Waveland Park

 April 12, 2021

Donna and I took a mid-week trip to Waveland Park on Blue Mountain Lake. We stayed three nights in site #39. This site is along the lower road nearest the lake. We have never stayed in any site along this road as they all appeared to have minimal shade and minimal shade was exactly what we got with no trees on the site. I would definitely avoid these sites in the hot summer. This particular site had the picnic table and fire pit to the driver's side. It was a double wide drive so we stepped out our doors onto pavement but we had to walk all the way around the trailer to access the table and fire pit. Although described as a 39' site you can only use the back 30' (the overall length of our trailer) due to the steep grade into the site. We could not walk directly behind the trailer because it hung out over a 4' tall retaining wall.  All this said it was a clean site that may have been recently rebuilt due to flooding in 2020. We had a great view out the back window of the lake and lots of space between adjacent campsites. It was just odd that from our picnic table area we were looking directly at our neighbor about 50' away.

Once parked and setup it was time for some Cowboy Caviar and a cold cerveza provided by brother John from Trader Joes.

From the campsite you can see swim beach and boat launch area with a clear view to the far side of the lake. This time of year most of the campers are here for crappie fishing. With the the forecast rain and thunder storms several of our neighbors packed up and left. 

Pollen Season

Campsites on the opposite side of the lower road are more secluded and wooded than the lake side. 

Photo from the Intake Area - Our Campsite is in the Cypress Trees Across the Lake

Drive Down to Intake Building

We took a day trip to Mount Magazine for lunch at the lodge while the sun was shining. Made a few stops along the way up and down the mountain. From the overlooks you can see the area around Waveland Park on Blue Mountain Lake below.

Piney Bay Campground

March 21, 2021

Our first trip of 2021 was just 20 miles to Piney Bay Campground with grandchildren for three days of their spring break. Piney Bay Campground is located at the confluence of Big Pine Creek and Little Piney Creek near the western end of Lake Dardanelle in Johnson County. This was the first time camping at Piney Bay since since tent camping with our children. We reserved site B16 on the interior of the B loop. B16 has a tree covered area between the site and the loop road for pretty good privacy and lots of hammocking trees. The only neighbors on the picnic table side were across the road. The site had water and electric hookups with good cell phone reception, but no over the air TV signal.

Sunday night we got to the campground just in time to listen to the radio broadcast of the Razorback basketball game. The game was the NCAA tournament 2nd round and the Hogs defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 68 to 66. The win sent the Hogs on to the sweet 16 game with the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.

Brayden had some new string lights for his bicycle wheels that he had gotten for his birthday. We got them installed and he could hardly wait for night so he could try them out. Below is a short video of the Night Rider in action.

After Breakfast Screen Time

The Perfect Exit Step Parking Job

Afternoon Nap Time for Nana and Poppie

Took a bike ride around the park and got a few pictures. The park camping sites were almost full, but not a lot of activity down at the boat pier or swim beach.

With the cool weather I enjoyed a campfire every night. The children here are seen gathered aground their cell phones!

One year ago we changed our 2020 spring break camping plans after the Corp of Engineers cancelled all park reservations including Greers Ferry due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We were able to change our camping trip to Lake Catherine State Park as they had not closed. We cut this trip short on Wednesday to get to an appointment at Newton Pharmacy for a Maderna Covid-19 vaccine shot. The first of two vaccinations and hopefully the beginning of a return to normal in 2021 from the Covid-19 pandemic.