Elita and I had a three day weekend lined up so we headed west Thursday afternoon after work. We stayed the night at Shangri La near Mt Ida on Lake Ouachita. Dinner there was just fair. The restaurant is better for lunch an breakfast. By 4:15 a.m. we departed said lodging and motored onward towards Mena where we had an pretty darn good breakfast at the Skyline Cafe. By moon set and before sunrise we were straddling the backbone of Talimena Scenic Drive. Luckily the fog was deep within the valleys below and not curtaining our views from the ridge tops. The temp was 45 or so and breezy.
We proceeded west and checked out a couple of state parks that not were very exciting. The roads then turned northwest towards Fort Smith. It rained that afternoon from Oklahoma to Fayetteville where we spent the night. The morning found us along the Mulberry River and eventually at the Oark Cafe where we had a great breakfast. We worked our way towards Hwy 7 and headed home. The day had turned sunny and 36 degrees when we left the northwest part of the state. Overall it was a nice trip.