CRA Class of 1987

Wow it is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since I graduated from high school. This past Saturday a group of 15 of my former classmates gathered in Memphis at a Redbirds game in order to celebrate the two decade milestone. We had a great time. The Redbirds have party decks that you can buy tickets to and there they serve all the food you can eat while providing you with a pretty cool place for a party.

It was a lot of fun catching up on what everybody has been doing. I see some of my classmates on a somewhat regular basis but we don't just sit down and have a good talk. Like I said I really enjoyed it. I do wish that some of the ones that didn't come would have been able to make it.

They had to run us out of the stadium after the game was over. We then took the party to the world renown Memphis eating establishment known as Denny's. (I think that would be a good restaurant to franchise.) Oh wait, you mean they do? We stayed at Denny's way to late and got home even later, but it was worth it.

Oh by the way, the Redbirds lost. I hardly even knew that there was a game being played.

Mt. View

This week Darah and I wanted to take a short vacation, we just couldn't decide where. After much deliberation we decided to just go to Cherokee Village and then on to Lake Norfork. We spent the 4th of July on the lake and had a great time with some of her family. The next day we got up and I decided on a whim to drive to Mt. View.

I had not been to Mt. View in over 25 years. The only expectations I had were from faded memories of a childhood visit and a recent article I read in National Geographic Adventure. The magazine writer said that Mt. View was a nice little place tucked in the middle of Arkansas worth visiting. Wow, was the author correct. We had a great time there.

When we travel we try to each lunch at a local place to get a feel for the town or area. Yesterday we ate at Wood's Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, a throwback to the old days of an ice cream shop in a pharmacy. We had sandwiches that were great. We didn't try the ice cream. We will have to go back to do that.

The town center is a square of shops with an old courthouse in the middle. There are some very nice gift shops such as: A Timeless Touch, The CornerStone Shoppe, Stone County Ironworks and other artisan shops. One of our favorite places was a fudge shop called Candy Bouquet & Stonebrook Fudge Factory. All of there fudge is homemade and great. I got chocolate and peanut butter fudge, Darah got chocolate and strawberry fudge. She also got a very good lemonade there. We also visited a old country store and bought boiled peanuts. Yum.

Surrounding the square are nice bed and breakfast establishments if you are inclined to stay in the area over night. We were just spending the day there, but we will be going back in the fall. We can't wait.