Gaston's Frappr
Map
"What the heck is a Frappr?"
Click the following link to find
out for yourself. A Frappr is a Google-based map that allows
people in a common group to plot where they live. Have you
ever wondered where other guests from Gaston's come from?
Bookmark the link and check back after a few weeks to see
who else has added themselves. You simply put in your name
and ZIP Code, and a message if you would like to, and you
will be added instantly. You can even add a small picture!
http://www.frappr.com/gastons
Fall Color
Our fall color is very pretty so far
this year! We are having some
very cool nights and warm days, which is the perfect recipe for
amazing color in leaves. What happens is that a tree will go
through with photosynthesis during the day and produce sugar,
which then gets very cold in the leaves at night and causes the
leaves to change colors. The Ozarks are a great place to view fall
color around the lakes and rivers. We specifically plant many of our
trees so that they will produce great fall color for us. Please come
see us as we change seasons! Fall is a great time of year to fish
during the day, and enjoy a nice warm fire in your cottage at night.
Winter Special
Starting November 28th, we are proud to
offer one of the best
discounts to be found anywhere! If you stay two nights or more
in a row with us, you automatically get 40% off of your cottage
rate! The special is good until February 28th, which means you
can take advantage of the extremely low cottage rates during our
best fishing season of the year. We offer many cottages with fire
places and kitchens for that perfect winter vacation. Please call
us to make your reservations and take advantage of our discount!
Big Brown
Season
Our famous "Big Brown Season"
is coming up very soon and
we are all very excited about it. Many of you know that we are
one of the best locations in the world for large brown trout, and
starting in November is when our large German Browns begin
their spawning season. The trout instinctively head upstream to
the dam, where they will make their beds for the winter and lay
eggs. Since the other trout are constantly trying to eat these
eggs, the browns must protect their spawn bed and are not
able to search for food very often. When they are finally able
to leave their bed, the trout are extremely aggressive and go
after anything they can find. This usually starts happening in
mid-January and lasts through the beginning of March. This
time of year is when we record our largest trout catches of the
year. We have people that travel here from all over the country
just to fish a few days during our Big Brown Season. If you have
ever wanted to catch several large brown trout, make plans to
visit us during this time of year. Fortunately, we also offer a
discount on our cottages, so the deal is even sweeter. Call
us at 870-431-5202 ext 200 for availability and pricing information.
Eagle Awareness
Weekend, 2006
Eagle Awareness Weekend will be in
January, 2006 once again.
We do not have any firm dates at this time, but please make plans
to enjoy yet another year of up close and personal fun with some
of the most remarkable birds in the world. Not only can you see
a Bald Eagle face to face, you can see many other exotic birds,
such as owls, hawks, falcons, and even buzzards! Please call
Bull Shoals State Park for more information: 870-431-5521
April Wine
Tasting
Our Post Wine tasting went so
well earlier this month, that we
are now scheduling another wine tasting on April 1st, 2006.
This one is going to be even bigger and better than our previous
wine tasting, so make plans to come visit us on April Fools Day.
Post Familie Wines recently won MANY awards for their excellent
wines, and this is an opportunity for anybody to sample all of their
wines at no charge. Post Wines are made in Arkansas and you can
visit their website at: http://www.postfamilie.com
Hillbilly Chili Cookoff
a Huge Success!
The Bull Shoals Rotary Club hosted the Hillbilly Chili
Cookoff on Saturday, Sept 17th, at the Bull Shoals
State Park along Highway 178 in Lakeview. This year
was the biggest chili cookoff ever! There were more
people at this year's event than in the last four years
combined! Cooks came from all over Arkansas and
surrounding states to compete for the title of Arkansas'
Best Chili, which would win them $500 and a trophy,
and a chance to compete in the World Championship
in Omaha, Nebraska for a $25,000 prize! We are proud
to say that our very own Tony Chong got 4th place and
already has plans for next year. The 2006 Chili Cookoff
will be even bigger and better, so plan to come and try
out some of the best chili in the world next fall!
http://www.chilicookoff.com/
3rd Annual Post Wine
Tasting at Gaston's
Hosted by Post Familie Vineyards of
Altus and Gaston's,
the third annual Post Wine Tasting was the best ever! We
had a live radio remote from KTLO in Mountain Home that
helped draw many locals to our event.
Green Family Reunion
The Green Family had a very large family
reunion here with us back
in late June. The family of 27 spanned 4 generations and are from
all over the country. They chose Gaston's because of our central
location and great atmosphere. Thank you all for staying with us!
Ford Model T Buckets
In July, a group of Model T hot rod
owners known as
"Bucketheads" took over the entire area and cruised
around town in their amazing hot rods. Of course,
many drove out to eat lunch with us in the restaurant
and enjoy the best food with the best view anywhere
around. While they were eating, I snuck outside and
got some pictures of the cars, and couldn't help but
notice the attention to detail and perfect condition that
these cars were in. And of course, a supercharged big
block motor on a 2000 pound car is quite impressive also!
"Thank you" to all of the Bucketheads for coming to see
us. Come back anytime!
Fish Photos
The fishing has been great this
summer... just ask Carl Shipley
from Springdale, Arkansas! Carl caught this beautiful monster
brown trout that weighed in at about 25 lbs. We have had many
people tell us over and over again that the fishing this summer
has been remarkable and the best they have ever experienced.
Oshkosh Fly In Visitors
Oshkosh, Wisconsin hosts the most famous
air show in the world each year.
This year was a record setting year for the event, with 700,000 people in
attendance. There were over 10,000 airplanes flown in, and 3,000 of those
were show planes, ranging from ultra-lites and home-builts to vintage planes
and old war birds. Every year, we have several Oshkosh pilots stop in to
see
us on their way to Wisconsin, or on their way back home from the show.
This
year, a group of pilots put on an air show for a handful of us and toured the
area
for a day, flying around the lake and river valley. We always love to see
unusual
planes, so if you are ever planning a trip across the country in your plane,
stop in
and say hello! Some pilots come in for a bite to eat or just for fuel,
others stay
the night in one of our cottages and rest up before continuing their journey.
Visitors Information
Center Update
Our Visitors Information Center is
coming along very nicely. The construction
crew is currently hanging the trusses on the east side of the facility, and
doing
some interior work on the west end. This is truly going to be an amazing
facility
and I hope that everybody plans to visit it next year when it opens up.
The next addition will go from the end
of the existing building, all the way to the
right edge of this photo. The VIC is going to be huge!!!
Resort Pets
This doe and fawn were spotted along our
Ozark Nature Trail.
We have many deer all over the resort and they can usually be
seen in the late afternoon and evening along any of our nature
trails. It's always fun watching the little fawns play around!
39th Annual Boy Scouts
of America White River Canoe Race
The Quapaw Area Council of the Boy
Scouts of America had
their 39th annual White River Canoe Race recently. The race
is a 118 mile journey, starting just below Bull Shoals Dam,
and ends near Batesville, Arkansas. The trip takes three
days to complete and the scouts stop at many campgrounds
along the way. To ensure that the scouts started off on the
right foot, we fed 150 of them spaghetti and meatballs up at
the State Park pavilion the night before they took off.
WW2 Friends Reunion
Owen Hilton (right) and his wife Dorothy
came to Springfield, Missouri
from California over 13 years ago. Philip Vinci and his wife Jean came
to Bull Shoals from Chicago only very recently. What do these two
couples have in common? Owen and Philip have been life long friends
since World War 2. The two couples met at Gaston's recently for a
surprise birthday fishing trip for Owen on August 24th. Little did Owen
know that Philip would be sitting in the boat with their guide when he
came down to the dock that morning! Owen could not believe his eyes
when he saw his buddy, and the two were very excited to see each other.
They both had a great morning of fishing
together and catching their
limit of trout easily. Their guide, Ron Roderick, knew about the surprise
and took excellent care of the two veterans. Even though they get
together once a year at reunions, there is still a sparkle in their eyes
when these two buddies see each other. This type of life-long friendship
is something that cannot be explained in words. These two men have
been through so much together and survived everything they have faced.
Both Owen and Philip served together
during World War 2 on the USS
Kalinin Bay, a carrier that was stationed in the South Pacific. Their ship
was involved in many battles, the largest was known as the "Battle of
Leyte Gulf." Their ship survived six brutal hours of pummeling from
the
Japanese forces in what is still the single largest sea battle in naval
history. This task force included six carriers and seven escort ships.
In a surprise attack, Japanese forces sunk five of the American ships.
The Kalinin Bay was damaged but did survive, although it had 115 holes
in it. The ship lost five men in the fight, and was hit by two Kamikaze
pilots during the conflict. The other ships that sunk lost 3/4 of their
crew.
There were other battles too... the
Battle of Samar in the Philippines, for
example. What is amazing is that no matter what battle the two men talk
about, they never have any regret... they both talk like this was just their
job that they had to do. I often think about this generation of men and
women and how great they all were for what they did. The sacrifices
they made were so great, and they did so in the name of freedom for
all of us. Our country would not be the same if it had not been for this
generation of fine folks who protected our way of life and the freedoms
that we too often take for granted today. Owen and Philip, our hats are
off to you and your fellow servicemen for what you have achieved!
- Story by Ron Branaman
Casting for
Recovery
Again this
June, we had the Casting for Recovery group
stay with us. This group of ladies are all cancer survivors,
and are some of the most energetic and fun-loving gals you
could ever meet. It's always a pleasure to see the "Fly Fishing
Divas" here at the resort.
June 24-26 fly
in
Late June was
fun because we had a large group of pilots from
all over the country fly in to our resort and stay for the weekend.
The Pilots of America chose Gaston's as their fly in location for
the second year in a row, and we hope to have them back again.
There were dozens of airplanes, and about 50 people. For more
pictures and even a small movie about this fly in, please visit the
club's page that they put together:
http://www.eaa732.org/aopa/display_gallery.asp
White River
Visitors Center
The new
Visitors Information Center is coming along very nicely.
You can now see the building being constructed, and it's huge!
This will truly be a remarkable facility and we are all very excited
to have such a wonderful place to present the history of our area.
For more information from the State Parks site, click here:
http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/media/display.asp?id=576
Trout Pictures
We are still
catching plenty of trout! Thanks to all of the
guests who have emailed their pictures in, and thank you
to those who are practicing catch and release. We started
the first catch and release program about 30 years ago and
are glad to see that it is common practice for most anglers.
Hellbender
Symposium
We recently had a large group of people
from all over the world gather here for
a Hellbender Symposium. The Hellbender is a salamander-like amphibian, one
of the largest amphibians in the United States, that is found in rivers and
streams.
They can be found in the Spring River and Buffalo River, and the Ozark
Hellbender
is one of two subspecies of the Hellbender, and it can only be found in the
Ozarks.
Our clear, cold streams that are lined with large rocks are ideal homes for the
large amphibians (they weigh up to four or five pounds). The Symposium was
a group of doctors and scientists, as well as their students, who gathered here
to study the Ozark Hellbender and it's habitat. They were a great group of
people and you can visit their own website at:
http://www.ozarkhellbender.com
New Antique Shop in Bull
Shoals
We would like to welcome Jerry and Cathe
McCoy's North Woods Antiques
to the area. They have a very nice antique shop in Bull Shoals and are now
open for business. They are located right off of Hwy 178/Bull Shoals Blvd.