Thursday, April 21, 2011
Arkansas
We headed for Arkansas at 9:00 this morning. There wasn’t any hurry to get to Village Creek State Park because check-in is at 4:00 pm. It was a fairly easy drive (6 1/2 hours).
We got into a heavy rain once we crossed into Arkansas that lasted about 20 miles. The ditches and fields are flooded and we have been hearing weather reports the last couple of days about heaving rains and tornadoes in the area. We saw several large highway signs that were on the ground, probably blown over by strong winds.
Village Creek State Park is beautiful! The park staff are very nice. We got a long back-in spot that backs up to a little creek where we have heard some very interesting sounding frogs. Mark recorded them and we will try to get them identified. We never did see any of them. They sounded like they were in the trees. We also have seen an amazing number of birds in the first hour we were here!
Our site
There are programs every evening and some during the day. We plan on going to as many as we can. The first one this evening (4:00 pm) was about red and gray foxes. It only lasted about 30 minutes but the park interpreter had pelts that she passed around.
Tulip Tree (Yellow Poplar)
A member of the magnolia family, it is called "tulip tree" for the waxy, yellow tulip-like blossoms which appear in April and May. The seeds are in an unusual woody pod. In the fall, the leaves turn a rich golden-yellow. Crowley's Ridge is the only place in Arkansas where tulip trees grow naturally.
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