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Intro We started going to Jasper in 2012. During this time my wife wanted to visit her grandfather who lived in Butler MO. I was against doing this because I saw nothing worth visiting in the area, and her grandfather wasn't a very sociable person and thus I had no interest in staying in his home for an entire week. She instead convinced him to meet us in Branson MO, which had Silver Dollar City (where she had almost visited as a child before their car broke down) and I started looking for spots we could vacation at for a period and then continue in Branson. I wanted somewhere scenic for good landscape photography shots and good holes for swimming, and for it to be in a quiet area. I found Jasper ARK in my research, and upon discovering that it was only an hour from Branson, I felt like we'd found our spot. We could enjoy Jasper, take a quick "side trip" to Branson to visit her grandfather, and this visit would probably last 2-odd hours before being over, at which time we could then quickly return to Jasper and carry on as we were. That is in fact exactly how it happened. (As for Silver Dollar City, we quickly lost interest when we saw how crazy and busy it was.)

We have returned to the area almost every year since. The exceptions: 2014, when we had serious issues going on in our family, 2019, when I visited KSG instead, and 2023 when we vacationed in AL hoping to see my mother and KSG reunited for one last time (unfortunatley my mother died before this could happen). Thus we have visited in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024.

Starting in 2024 we changed it slightly, vacationing in Marshall, which is about an hour from Jasper but has many of the same spots, plus other newer ones which were nonetheless similar to the prior Jasper ones. This allowed us to sort of "freshen things up" but without changing everything completely, it provides a "mix" of some of the same spots as before (Shine Eye, Grinder's Ferry, Collier Homestead, Faling Waterfalls) while providing newer ones such as Archey Fork. Also, Marshall has more restaurants without being a large town, and the cabin is roomy yet remote.