Lake Ouachita at Sunset

 These pictures are backwards, so you get the sunset first.  Anyway, after leaving Crater of the Diamonds State Park around noonish, we drove to Lake Ouachita and got there just perfectly timed to launch our canoes and paddle to an island and set up our tents before sunset.  It was kind of funny because we were driving through Avant, the last little town before the boat launch, and a couple in another car flagged us down to ask us where we were going, told us how to get there, and told us where their house was in case we didn't find it.  Southern hospitality at its finest.  

It was cold at night. I'm pretty wimpy about the cold.  Burr....

But the sunset was incredible!!

We just randomly picked an island, but we were roughly following the Rabbit Tail Canoe Trail.  

The island looks so beautiful, but then what you don't see is an old nasty mattress, a rusty washing machine, etc.  I wanted to love it, but it really doesn't have the same remoteness of the mountains in the West or the deserts of Southern Utah.  Unfortunately, I'll probably always compare everything to them.  😬 To be fair, I'd go back to Arkansas in a heartbeat to vacation, I thought the Ozarks were gorgeous and the photos I've seen of Lake Ouachita in the summer are beautiful.  I think the cold and lack of leaves and that the ground was literally covered in spiders once it got dark didn't help things.  I definitely kept mum about the spiders to the kids!

Just arriving.

I love being out on the water like this.  It's just to so peaceful and you have time to observe so much, but yet you're active paddling too, and a hint of adrenaline if some rapids are thrown in. I think hiking is similar, peaceful but strenuous--I can't think of many other activities like them.  But those two are definitely my favorite.   Too bad this is a lake and not a river with rapids.  Actually though, going here boosted our confidence to go canoe camping. Leo was always somewhat pessimistic about the idea before this, but now he's far more willing to go.    

We were 100% better as a team canoeing this time.  Elena and Isabel were really picking it up.  The green kayak was a bit much for Sebastian to handle though.  I think it was just too big for him then.

Anyway, good times!