Salvaging Fall Break

We all know that the "best laid plans...often go awry," and our fall break this year was no exception. We had hoped to take one last camping trip before the weather got cold, but fortunately we had not yet gotten so far as to actually make those plans when we were struck with the flu. All of us, one by one like dominoes.

It all started about a week prior when Elsa came home from school complaining of a headache. She clearly didn't feel well, but since she had a playdate scheduled, she tried valiantly to carry on. We spent as much time as we could outside, but ultimately ended things a little early (just to assuage my own guilt, I will assert that had I known Elsa likely had the flu, I would have ended the playdate immediately).

The next morning, Lena joined her sister on her sickbed. It wasn't until later in the week when Jon wasn't feeling good that we began to suspect the flu. Early October is very early for flu season, but I guess we're just advanced.

My body waited until the kids were out of school Friday to succumb to my inevitable fate when I quickly realized that Jon and I couldn't both be sick with three kids at home, who by this point were feeling better and stir-crazy, so I had my suspicions confirmed at Urgent Care and started Tamiflu right away.

All of this to say that we were not going camping.

In our experience, the flu this year was brutal, much worse than our bout(s) with Covid, so even after we were "better," we were still pretty tired and not up for an intense vacation experience. However, we still wanted and needed to get out of town, so we took off for a couple of days and found a cabin in our family favorite Mountain View, Arkansas.

I still had to teach on Wednesday (which would have limited our camping plans anyway), so on Thursday morning, we headed west. We have stayed in Mountain View a couple of times, so we revisited some favorite activities and tried some new ones.

After our arrival on Thursday, we immediately went and checked out a bridge because duh, that's what Jon likes to do on vacation. 

First stop: Historic Swinging Bridge over Sylamore Creek

We went out for dinner at a restaurant on the White River and got ready for adventure the next day. On Friday, we did a cave tour of Blanchard Springs Cavern. We had done this tour before, but many years ago, and it was just as impressive. The tour guides were great, and we even got to see the elusive cave salamander. 

I promise this is not photoshopped and actually us in a cave

We took advantage of the nice weather and hiked around Blanchard Springs for a bit before our next adventure of the day: horseback riding. Both Elsa and Lena are old enough to ride on their own horses, so Jon accompanied them and a guide on a wooded trail while Erik and I relaxed and checked out a petting zoo of sorts on the property where the trail rides began.

Erik got to ride a horse too!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we headed into town to walk around and enjoy some ice cream. Mountain View is known for its folk music, and it did not disappoint. There were multiple "jam sessions" scattered around the cute downtown square, and it was fun to sit and listen for a bit. Some of these groups were organized with the same musicians playing together often, but we definitely saw more than one person with an instrument just show up and ask to play.

 

We spent our final day in town at the Ozark Folk Center. The Craft Village was full of small buildings dedicated to a number of different types of crafts. Our favorites included the apothecary, the pottery studio, and the Old Time Print Shop. All of the artisans were more than happy to share their skills, which was both interesting and important to preserving these crafts for future generations.

 

It was time to head home after that, which we did, tired and happy to have salvaged fall break after all. And if we're lucky, we got our flu season out of the way early!