We've been traveling

We got back in today from a few days spent at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.  Before that we went to Springfield, Missouri.

Our trip to the Ozark Folk Center was great.  We traveled first to Harrison, AR and spent the night in the Days Inn and ate at the nearby Chinese restaurant.  When we got back to the motel, we watched Meet the Fockers on HBO.

The next day we drove to Mountain View.  The weather was perfect with daytime highs in the seventies and nighttime lows in the fifties.  The first thing we did on our arrival in the small Arkansas town of about 2,000 people, was stop at McFadden's Dulcimer Shop.  The have dulcimers but a lot more besides.  It is a music store that has a little of everything.  I bought a tee shirt there.  They have many music books which I browsed.  In the back of the store are two workers constantly building dulcimers.  We drove on down to the cabin rental office.  Although we had reserved a room for two nights, they had recorded only one night.  They were booked up for Thursday night.  We had to make other arrangements.  I phoned a motel in town and booked a room for Thursday night.

The peak tourist season had passed.  The two days we were there, few people were around.  Sometimes you would go into a craftsperson's shop and be the only tourist in there.  There are about 20 shops in the village.  There is one new shop this year -- a glass beads shop.  The workers tell about their craft while making some object.  In the center of the village is a pavalion with live music.  A different act is booked for each day the village is open.  In the evening, five or so acts put on a two-hour show in the auditorium.  We attended the show each night we were there.  All music is performed on acoustic instruments and had to have been written before 1941.  Gospel and Bluegrass are the styles most popular there.

While at the Folk Center we ate at The Skillet restaurant.  We sat at our table and watched the squirrels play outside the plate glass windows.