Page 11 - Explore Arkansas 2020

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETE FILE PHOTO The Mark 22 3-inch, 50-caliber gun onshore at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock is believed to have been used in antiaircraft gunnery training at Camp Robinson. The
gun was manufactured in 1943.
The museum recently underwent an extensive renovation project to update the 190-year-old building. The reno- vation included repairing the wooden porches on the exterior, upgrading the lighting and adding a modern heating/ cooling system. McAteer said the up- graded air conditioning helps control the humidity and makes the museum more comfortable for guests and events.
“I think it’s important for people in Little Rock, Arkansas, to be able to come and visit a building, to come visit the grounds, where some of these important events that happened in our state’s military past actually occurred,” he said.
BY SAM PIERCE
CREATIVE SERVICES WRITER
The state of Arkansas offers a wide range of outdoor activities, including golf, kayaking, zip lining, scuba diving and more.
Steve Spivey is the owner of the Scu- ba and Archery Center, at 121 Gilchrist in Hot Springs. Spivey has been diving since 1969 and has been an instructor since 1985. The shop opened in 1990.
“If people are like me, they saw scuba diving on TV, and it piqued their inter- est,” he said. “Or they have a friend who is a diver, or it is a spouse who is getting tired of just sitting in the boat and watch- ing the bubbles, and they want to get in there, too.”
Spivey said Lake Ouachita is great for a fresh-water dive site.
“We are very blessed to have it in our backyard because of the clarity of the wa- ter,” Spivey said.
He said it is a great lake for boat div- ing, and he will gladly show people sites of interest.
The Scuba School in Morrilton, at 116 E. Railroad Ave., is owned by Glen and Lynn Masker. Glen has been a teacher for 25 years and has been diving for 45. He said that for the past six years, he hasn’t even had a salary. He just wants to share the underwater world with everybody else.
“We are born in water, spending nine months in the womb, and when we leave the womb, we are trying to get back into the water,” he said. “It is a healing quality, and people really want to do something that is fun and clean, especially families.”
The Scuba School offers training and certification classes, as well as tours and activities for guests to ensure that every diver is knowledgeable and comfortable in all aspects of diving. For more infor- mation, visit thescubaschool.com.
Ozark Mountain Ziplines in Eureka Springs offers a Costa Rican Style Zipline Canopy Tour with 10 zip-line cables and one swinging bridge. According to its website, ziplineeurekasprings.com, Ozark Mountain has “the highest and longest cables in Arkansas, ranging from 500 to 2,000 feet long.” The tour lasts approxi- mately two hours for ages 3 and older.
We stand up to most other
golf courses around the
state and the area, and it is
going to be as good a course as
you can find in our area.”
— TODD DUNNAWAY HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL, BIG CREEK GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
Nestled between two lakes in Mountain Home is an unexpected surprise with the Big Creek Golf and Country Club, at 452 Country Club Drive.
“We stand up to most other golf cours- es around the state and the area, and it is going to be as good a course as you can find in our area,” said Todd Dunnaway, the head golf professional. “It is one of the top courses in the state.”
According to its website, bigcreek golf.com, Big Creek has won Golf Digest’s Best Places to Play coveted five- star ranking multiple times and features “white sand bunkers, L-93 bentgrass greens and beautiful zoysia fairways.” For more information, call (870) 425-8815.
“We have been opened throughout this time, following the sanitizing process recommended by the governor and [the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion],” Dunnaway said. “Prior to every- thing, we were a travel destination and a popular destination, with the trout fishing on the White River.”
The White Buffalo Resort in Mountain Home has been owned by Matthew and Kyla Leiboult since 2018.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, our guests are here for the trout fishing on the White River,” Matthew said. “We have guided fishing, and some people are here to enjoy fishing while they are out in nature.”
The resort offers canoes and kayaks for trips on the White River, as well as hiking. Leiboult said the resort is locat- ed right where the Buffalo River ends, so guests can spend the morning on the White River and the afternoon on the Buffalo. He said both offer completely different fish habitats.
For more information, visit white buffaloresort.com.
EXPLORE ARKANSAS 11P UNLIMITED ADVENTURES AWAIT
State offers a wide range of outdoor activities
SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020 • ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
UNITED STATES
MARSHALS MUSEUM
enters final phase of fundraising
Dedicated to the United States’ oldest law enforcement agency, the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith is working to raise the final $13.6 million of its capital cam- paign. Construction of the museum building was completed in Janu- ary, and the staff was preparing to move into the building before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Marshals Museum Foun- dation is focusing on raising $8 mil- lion of the remaining funds to start its museum experience. The museum will have five permanent galleries, named To Be A Marshal, The Camp- fire: Stories Under The Stars, Frontier Marshals, A Changing Nation and Modern Marshals. These exhibits will be created by Los Angeles firm Think- well Group and will be an innova- tive and technical experience to give visitors the opportunity to learn the history of the marshals service, said Alice Alt, president of the foundation. Thinkwell has created experiences for firms such as Warner Bros., the Center for Puppetry Arts and Google.
Officials hope the museum will be ready to open about 15 months after raising the next $8 million.
For more information, visit usmmuseum.org.
For more littlerock.gov.
information,
visit
JENKINS’ FERRY BATTLEGROUND STATE PARK
Military-history buffs can also vis- it the Jenkins’ Ferry Battleground State Park in Leola to see where three Civil War battles took place during the Union Army’s Red River Campaign, and Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park is one of the best-preserved Civil War battlefields in the U.S. Confederate and Union forces clashed there in 1862, and the fighting resulted in 2,700 casualties. It was also the last major Civil War engagement in Northwest Arkansas.
For more information, visit arkansas stateparks.com.
Arkansas is also home to three active military installations. These include the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jackson- ville, Camp Joseph T. Robinson in North Little Rock and the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Pine Bluff.