn that four days is too much for a typical state park or corp park...there are too many people and dogs around for us to truly relax and enjoy the ambience. Some of the things I'd prefer in a park are the ability to bird watch right from the site, no cars continually driving around, animals and plants to see instead of other people, and a scenic view. Petit Jean had only the first criteria (bird watching) and even that wasn't all that great.

So we headed out as early as possible, planning to get there by one-thirty. Supposedly lunch would be on the table when we arrived. But I'd looked at the google maps time incorrectly, seeing a two-hour drive instead of the three-hour drive that was our reality. The two-hour route involved going up "the pig trail" (highway 23) from the interstate. We don't take that route in Mammoth, so we had to pass it up and go on to I-49 north almost to Fayetteville, then highway 16 over to the house.

We made good time and had a phenomenally fast stop at a Love's on I-49 shortly before starting up the Boston Mountains. So when we arrived, lunch/dinner was not yet ready but at least we didn't keep them waiting. Plenty of time for hooking up and visiting before the clouds opened up and it started pouring down rain.

We both got soaked. But the dogs got a walk and most of the hookups were done before the rains came--the soaking occurred as we were heading up the hill for lunch.

Summer Tanagers are here, too:

 

 

 

After lunch/dinner, Molly got a long walk down the road.

And that's it for Sunday. On to better days.