A cabin in the woods

This weekend, we left for a cabin in the woods and had a much, much needed respite. Plus, I had to prove to our local fly fishing group that I really did exist and I really do fly fish. We decided to take an extra day on the river, so we packed up Thursday and hit the road for Mountain Home, Arkansas.

We woke up shockingly early Friday morning and decided to walk around the town in search of a coffeeshop. We didn't find the coffeeshop while on foot, but we did find a yarn shop. Of course, we stopped by. The Yarn Shop and More storefront wasn't slated to open for another 30 minutes, so Little Clover and I pressed our noses to the window to take a peak. Lo and behold, we saw the shop owner who graciously let us. I guess she could tell I was a knitter in need of a fix. She had a fair selection of sock yarns and was extremely friendly. I left with four balls of Jojoland Melody sock yarn. If you are ever in the Mountain Home area, stop by and see the shop. Bring cash though, she doesn't accept plastic.

After the little yarn detour, we headed towards the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop and Angler's Cafe to gear up and caffinate.

The Angler's Cafe makes a wonderful cappuccino. The owners are again extremely nice and the cafe is tailored to fly fishers. A fly tying table is on the ready in a corner, just in case you need to tie up a couple of flies before heading to the water. The drive through is also boat friendly, providing plenty of room for you and your boat. We loved the coffee enough to stop by the cafe twice. It was good.

After having our fill of coffee, we hit the water. Italian and Little Clover caught a fish almost right away.

I silently applauded and cheered! I was silent because I was on a conference call, while standing in the middle of a river, fly pole in one hand.

I guess, technology is a joy and a bane. Fortunately, the call only lasted 30 minutes, and I didn't have any other work obligations afterwards.

When the water finally came up, we trudged up to our cars and spent some time on Dry Run Creek, a fishing area restricted to fishers 16 and under. We did our best to help Little Clover catch a fish, but they were sneaky and elusive the first day. Finally, we headed to the cabin to check in and see our view.

Which was breathtaking. I spent plenty of time on this trip sitting out on the porch with a coffee or a beer, knitting and watching the river roll by. In fact, I spent enough time to finish the first sock and start on the second (pictures to come later).

The camp as a whole was a great place. The owners and their children live on site, so Little Clover spent some time playing with the kids. He also spent time following the chickens at the camp. He desperately wanted to hold one, but I don't think they ever let him get too close (smart chickens).


The next day was spent back out on the river with our fly fishing club. I had the pleasure of meeting two extraordinary fly fishing guides, and they introduced themselves as if they were regular people! I wonder if they know just how famous they are. At the end of the long day of fishing, I attended my first pig roast.

There is a pig behind the silver pot.

This was Italian's third pig roast which makes my Chicago born hubby more Southern than I am. The pig was from a local farmer and locally process, and yummy. Very yummy. We may not have caught a lot of fish on this trip, but as one of the guides stated, "It's called fishing, not catching." I definitely did catch up on relaxation and that was worth every fish that got away.