Family Pie Shop / De Valls Bluff, AR

Tuesday, we drove to Memphis to get Mini serviced. I had read online (at a reputable news source) about this pie shop in DeValls Bluff, AR. That's not far off I-40 on our way to/from Memphis. It was listed as one of the author's top ten. So, with a reco like that, we decided to stop by on the way home.

Here's the write-up:

Family Pie Shop De Valls Bluff, Ark. A hand-painted sign on a cinderblock shed marks the source of some of the best pies in the country, Levine says. "They do custard pies, which are really great. They do coconut pie. They also do fried pies." Owner Mary Thomas uses generations-old family recipes. Another plus: The shop, about 55 miles east of Little Rock, is conveniently located across the street from a barbecue joint owned by the same family.

First, we had a hard time finding the shop. It's conveniently located behind a house - not right on the road as we had expected. We had to stop and ask where it was. We were close since DeValls Bluff is a small town.

Here's a picture of Mary Thomas, the owner. She's a really nice lady and a good cook.The store is a bit run down, but the pies are good.

We sampled the coconut and chocolate pies; which was all she had today. Not bad, but Rosie's are more to my liking. It was a nice trip through the country side.

Saturday Outing with the Jensens and Pharrs

On Saturday, 13-FEB, Rosie and Bob joined Wayne and Delma Jensen and Delmadge and Ruthie Mae Pharr (Delma's parents) for a Saturday outing. Our first stop was the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center located in Little Rock. The Nature Center is operated by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. It has a nice overview of the wildlife found around the state. Well worth a visit.

Next, we went down the street to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks walk down the red carpet to the water fountain in the lobby. The ducks go down at 11 am and back up to their penthouse at 5 pm. It's a great site to see. First we have the "Duck Master" leading the ducks (1 drake and 4 females) down the red carpet.Now it's into the fountain for a little food.Mallards are bottom feeders - so it's "bottoms up" to find food on the bottom of the fountain.
Here's the male and part of his "harem". What a rough life!
We also got a picture of Ruthie Mae and Delmadge with the Lloyd the Duck Master. He does actually have a head. Lloyd is from Hot Springs Village; small world!We left the Peabody and traveled past the LR airport to Scott, AR in search of Cotham's restaurant. Since it's about the only thing in downtown Scott, it wasn't hard to find. Cotham's is famous for their hamburgers known as the "hubcap." The hubcap is a one pound burger (pre-cooked weight of course) with all the "fixins." Here's Bob holding up his hubcap and onion rings. Actually, he and Rosie shared the hubcap, and believe me, half a hubcap was plenty.You can get a single hubcap - which is what we got - or you can get a double, triple or quad. The young guy behind us was celebrating his 16th birthday with a quad hubcap. Yep - that's 4 pounds of hamburger on that sandwich. He managed to finish the quad, but with long pauses between the last few bites. Lipitor anyone?Delma is enjoying her regular burger.Wayne got a plate lunch of chicken fried steak complete with green beans. That sounds way too healthy.All the food was good old home cooking; they even had black-eyed peas on the menu - YUM. They also had a great selection of fried pies, but Bob resisted temptation. There were about 20 people waiting to be seated as we left. That tells you how good the food is. If you just happen to be in Scott, AR, or want a short day trip from HSV, we can definitely recommend Cotham's. I know we'll be back.

After lunch we made a short stop at the Southern Plantation Museum - just down the road. It was very interesting and showed the development of cotton farming over the last 100 years or so. Here's Bob and Rosie in front of some cotton.On the way back to the interstate, we stopped at a gas station that is also a hunting and fishing store. The guys had a great time "shopping".

We had a fun day and enjoyed going to some new places. Thanks to the Jensens and Pharrs for a great outing.

More SNOW and ICE!

We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow on the ground, and snow still falling. At times the flakes were really big. Since the temperature is close to freezing, the snow is very wet and heavy. The pine trees are showing the impact of the snow. As expected in Arkansas, an inch of snow - plus the prediction of more - has shut down schools, meetings and multiple businesses. We didn't try to drive to the fitness center this morning; we knew the roads would be slippery. Plus the fitness center opened at 10 am (usual time is 6 am) and decided to close at 12 pm due to bad roads and continued snow.

So we went for a short walk over to the 4th hole of the Isabella Santa Maria golf course. The view was beautiful.Sam really enjoyed playing in the snow. Here he is jumping around. We didn't get a shot of him rolling in the snow - which he did several times; he really had fun.Here's Rosie shoveling snow Arkansas style - with a broom. It works!The birds were really hungry. Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are enjoying some peanut butter mixture from the log feeder.The view from the back deck was great. Here are some shots when the snow was falling pretty quickly and the flakes were big.As I mentioned, the wet/heavy snow really clung to the pine trees. We've already had at least one broken tree limb in the backyard.With cold temperatures predicted for tonight, a lot of this will re-freeze and be slippery for tomorrow. Oh well - so much for the sunny south (and global warming).