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| lrh | profile | all galleries >> Jasper ARK Pictures >> Jasper (Old Home Page) | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
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Blog Posting(s) By Me About Jasper OVERVIEW Jasper ARK is a sleepy little place we managed to find in mid-2012 while deciding where to spend a week on vacation, as my wife had paid time off. It has become to me what White Lake NC was when I was a child--THE place I absolutely MUST go to every year. All 4 of us really enjoyed it (her family was there part of the time in 2012 & really enjoyed it also). During 2012, with my wife having a week's paid time off & us deciding how to use it, I wanted a place where I could hike in a relaxing scenic atmosphere, get some scenic landscape photos, & enjoy some splash holes also. NO "tourist traps" or "Disneyland" type of places, or places where you paid $150 a night in a resort or timeshare, were wanted. It needed to be close-by, too. My wife at this time wanted to visit her grandfather who lived in Butler MO & wanted to check out nearby Branson MO (especially Silver Dollar City) as she as a child once had almost gone there on a family trip only to have the car break down the day of the trip, thus she had never gone. Her grandfather was willing to meet up with us in Branson MO, & she was really wanting to see him, but I didn't want an entire week centered on that. I looked around & found this place (via swimmingholes.org) which seemed just like what I had been looking for, and then out of curiosity checked to see how far it was from Branson. Turns out it was only an hour away. It hit me--we could vacation there & zip up 1 hour to Branson to meet her grandfather on that 1 day & check out Branson that day as well, & then immediately return back to this place & resume what we had been doing. That is exactly how it worked out--just as I predicted, we had lunch with her grandfather which was over within 1-2 hours (as much on his part as anyone else's), and with that family obligation done (and with photos to boot, with me being the one to make sure it happened), we could resume doing whatever. Once my wife saw the crowded "tourist-y" nature of Branson & heard how expensive everything was, and how it contrasted with the less hectic nature of Jasper, she was as anxious to return to Jasper as I was. After I found interesting spots in Jasper at swimmingholes.org/ar.html (which is how I found out about Jasper to start wtih), she found cabins & the teen ("Zack") I called at the cabins was very helpful on the phone & made it sound like there were TONS of scenic & splash spots nearby, and in fact there were. The people at the cabin were very nice, our cabin happened to be immediately adjacent to a fenced-in playground where the kids could play vs being cooped up in the cabin & we didn't have to hover over them, & in fact at one point when our son of only 3 had wandered off with the cabin owner's kids while she was chit-chatting with us in our place, rather than panicking & launching into a "YOU SHOULD WATCH YOUR KIDS MORE CLOSELY!!" sermon, she shrugged it off with a "he's probably fine, he's probably went with my kids down by the pool" (her kids had been with her while she was with us & then left to go to the pool). We really liked that. Later, I learned that life-long great friend KSG was somewhat familiar with the area, if not Jasper specifically, & was also fond it. The possibility thus was mentioned of that one day he may join us on some of that, & talk has even occurred of us (or him etc) one day possibly LIVING in the area somewhat. So--with the relaxed atmosphere and anti-"tourist trap" nature of the town, the beautiful scenic/splash spots that cost nothing (or close to nothing) and are very quiet, & the friendly-laid-back atmosphere of the cabin, we 4 really enjoyed it and so did her parents during the brief period they were also around (to visit the grandfather also). Thus, it has become the White Lake of the present, the place we all want to go to every year. That KSG also likes it & shares in our enthusiasm of the place & may join us for part of it one day further enhances our mood of the place. ATTRACTIONS Some of the places we've gone (or pondered going) & the GPS coordinates: 33.12315, -94.17950 (Texas BBQ in Atlanta TX, ate here on the way in) Maps Link 36.02014, -93.17570 (Dogwood Springs Cabin, where we stay) Maps Link 36.00387, -93.19468 (Bradley Park) Maps Link 36.01870, -93.35710 (Ponca Access Entrance) Maps Link 36.01009, -93.37428 (Lost Trail) Maps Link 36.02977, -93.34217 (Steel Creek) Maps Link 36.03022, -93.24899 (Boy Scout Falls) Maps Link 36.06139, -93.13888 (Pruitt Swimming Hole) Maps Link 36.062024, -93.137267 (Pruitt, parking for accessing "Lower" from the top for high jumps, where we accessed it 1st time in 2012) 36.06500, -93.15917 (Ozark Campground) Maps Link 35.87917, -93.04472 (Sam's Throne) Maps Link 35.92208, -93.06006 (Eagle Rock Cafe, Mt Judea) Maps Link 35.98419, -93.04162 (Carver) Maps Link 35.99478, -93.04205 (Blue Hole) Maps Link 35.75821, -92.93647 (Intersection Falls, Waterfalls Book p 88) Maps Link 35.72194, -92.94944 (Falling WaterFalls, Swimming Holes Ozark Book p 44) Maps Link 35.72371, -93.01443 (Pedestal Rocks King's Bluff, Near Ben Hur) Maps Link 36.00479, -93.29269 (A Zipline Place I Found, Bryan Will LOVE It) Maps Link Links New for 2017: Good site for getting GPS Coordinates of "family trail" spots (Collier Listing) New for 2017: My custom map in "My Maps" Blog Posting(s) By Me About Jasper Wikipedia Entry on Jasper ARK Swimming Holes.Org Arkansas Where I Found the Spots Swimming Holes of the Ozarks, (ISBN 1-882906-51-9), a Book I Bought Between 2012-2013 for Finding Holes in the Ozarks Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook By Tim Ernst, We Bought This Book at the Ranger Station in 2012 Dogwood Springs Cabin Where We Stayed (If you click "attractions" you will see they used some of my 2012 photos) Zipline Place I Found in 2013 (Bryan Will LOVE It) Photos From Others: #1 and #2 HTML Table Maker HTML Color Picker 2015: Table Making & In-Page Linking in Blogspot (my page) |
Syntax for Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/?q=35.9892,-92.7675&hl=en&gl=us
Backup/Import Garmin Nuvi Favorites: http://forums.gpsreview.net/discussion/10211/backing-up-favorites-garmin-nuvi (style=105)
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