Labor Day!! (better late than never...right?)

Jeff and I went to Bull Shoals lake for Labor Day weekend. Let me just tell you that Bull Shoals may be the cleanest lake in Arkansas!!!!!! If you ever get a chance to go there - DO IT! It was amazing...completely gorgeous. We stayed in my dad's little pop-up camper down below the dam on the White River. Our campsite was really nice - a huge step up from being in a tent. This was my first time to EVER go camping in a camper!!!! Can you believe that? Of course, the camper is so small, it's really just a glorified tent - but still!! :)


So Saturday & Sunday we drove up to the lake & paddled our canoe around the lake near the dam. The water was amazing. Crystal clear!! And the bluffs & rock ledges all around the lake were beautiful. It was kind of like being at a coral reef or something. I just could not get over how clear the water was...you could see rocks waaaaaaaay down & all kinds of fish swimming around the rocks. My only regret was that we did not discover this place earlier in the summer!! We would have made several trip there. Jeff was snorkeling at one point & came face to face with a HUGE catfish! He reached in his little 'cave' and touched his face before he shot off. So cool.


Of course, the White river is known for it's trout fishing, so one of my ultimate goals while we were there was to catch my first Rainbow Trout! I didn't care if I caught anything else that weekend - I just wanted one rainbow trout. Jeff hooked me up with a fishing lure that has proven effective every time to catch a trout. Well, after about 15 minutes of casting - I CAUGHT ONE!!!!! I was so excited, I'm sure the entire community of Lakeview heard my screams! I worked so hard to reel him in - those things fight hard! Here's my prize catch (i had to have Jeff hold him b/c he was soooo feisty)









Funny story - not long after I caught this fish, Jeff turned around to change fishing spots when he saw our canoe FLOATING DOWN THE RIVER!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, it stayed in shallow water which allowed Jeff to run & catch it. Apparently they had started generating water from the dam & the water level was rising quickly. Our sandbar that we had parked on was disappearing fast!!! We could have easily been in big trouble. Whew!!



A few more pics from the weekend...



The Bull Shoals Dam

I think this was on the White river

Our redneck camper set up! I was a little embarrassed b/c we were surrounded by nice fancy campers & here we are with our tiny pop-up & a beat up bright blue tarp draped over it. But we were afraid it would rain & possibly leak, so Jeff had to rig up something to guard against the rain. It was a pretty funny site, but oh well! We stayed dry.

Such a great trip!!!!