Wednesday Wanderings – DeGray Lake State Park, and some other places

Many of you may already know that on Saturday I ran That Dam Night Run 5K in Arkadelphia, AR at DeGray Lake State Park.

Well, for the record, I finished 68/821 with a time of 26:08.41. Not quite my goal of 25min, but I’m going to run another 5K on Aug 21 – and I WILL do it! I’m SO close! And I’ll try to get more than 4 hrs of sleep the night before, and wear socks. Oh, and not roll my ankle two weeks before.

The run started kind of late, so it was mostly dark by the time we got to the dam. but the view was really pretty anyway. A bunch of people had parked(?) their boats below the dam and cheered us as we ran across the dam. It was kind of neat.

Before the run, my mom and I took Joseline and Vince to swim in the lake. They have a nice day use area with two different “beaches” (sand that has been trucked in to the lake and dumped on the side of the lake to make a “beach”). The water is pretty warm, since it has been nearly 100 degrees for the past several weeks. And if you go out into the deep water, the top 6” – 1’ of water is warm, and then everything under that is refreshingly cold. The lake is murky, of course... since it’s a lake. On the bright side, no sharks to worry about. No waves, either (or undertow). So a pretty safe place to play with the kiddos.

Vincente and Joseline loved the water, of course. You do have to pay to get in to the day use area - $1/person (adults) up to $4/car. We paid $2. We swam, and then mom dropped me off at the race, and took the kids back to the beach to eat fresh fruit we bought on the way out from one of the many produce stands dotting the highways of Arkansas.

Afterward, we drove up to Hot Springs and filled up about seven 5 gallon jugs full of hot spring water (that’s what we drink around here and I LOVE it! We don’t drink it hot, of course, we put it in the water dispenser/cooler thing). The city of Hot Springs has little “water stations” throughout the downtown district where anyone can just come fill up their containers full of hot water. It’s pretty awesome. And can you say free water?

On our way to fill up the water we stopped by Dairy Queen. We got food and shakes and Blizzards. It was fabulous, since I was starving, having not eaten since looong before the race!

In all it was a nice little trip, and Lake DeGray was fabulous as usual.

Ratings:

Value -

Well, since the water at Hot Springs is free, and the Lake only cost $2, I have to say this was a pretty decent value.

Location -

Four stars because is is far away from Little Rock (well, only about an hour) – but it is a gorgeous location. We actually had our JTSmith family reunion here one summer years and years ago. So, there are camping facilities, too (and boat docks/marinas/etc – you can rent barges and other boats).

Fun Factor -

Four stars because I love being at the lake, but I realize not everyone feels the same way I do. You kind of make your own fun when you’re out “in the wild.” The company probably makes it the most fun.