A Lake Vacation

by - 6:23 PM

Last week we took a little vacation to Degray Lake, which is about 45 minutes south of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Back in January/February when we were talking about what we wanted to do for vacation, I gave Matt and Juliette the choice between San Antonio, TX, and the beach. They chose the beach. However, after I started pricing things and looking at my vacation time (as well as the climbing cost of gas!), I decided we needed to stick to somewhere not too far away and somewhere less "commercial," which would eliminate the temptation to go shopping and spend more money then we should, which seems to happen every vacation! Plus, I thought we needed to keep it simple, so that's how we ended up at Degray Lake State Park Resort. (Yes, it's called a "resort," because it has a lodge, restaurant, swimming, spa, and more.)

Last year, when I planned our Houston vacation (and because I am a planner), I wore out Matt and Juliette with all the things I shoved into each day. This time, we went with no game plan. We knew we would go swimming and horseback riding and that Matt might play a round of golf, but I made no day-to-day plans and it really worked out nicely that way. I've got to say, though, this was one of the more "active" vacations I've been on probably ever. I think it took me two days after we returned from vacation just to get my energy back!

We left Lafayette after Juliette's dance class last Tuesday night and drove to my parents' house in Minden, so we wouldn't have to drive so far on Wednesday. After lunch on Wednesday, we drove up to Degray Lake and immediately Juliette wanted to go swimming. So, we went swimming, ate dinner at the lodge, and took a little post-dinner "hike" on the trail by the lodge at dusk, where we debated whether bears were present in the woods and what to do if we encountered one. I said, "Play dead." Matt said, "Run." Juliette said, "Let's go back to the room!" The answer is:


Thankfully, we didn't have to test our theories! I did see a snake fall from a tree about 10 feet away and then Matt screamed like a girl (just kidding--he didn't scream, he squealed!) when he almost stepped on a frog. (He hates frogs.) Degray Lake had received a record amount of rain in April, so the lake was higher than normal and half of the trail was flooded, so we had to turn around and come back out. Juliette was glad and I kinda was too. Being out there at dusk by ourselves was getting a little creepy!

Juliette at dinner at the lodge the first night. Notice the lake through the windows behind her! (All pictures can be clicked on to make them larger for better viewing.)

The only halfway decent picture I could get Matt and Juliette to take on the trail.

Thursday morning the temperature was in the low to mid-70s, so we decided to put off taking Juliette to the lake's beach area until the next day and instead decided that Juliette and I would accompany Matt while he played golf. First we made a trip up the road to the Wal-mart in Arkadelphia for some golf stuff Matt needed and then we ate at a little Mexican restaurant for lunch. The weather was gorgeous for being outside and Juliette did great being out there over 3 hours. Most of the time she sat on my lap and helped steer the golf cart, and at every hole she ran up to it to take the flag out and hold it for Matt to putt the ball in. In kindness to Matt, I will not divulge his golf score, though. (It was 116.) After being on the golf course all afternoon, we went back to the lodge, where Matt and Juliette took another swim and I surfed the Internet from the IPad. We then went to dinner at The Fish Net restaurant, because you can't go to the lake and not eat fried catfish! It just wouldn't be right!

Matt's drivers for the day!

Juliette also pulled some caddy duties, and then somewhere on the back 9, she decided to ride the flag like a horse.


Above: The view of the pool from our room.
Below: Juliette "practicing" swimming to Matt. (Although, she had floaties on, so I guess the practice isn't that helpful in learning how to really swim.)

Juliette's fish dinner.

After dinner Thursday night, we drove down to the beach area and were disappointed to see that it was completely flooded and there was no "beach" to be seen. However, on the way onto the "island" that makes up the park there, we saw two deer on the side of the road and a skunk, as well as two foxes.
See the fox's eyes? We thought it was pretty cool to see all this wildlife in just a matter of minutes. Of course, we live in the city, so I'm sure you country folks just think we are crazy for making over these sightings like this!

Friday morning we decided to rent bikes and bike around the island. Juliette barely fit on the back of this bike (in fact, she was a few pounds over the limit), but we made it work. We ended up biking about 3-4 miles in the hour we had the bikes, which isn't really that far until you think about all the hills we had to go up and the 40 lb. plus kid on the back of my bike!

Here's a picture of Juliette at the playground by the beach area where we stopped for her to play (and for us to catch our breath)!

That afternoon we went to the marina and rented a pedal boat. Matt and Juliette complained the whole time because they wanted to rent a real boat with a motor (that "goes fast," Juliette said). Our one hour rental ended up being closer to a 40-minute rental, as I eventually gave up on it being fun, especially after Juliette asked "Can I take a nap?" We didn't get pictures of this riveting time since I was afraid to bring the camera onto the little pedal boat.

That night, after eating dinner at the lodge restaurant again, we went on a sunset cruise. This helped pacify Juliette's "need for speed."

This is a view of the lodge from the lake.

After the sunset cruise, we came back to the room, changed into jeans and tennis shoes/sneakers/whatever you call them and went on an Owl Prowl, which turned out to be kinda cool. It was 9 o'clock at night, we all took a trail into the woods with flashlights and after walking a little ways in, everyone turned off their flashlights and the leader played the sound of an owl. If there were any owls out there, they would reply back, and sure enough, there were two out there that night that started screeching/wooting back and forth. One of them even flew past the leader and the people that were behind her got to see it. (It was a Screech Owl...only about a pound and 6 inches tall. Unfortunately, we didn't see it fly by.) Juliette did a really good job of leading us with the flashlight we borrowed and being quiet out there while we were listening for the owls. (And not being scared of the dark woods.) One couple had brought their toddler with them (they had some older children as well) and every time we turned off all our flashlights and it was pitch dark, he would say, "Mommy, Daddy, Night Night?" It was pretty funny/cute.
Because of the camera flash, it doesn't look like it was dark on the trail, but trust me, it was really dark out there!

Because we chose to vacation before Memorial Day, everything really didn't get kicked off for the summer until that weekend, so we had to wait until Saturday morning to ride horses.


As you can see, Juliette rode double with me. On the trail ride, we ran across quite a few deer and they didn't pay us any attention at all. Our trail guide said that deer aren't threatened by horses and although, he's not sure, he thinks that maybe they don't recognize that humans are on their backs. I'm sure if one of us would have gotten off the horse and walked towards them, they would have taken off, but it was really cool to see them sitting among the trees just hanging out. You never get to see that with deer! I couldn't get a good picture of the group of the deer sitting, but I did get this picture and I wasn't zoomed in at all. This was exactly how close I was to it...and he just stood there as we rode by and didn't run off!

After riding horses, we stopped for lunch in Arkadelphia and then drove back to my parents house where I preceded to plant myself in their recliner and only get up when absolutely necessary. (I finished one book and read another one.) We were going to come back home on Sunday afternoon, but I was still tired, so we just stayed over until Monday and got up early and drove back then. Overall, I think it was a great "nature" vacation and we all enjoyed it. If you are looking to take a lake vacation or even a weekend trip, I highly suggest Degray Lake and all the activities on the "island." The sunset cruise and owl prowl were just two of MANY activities they had going on all day long, but since we left on Saturday morning, we didn't get to partake in more than that. And the things we rented (like the bikes and the pedal boat) were super cheap. If you want to check out the place, click here.

We'll be heading to New Orleans at the end of June for a mini-vacation, although it's really a mini-vacation for Matt and Juliette while I work a trade show. I'm positive that trip will be a much more "commercial" one!

Check back Friday for my final favorite recipes post. The theme this time is appetizers!

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2 comments

  1. Kathryn M. BensonMay 31, 2011 at 8:38 PM

    What a great vacation and wonderfully interesting and educative activities for Juliette.... what fun you had. I loved your narrative and pictures. We have been there many times and I wish I had a record of our trips too.

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  2. Jaime MitchellMay 31, 2011 at 10:34 PM

    Wow this looks FUN! We would definitely love this kind of deal but from the looks of the website we should probably wait till Cash is 2. He looks a little too young for most of the activities. Thanks for sharing!

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