Maumelle Park, COE

At Maumelle Park, COE, Little Rock, AR

We have been coming to Maumelle Park for the last 7 years.  We typically get spots between A-12 to A-17, which give us a good view of the river, of the marina, and typically a good, quiet stay. It is a COE park, which means United States Army Corps of Engineers.  There are many of them along the Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and other rivers that have dams along them.  If you have a National Park Senior Pass, it is only half price...$13 per night.

This year I think we could have gotten just about any spot and found it to be quiet, and acceptable.  Yes, there was a group or two at the pavilion area during the day…and our neighbor from Indiana has older kids who put up a tent in their spot for a visit…but overall it has been very quiet and acceptable.  In fact, our neighbors to the east of us never showed up for the weekend….SCORE!  With UAMS medical spots right across from us (only one of five being used) it is like we are nearly alone except to our west…and they are leaving Sunday or Monday at the latest.  Overall, the park is about two-thirds full.

Section A, where we try to get into each time we visit, is close to this marina…the thing about being close to the marina is that boats have to go very slow as they come by it…unless they are on the far side of the river…so the noise level is very low.

This is looking to the east, towards Little Rock.  It is just so peaceful…makes the park such a nice place to stay.

  

Lots and lots of fishing in this area…I am sure most of it is for bass.  Each year the Arkansas “Simmons Bank Big Bass Bonanza” takes place along the Arkansas River (June time period).  $50K to the winner…it is big time stuff.  I am sure other fish are also caught…but Bass is the big prize.  They fish from the banks and from boats…mostly from boats for the tournament.   I remember living along the river in Pine Bluff and each year when the tournament took place, the noise of the boats leaving was enough to wake the dead.

First thing I heard was the sound of a woodpecker…use to hear woodpeckers all the time when I lived along the river in Pine Bluff.

  

All along the river you can find Canadian Geese.  In Pine Bluff many of the Geese stayed around all year.  There have been cases where the Geese population have been so numerous along some golf courses that they employee dogs to chase them away each day so that golfers don’t get too much bird poop on their shoes.

Here is a sister to our Motorhome...at least it looks like it is our sister.  It is a Phoenix Cruiser, made by a totally different company.  I have seen many Phoenix Cruisers that have the same style as our Dynamax Isata…but I think our Dynamax is a bit better construction…but these Phoenix Cruisers are pretty good.

This is a big sister to our Motorhome…but I have no idea who the manufacturer is.  It is probably 36-40 feet in length…and might be a DynaQuest, or a DynaMax…but it could be a totally different manufacturer.  It is a beast, that is for sure.

  

  

There are many different types and styles of RVs here at the park.  Today it rained pretty good, and some of the pictures show the water around the rigs.  In Arkansas, when it rains, it normally dries up pretty fast.  Tomorrow much of the water will be gone, and the ground will be hard enough to walk on.  Most of the sites today did not have water on the pads…but they did have standing water on the grass near the pads.  At least it was not very severe weather…I think we have lucked out on that this trip.

Cave Creek Regional Park—Return Visit

We return to Phoenix with heavy hearts with the loss of Marcia’s long time friend, lifelong friend, Joyce.  While in the Smoky Mountains we found out that things looked real bad.  Joyce had walked into the hospital on Thursday, by Friday she was bed ridden.  On Sunday we decided to alter our trip to try and make it out to Phoenix as quick as we could with still getting promised visits in with Marcia’s relatives in Indiana, and my doctor appointment, which I moved up, in Arkansas.  Well, we did not even get out of Indiana before Joyce passed away on Wednesday from Leukemia.  We are here now to see her daughter Laurie, and attend the Celebration of Life on Sunday where all of Joyce’s adult children will be there…many of whom Marcia has not seen for many years.

This is our second or third time at Cave Creek.  The first picture shows us in the pull-through, the last available for a week, while this picture above is what our door opens up to.  No grass for the kids, but this sandy gravel is something they don’t seem to mind…no stickers to deal with.

    

This time of year there are few people in the park, although I expect the weekend will bring in a few more.  We did not make reservations because that cost extra…and I could tell from the website that there were many sites to choose from for a full week, over half of the spots…so I don’t expect it to get too busy at all.

Our drive down from Camp Verde was not long, about 70 miles, but the wind did not make it easy.  About half way there is a rest area, and we stopped just to give my hands a rest because we were being blown back and forth a lot at times.  On the outskirts of Phoenix there is a Walmart and a Denny’s…we did Denny’s first so that we would not buy all the junk food that we can’t have.  Denny’s are Denny’s, but we had an exceptional server named Candice, and that made Denny’s feel more like a real restaurant this time.  Then nearly an hour in Walmart, and getting out of there for under $100, we put our stuff away, I re-hooked up the car, and off we went to Cave Creek.

After a bit of a rest, Skruffy and I stepped outside to see what we could see.  Most of the following pictures were taken sitting around this table…

I just love Quail…and I don’t mean the “taste” to Quail, I mean I love seeing them, and hearing them.  This one skirted along the road behind the motorhome…when they start a running, you don’t have much time to take the picture.

    

It looks like the bunny and Skruffy were having a stare down.  In the picture to the right, just follow her nose and you will see the bunny.  Unfortunately, Skruffy did not see the Bunny at all, even though it was that close.  Her poor Diabetic eyes are just not what they use to be.  Her hearing and her smell seem to be more enhanced, but she is more startled by loud noises, and if Marcia and I are laughing at a TV show, she will even go hide in the bedroom.

This little guy was just as happy as can be on top of this saguaro cactus.  The cactus was far away, and many of the shots did not come out very clear.  Not sure what type of bird this is, I know there are many birds that love saguaros…but I think this is a Gila Woodpecker.

This guy walked right in front of us.  Skruffy did see it, but she ignores most birds.

This pair were out under the ‘tent’ looking area just outside our campsite.  For awhile I thought I was going to have an “Adult Blog” today…but one of them finally just chased the other one away.

It looks like we are a few weeks too late for most of the desert blooms…

But regardless, it is nice to be back in the desert at Cave Creek.

For my Sis…

Sister Sandy, saw this picture and just had to take it, just for you. 

Do you see why yet????

How about now???? 

Do you see it yet????

Now you see it…actually them.  Took the doggies out for a walk this afternoon and ran back in to get the camera when I saw these SEVEN turtles sunning on this log.  (Of course, you can almost count the reflection as Turtles too, which would make it fourteen.)

    

Here are the seven, three in the first shot (upper left), four in the next shot (upper right), and that little thing on the long log in the middle did not turn out to be a baby turtle, just part of the log.

As I was getting a picture of the turtles, I hear a pounding from above…and after awhile this little guy settled down for some banging and pounding in a position that I could finally get a picture of him.

Reminded me of when I lived in the the 5th wheel in Pine Bluff before I retired…use to see these little guys all day long, especially in the winter when the leaves where off the trees.  Gotta love them woodpeckers!

Speaking of Pine Bluff, every year we come to Little Rock we make it a point to see Mike and Jana, and this time we had dinner at Olive Garden.  Jana worked for me at the Library, and was one of the best staff members I ever hired.  Marcia and I were able to attend their wedding back in 2011, and we just really enjoy seeing them.  We were in Olive Garden for about three hours, and could have stayed for many more hours had we not needed to get back to the doggies, and they back to their doggies down by Pine Bluff.

Saw this good looking guy too….he was really singing away.   Tomorrow is my appointment with the doctor, and we head out of town for Florida as soon as we can after the appointment.  As for our colds, we are much better, but this cold seems to linger on, and mornings are the worse after laying down through the night. We plan to make Vicksburg tomorrow night, near Tallahassee on Friday night, and home by early afternoon on Saturday.