Another day, another taut travel thriller. Our bedroom at this Airbnb is always quiet and dark in the morning so no meteorology report in every post, except I was surprised to read in the weather app that today we were experiencing the remains of Tropical Storm Pamela, not that it was a big deal. Last trip was TS Fred, and he (it?) was a big deal. Just hoping one day it’s TS Chen [Galaxy Quest reference] that rains on our parade.

Today we journeyed to the bustling metropolis of Little Rock where MBH asked if I was going to call every driver who annoyed me “Arkansas”. No, not the ones with Texas plates I replied. We visited the Big Dam Bridge, Lost Forty Brewing for lunch, the MacArthur Military Museum (yes, that MacArthur – he was born there), and then an outlet mall. Ah, we ended on a sad note as malls are dying. But we hit a Bass Pro Shop and all was right with the world again. Mostly.

Yesterday we hit the easy button and stayed around the village. The day before we took a long scenic drive to Mount Nebo State Park where we hiked the rim trail which had non-stop fantastic views that kept my acrophobia tingling. Out west they would call the flat topped, ship shaped, steeply sided prominence a mesa, here it’s just another Mt.

Now it’s time to say so long until next trip!

Tags: Arkansas

We are back on the road again, and by that I mean we have at long last ended our string of restless trips and are spending an entire week at the same location: Hot Springs Arkansas. Now you may well be wondering why, of all the places we’ve been and could go, Hot Springs gets this distinct honor, and I have to tell you it’s because MBH planned it that way. My incessant whining about constantly moving, learning how to use a different Keurig model every couple of days (and just for the record, the one at our current Airbnb is identical to all the others in that some things are the same and some are different) probably had an effect. I may have forgotten how to be a good engineer but I’ll be a champion whiner to the day I die. That and MBH likes me, she really really likes me.

We are not actually staying in Hot Springs, but Hot Springs Village, America’s largest gated community (says so on their website) and while the gates keep the riff raft out, as guests there are only two gates we can enter by and they are inconveniently located like twenty miles apart at either end of the village and our Airbnb is pretty much in the middle. So if we head of East or West it’s not really a big deal, but Hot Springs is to the south.

Saturday we enjoyed Bath House Row and environs with several thousand of our closest friends. Sunday after streaming church (ain’t technology something) we headed off to Lake Ouachita (pronounced just how it sounds) state park and a grueling three hour hike. Before we stopped for lunch the trail was fairly crowded, afterwards the only people we saw were the two guys who found my sunglasses which I had unknowingly dropped on the trail. And there are those who say the age of miracles and wonders is over.

Today I started the day with a flat, fast run and then it was off to the beauty of Garvan Woodland Gardens. After soaking up the sights there we saw sights from a higher vantage point – the top of Hot Springs Mountain and then we headed off to our Hot Springs bath appointment at Quapaw Baths and Spa where all of our aches and pains were first melted away in the hot mineral water and then we were reinvigorated with a very cold mint scented towel that stayed ice cold even when applied to a hot body for an amazingly long time.

Tags: Arkansas