The fam and I wanted to see some Autumn leaves this year (you know, the brightly colored things we don't have in Texas).

I studied the websites (like [----]) to decide where to go and basically found out that this year everyone was dry and so the leaves basically sucked pretty much everywhere. But then I found out Arkansas got some rain in the last two weeks and they were pretty at the end of October. I wanted something different and peaceful..not your average hotel/motel thing. So, I happened to stumble upon the website of the River Spirit Retreat (via [----]...but that's another story).

When I talked to the owner, she kept saying, 'you know it is remote'. I told her that is what I was looking for...a cute 'not-so-rustic' cabin in a relatively remote location that we could use as a base of operations. By the time she said 'you know it is remote' about the 4th time, I was thinking maybe this place was in Deliverance Country. Then, she told me we needed to bring our groceries in with us because 'it was so remote'. Somewhere I heard Dueling Banjos playing. Then she said she didn't take credit cards, but that I could mail her the deposit check, and make sure I rent a car with a high clearance, because....'it is so remote'. When she sent me directions on how to get in there from the highway, I intentionally didn't show them to my travel buddy, because she would have passed out.

(Excerpt: Continue past a farm with a barn on the right, you will come to a fork in the road. There is a whitish colored house on the right along with several mailboxes at the fork. You want to take the left fork here which goes sharply uphill. There you will notice a road going off to the right with several mailboxes. Do not take this road to the right. Instead stay on the main road which curves gently away to the left. You will come to a group of mailboxes on the right and a driveway/road to the left. Do not take this.)

Anyway, we rented an SUV (highly recommended) and took I-75 up through Oklahoma and I-40 at Fort Smith and went over to Jasper at the top of Route 7 (the leaves were only so-so up till this point), but by the time we got to her off-the-road directions, the leaves were fairly spectacular.

The road into the retreat is washboard gravel and dirt and not for someone with a back condition. The locals ride their horses and ATV's on it. We got lost several times and as a result barely got in before the sun set (at 4:30pm in the mountains!!).

Having said all of that, let me just tell you that the place was absolutely lovely. The Guest Cottage is a darling little cabin with an upstairs loft and a full kitchen and bath. The place was spotless. Not one item was overlooked. It had a toaster, coffee pot with coffee and filters, silverware, dishes, refrigerator and feather comforter, books, vcr, huge TV and videotapes, a cute little porch with a hanging swing and table and chairs and chimes, etc. etc. This was my kind of rustic. Each cabin is by its lonesome surrounded by meditation gardens and beautiful trees. Down below is a fast current river that has a trail along side. This is a fabulous hiking place. The woods are very quiet, surrounded by mountains and there is a very friendly Labrador that comes to visit you in the jacuzzi. This is definitely a place to lower your blood pressure.

We found out that it wasnt nearly so 'remote' as first thought. The town of Parthenon is pretty sleepy, but just down the hill at Jasper is a great restaurant, the Ozark Cafe, that lots of canoers eat at when they canoe down the Buffalo river. It has full southern breakfasts and is a great place to swap travel routes with the bikers who love the winding scenic roads of Highway 7, Route 65 and 123. The town also has some cute stores to shop.

All in all, I wish I had a week or two to spend there. Exactly what the Doctor ordered!