Family coming for Thanksgiving week, what do we do besides the lake?

My daughter and her husband and the two grandkids are driving in from out of state the Sunday before Thanksgiving and staying the whole week. We've got plenty of room, but I realized the other day that every time they visit it's summer and the answer to "what do we do" is get on the boat. Not going to work in late November. Nobody wants to be out on the water when it's 38 degrees and blowing.

A friend sent me a list somebody put together on r/Arkansas and I thought it was a decent start, so I'll pass it along. Collins Creek Trail down by the hatchery water. Mossy Bluff Nature Trail for the views of the Little Red and the dam. The short, steep Sugarloaf Mountain hike over on the Heber side near the community college (not the one in the lake, there's more than one Sugarloaf around here and it confuses people). The Visitor Center at the dam. The trumpeter swans. And then Blanchard Springs Caverns and Mountain View as a day trip.

I've done some of those over the years but not all, and I haven't been to the Visitor Center in longer than I care to admit. What I'd like from y'all is the stuff that isn't on that list. Anything the kids would enjoy that's indoors or at least bearable in the cold. And more than anything, tell me what's closed for the season so I don't haul four people somewhere and find a chain across the gate. I'd also like to know whether the caverns tours are running the way they do in summer or whether the schedule gets cut back after the fall.

Second question, and you all know I always get to the food eventually. Where are you sending out-of-town family to eat that week? I'd like one good sit-down place on the Heber Springs side and one over here in the Bay, and if anybody knows who's open on Thanksgiving Day itself, I'd be grateful. My wife is cooking, so it's not for the big meal, but somebody always wants to get out of the house the day after and I'd rather not find out at 5 o'clock that everything is dark.

Thanks in advance. I'll report back on how the Sugarloaf climb goes with a 9 year old and a 66 year old knee.

Heads up on Mountain View: the Ozark Folk Center closes for the season by then, so don't plan around it. The pickers on the square still show up some weekends if it's not freezing, but call ahead. Same for the caverns. I'm pretty sure they cut tours back after fall, so check the schedule before you load everybody in the truck.

On food, I'm not naming names for Thanksgiving Day because Google hours around here are basically fiction. Check each place's Facebook page the week of. Half of them post "closed Thursday, see y'all Friday" and the other half post nothing at all. 😅

The Visitor Center is a good one for the 9 year old. Federal, so at least it's not on my property tax bill. Bring the knee a walking stick for Sugarloaf.

Thanks, Cody, that's exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear now and not on the Monday of Thanksgiving week. I had it in my head that the Folk Center ran a little later into the fall than that, so I'm glad I didn't just assume. I'll call the caverns closer to the date and get the actual tour times instead of going off what I remember from summer.

You're right about the Facebook pages too. I've been burned by Google hours more than once. A few years back we drove clear to Heber Springs for supper on a holiday weekend and found a handwritten sign on the door. I'd take a page that says "closed Thursday, see y'all Friday" over silence any day. I'll start checking the week of and make my list from that.

The walking stick is a good idea. There's one in the hall closet from the church rummage sale that's never seen a trail, and my wife will make sure it goes in the car. Visitor Center it is, then. I'll let the 9 year old pick the order of the day.

Still hoping somebody has an indoor spot or a sit-down place to add.

RONNIE GLAD YOU ASKED NOW AND NOT THE MONDAY OF. ONE THING FOR THE DAY TRIP, CHECK IDRIVEARKANSAS BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR MOUNTAIN VIEW OR THE CAVERNS. THERE'S ALWAYS SOME STRETCH OF HIGHWAY WITH A FLAGGER AND A PILOT CAR RIGHT BEFORE A HOLIDAY AND IT'LL ADD 20 MINUTES WITH FOUR PEOPLE ASKING ARE WE THERE YET

FOR THE KIDS I'D DO THE HATCHERY AND COLLINS CREEK IN ONE STOP, THEN GET WARMED UP AT THE VISITOR CENTER. SAVE SUGARLOAF FOR A DAY THAT ISN'T 38 AND BLOWING. ALSO KEEP AN EYE ON VISIT HEBER SPRINGS EVENTS FOR THAT WEEK, TOWN USUALLY STARTS PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS STUFF ABOUT THEN

SIT-DOWN PLACES I'LL LEAVE TO SOMEBODY ELSE, I'M OUT IN HIGDEN AND MOSTLY EAT AT MY OWN TABLE. HOPE SOMEBODY CHIMES IN, I'D LIKE TO KNOW TOO

Caleb, I'll take the IDriveArkansas advice. I've only ever learned about a road crew by sitting behind a pilot car with the engine running. Four people in the car, two of them under ten, is not the time to find out about a flagger on 25. I'll look at it the morning we leave and again before the drive home.

I like your order for the day too. Hatchery and Collins Creek first while everybody's fresh, then the Visitor Center to thaw out. That gives my knee a break and gives the 9 year old something to do besides ask when we're eating. Sugarloaf can wait for a day that isn't 38 and blowing. If it's still cold by Wednesday, my knee will be happy to skip it altogether.

I'll keep an eye on that events page. Heber does put up a nice Christmas display once it starts, and the grandkids would get a kick out of that more than another trail.

Still no sit-down recommendations, so I'll ask around at church Sunday. Somebody there always knows who's open and who's got a sign on the door. If anybody over on the Heber side has a place they'd send their own kin, I'm still listening.

Asking at church is how I find out most things around here too, so you're on the right track. Sorry, no sit-down pick from me. I'm out Edgemont way and don't get over to the Bay for supper much, and I won't name a place that turns out to have a sign on the door.

One idea for the grandkids if they like animals. The shelter in Heber can always use somebody to walk a dog or just sit with the cats for a bit, and mine came out of rescue so I'm biased. Call first though, they have rules about ages and what days they want volunteers. Might be a nice warm thing to do for an hour that isn't a trail.

The farmers market is usually wrapped up by then, I think, so don't plan around it. Sometimes a holiday craft thing pops up in December, check their Facebook page.

Ronnie, building on what Connie said about the shelter. Ours both came out of rescue, and one thing we've done with the grandkids on a cold day is skip the walking and make something for the animals instead. Fleece tie blankets are about the easiest project there is. No machine, no pattern. You cut two pieces of fleece the same size, fringe the edges, and tie the strips in knots. A 9 year old can do the whole thing, and the younger one can at least tie a few. Fleece is cheap by the yard, and it makes a good afternoon at the kitchen table while the wind blows outside. Call the shelter first and ask if they can use them. Some places only want certain sizes, and they may have set hours for drop-off.

On the Visitor Center, tell the kids the dam was dedicated by President Kennedy in the fall of 1963. Older folks around here still talk about it, and it gives the building a little more to it than just looking at a model.

Bring layers. It's always colder up by the dam than in town, and the wind coming off the spillway area doesn't care what the forecast said.

I can't help on the sit-down question. My wife and I eat at our own table most nights, so I'd just be guessing.