Crown Point Resort

Canon PowerShot A60 ■ f/3.2 ■ 1/1000

Another throwback images from 2003. This was taken in Crown Lake in Arkansas. Still using the Canon PowerShot A60 point-and-shoot camera, I don't think cell phones are not that smart back then.

We purchased a timeshare, I believe a year or so ago that time, and we decided to exchange ours to go to a resort that we only saw on their website.  We booked and reserved our vacation time in that resort.

Days before our travel, by land, I had to go through MapQuest and print our route on several sheets of paper. Mind you there was no GPS at that time. It will be our first long drive to a destination we do not know and directions using a map printout.

We rented a comfortable sedan and I planned on driving to the resort non-stop. Packed our stuff and kids at the back with my wife helping out with the directions. We planned to rest and gas up when my tank went half.

The drive was pretty much smooth, except when we were crossing Missouri during the night, and raining pretty hard. I decided to stop for coffee since we already had dinner then, I could not remember where.

I braved driving on a dark highway on a rainy night with my family. Seems like we were the only vehicle at that time. The kids were already asleep and my wife was dozing but was keeping an eye on me, I think. We were at the border of Arkansas and Missouri in the morning for breakfast and we stopped by a McDonald's. I was surprised that all the people, adults and children, stopped whatever they were doing at that time and just looked our way. An Asian family of four, probably they had never seen in their life, walked through the entrance. I was not aware of the place nor if there was any discrimination. We bought our breakfast to go since I felt uneasy eating inside the fast food restaurant.

After breakfast, we checked our map and called the resort to get assistance getting there.  On the way to the resort, we passed by a small airport for a single-engine plane, I think. The resort is in Horseshoe Bend, but there was a sign entering the small town stating population less than 2,000. The town is small and other than the resort itself there was nothing, well my opinion.

We checked in and got ourselves situated in our unit. Get some much-needed rest

Canon PowerShot A60 ■ f/3.2 ■ 1/1000

 before heading out to check out the resort surroundings. We had a lot of family time mostly enjoying water activities: riding the canoe across the lake and renting a pontoon with a floater. They rode the floater while being dragged by the pontoon, never have I driven any watercraft and did not know how to swim (until now). We also tried fishing and did not catch anything except my son caught a guppy, not sure, which we released back.

We tried walking around the town outside the resort and it was peaceful and quaint. We spent a week here and I think we did enjoy our time. It was indeed family time and no distractions, like the electronics that we have now. But after our stay, we had a realization of driving back home. Honestly, I prefer driving than flying. Sure you can get faster to your destination, but you have more things to do along the way. There was no rush going home and we stopped by places that seemed interesting.

Would I go back, most definitely! I would like to see how it is now. This time it will be easier with a GPS. Back then, I think timeshare is great but not today. You don't want to pay in advance for your vacation. You have options now and cheaper than paying for a yearly maintenance fee that increases each year. The upside if you can call it that, you are forced to take that vacation to not waste your maintenance fee.