Horseshoe Bend, AR

David and I purchased some Sky Auction certificates for one-week stays at a number of resorts. A couple have been very good and one was a disaster. I think these certificates are actually for units that are rented, not those for regular time share owners. They are much nicer than hotel rooms (at least some of them are) and much cheaper. You can't complain when you have a nice bedroom, bath, living room, kitchen, dining room and access to the resort facilities. However, you need to think about where you would like to visit. The places you might like to visit may be where everyone else would like to visit, and there may never be a unit available for you to choose.

We have to make reservations to use our certificates by the end of the year, although we can make the reservations as far out as June of 2010. I was looking at areas around Kansas City and found the Crown Point Resort at Horseshoe Bend, AR. Now, I'm from Arkansas and what follows is allowed since I am from Arkansas.

The Ozarks are very pretty mountains. They are not impressive like the Rockies or the Cascades, but they are still nice. But to get to our resort, we had to go through quite a few little dots on the map that are not so pretty and some that are downright ugly. This area is not affluent and the homes aren't always kept pristine and neat. You see lots of trash and old cars and just junk in the yards. It's sad to see, but the people that live here probably don't even notice, and what is distasteful to some may not be distasteful to others. Clutter and tons of knick knacks drive me nuts. I feel closed in. I could not live here!

I was starting to get very nervous about where we were going to be staying, especially when we turned off the highway and the area became very rural. The roads were not marked well, our Nuvi couldn't tell us where to go and if I hadn't seen the sign directing us to the resort, we would be in Little Rock now.

When we finally found the resort, we were pleasantly surprised. The resort is so nice and our unit is right on the water.

We have a nice deck with some rocking chairs and I'm going to make some coffee and go out there and sit, maybe read. I'm going to take it easy....I'm afraid to leave, I may never be able to find my way back to the resort!! Ha, ha!

More to come, later!