Pendleton Army Corps of Engineers Park, Arkansas

We just spent 2 nights and one full day in our first army corps of engineers park.  It was nice!  Right on the Arkansas River, water and power.  With our national park pass the 2 nights were $19!

Red Headed Woodpeckers seemed
to be everywhere in the park!


Friday, our plan was to go to the Arkansas Post
National Monument close by.  On the way there we
saw and stopped at the Arkansas Post Museum
State Park to check it out.  They were having a
demonstration day and so we made a little butter
and threw an atlatl!

Then on to the monument for some Arkansas history, a small hike and bald eagles and alligators!

Then, as it is now a much longer day...., we drove to the site of the Rohwer Japanese American
Relocation Center which we heard about at the state park!  Whew!  Just another great day!

 Inside the 1886 log house, the pioneer woman had a butter churn but she just gave us a small container with some whipping cream in it to shake like crazy.

Local girl scout troop 1167 joined us and we all shook till we thought our arms were going to drop off....then we had a nice little pat of butter to put on a cracker!

tasty!

Mike shaking away!

 We also had the opportunity to try our skill with an atlatl.  I am pretty sure I would have gone very hungry in those days;)

 After a couple of tries each, Mike and I both managed to plant an arrow in the ground but to throw with enough force to kill something??  We both might have gone hungry;)

 Then it was on to the Arkansas Post National Memorial:

 While on our hike there, Mike saw a large nest in a tree on the other side of the river.  I took a pic and was pretty sure it was a bald eagle.  At home on the computer, we could see not only a parent bald eagle but two fledglings!

 On the way to the Rohwer Relocation Center, we stopped to watch a crop duster for a few minutes.

talk about skilled pilots!

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Pres. Roosevelt signed an order relocating almost 120,000 Japanese American families to camps in Arkansas and other midwest states.  A sad time in our young history.  The camps closed at the end of the war but many of these families lost everything.

 George Takei, (Mr. Sulu from Star Trek), spent time in this camp with his family.  As you walk the grounds here, you can push buttons on the story boards and hear George tell about an internees life and some of his memories.  The monuments seen pay tribute to the Japanese Americans who served in the military during that time.

 8,000 Japanese Americans were once housed in the barracks here.  The camp was dismantled after the war leaving a small cemetery.  In the inset is a picture of George with his brother with an arrow pointing to their barrack.