We did not know much about Arkansas (well, just about Clinton and Walmart) but, picking out our next stop on the map the four words “Hot Springs National Park” sounded totally stop worthy.
The trip from Texas to Arkansas was one of the longest drive days to date (around 8 hours) and to top it off we were going to arrive in the RAIN after DARK. To set some context for you, when we started out on this venture we were idealists. We said we would NEVER drive over six hours and we would NEVER plan to arrive somewhere after dark. So, we tried to put it out of our minds that there was a good chance that by the time we set up camp in the evening we may be at the point of going all hangry and ballastic on each other.
We were part scared and part excited that we were going to tackle this new experience. Along the way though there was a major injury that brought us to tears. Our precious baby got hit with a large board that came flying out of nowhere while driving across interstate 30. We barely avoided running smack into it with the truck which could have been catastrophic in comparison. We thankfully got away with just a few dents, but still a permanent scar! I guess we can say now she has her road legs under her.
We were headed for Gulpha Gorge Campground in Hot Springs National Park. It was our ideal campground because it was right next to a nice creek and some great hiking trails. Plus, it was only a few minutes from downtown (which oddly enough is also considered a part of the National Park. The kicker is it is a no reservation campground. Explains why we were braving the dark and rain to stake claim to a first come first serve spot!
Best thing we did?
We did a ton of hiking for our week in HSNP. It was raining off and on, but we didn’t let that stop us. As you can see we broke out the ponchos and hiked in the rain anyway.
But the best hike we did was the Falls Branch Trail at Lake Catherine State Park. Why you ask was this the best? Mostly because it lead to a beautiful waterfall. This wasn’t just any waterfall…this was the first waterfall on our new journey. If you are following us on Facebook or Instagram, you know we have done quite a few #waterfallselfies, but this was the first one of our journey so it was the most exciting! Some may find it cute and some annoying, but for your viewing pleasure there are going to be a lot more waterfalls coming up…so consider this a warning people!
Best thing we ate?
We have come to an agreement as a couple that 95% of the time when we order something from a menu I (Tara) win hands down. I worked in the food and flavor industry so long that it is fairly easy for me to pick out the best thing on a menu. So, we were not surprised the cupcake I picked at Fat Bottomed Girl’s Cupcake Shoppe called “Pineapple Paradise” won in our own personal Cupcake Wars session. It was the perfect amount of fresh pineapple pieces layered inside a vanilla cupcake with pineapple buttercream and brown sugar sprinkled on top. Simple, fresh, and yummy!
What we learned?
One thing we learned was even though we thought we were close as a couple before, living in this small space is 10x. Both of our Type A personalities are right in each other’s space now. We are face to face with every quirk each other has with no escape 🙂 ! That takes some getting used to or what we like to call “rounding off the rough edges.” We are still working on this, but feel that this effort will make us a better couple after this experience; however, there is a slight chance we may want to go all Lucy and Ricky and have separate beds once we find our forever home LOL!
This leg of our travels also reinforced something we already knew, but it is good to have a reminder of it from time to time. Things are just things…it would be easy to cry over the Airstream ding – I did obsess for just the tiniest second if we could fix it ourselves and bang out those dents with a rubber hammer. Gary reminded me it is just a thing and these are experiences we will never forget (mostly because we are writing it all down because to be honest we might forget 50% of them if we didn’t!).
When our week came to an end we were definitely glad we stopped here and got to enjoy this space.
Next Stop: Music Country