Had a great time at Mountain Harbor Resort this year once again. This year the weather was very warm, only one cloudy day with a bit of cool overcast, but even that morning started out warm and there was no rain while we were there this time. Krystin joined me for the first two days…she really needed a break from work….and Kyle joined me for the last two days of the four day stay, and several models and friends joined us along the way from Arkansas as well. I brought back two hundred pounds of quartz crystals and shot over 2500 pics while there, visited Garvan Gardens and saw some spotty color, met and worked with a good photographer friend, Randy Hardy,  from the area and visited with a rock dealer friend, Johnny B,  in Mt Ida as well. I also photographed several nice sunsets over Lake Ouachita and even saw and photographed the new fireboat for Joplin Fire Department, which is hosted and maintained by Mountain Harbor Resort. This is one great place to stay at, very friendly staff and a very dog friendly location to stay at as well. This was my fourth year staying here. I cant say enough good things about the staff at this beautiful location.

One of my local models to the area, Randy, met Krysten and I over at Garvan Gardens to help me as I photographed her in a wedding dress there…this is a beautiful outdoor garden, much like the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis, except that this one sits on a large pointe of Lake Hamilton and features some nice waterfalls…. 

….and a Japanese Joy Moon Bridge like you have never seen before. Krysten looked stunning in the dress there, too…..

On the way back, Kyle and I stopped off at Y City along Highway 71 and explored the waterfalls there…..

…Kyle is a talented acrobat and tumbler and really gets into handstands, so naturally he performed a couple of them on the top of the waterfall there…

and then we drove on to Waldron, where most of my family is from…we drove in on Ross Creek Road, which is another way in, cause it gives you a different view of the farm across the fields….

….and out at the family farm we had a great dinner and visited with several family members and friends.  It was the first weekend of deer season in Arkansas as well and my Uncle Joe cooks for family and friends at the farm where my mom and her brothers and sisters grew up. For many years my grandparents operated a large dairy farm and in the years since my grandfather passed on, my Uncle Joe took over the farmhouse and restored it for a summer house….

My grandfathers barn is still there and my Uncle Harley takes good care of it…

Uncle Joe built a new barn in the pasture across the road from the farmhouse….

  Mid afternoon Kyle and my mom and I started for home, driving through hard rain and arriving later in the evening, tired but very happy after a nice four day vacation in south central Arkansas, as seen below….

 

The first two nights Krysten and I stayed in Cabin 18, closest to the water`s edge, and it has a great view of the marina from the back deck…

and I thought this sunset was gonna be a plain jane sunset, but boy was I in for a surprise a few minutes later….

 

 

…that`s why I shot it framed in the pines, figured it was going to need some help, but soon I could see some cotton candy effects popping up in the clouds above while the water just seemed to sizzle….