Blogs from Arkansas, United States, North America

We spent two nights at the historic Lake Hamilton cabins. The owners are so friendly and welcoming. Skip gave us a tour of our cabin and gave us information on the national park and some local attractions. They checked in on us during our stay to see if there was anything else we needed. It's really been a great stay. The property was owned by Skip's parents. Our cabin was built in 1948, I believe he said. There were four guest cabins built before ours. Ours is the only one with a cement slab, he said. It's two stories with the bedrooms on the main floor to keep them cool. At the time it was built, it had an attic fan, which he said was state of the art back then. Today, it has air conditioning. ... read more

I have to say the last 3 days have been great, its amazing that once you cross the border from Texas into Arkansas, Mississippi & Tennessee, the whole culture changes from the Mexican/Spanish flavor changes to the deep south culture, from taco's to ribs, the language change also. It's as amazing as the American landscape, from desert to high mountain pine forests to miles and miles of crops. So many Aussies in Memphis this weekend, we were sitting next to 3 guys and they were chatting about Aussie culture when a Aussie family walked by, the we did the Aussie, Aussie, Aussie thang, then another couple walked in and sat down not far away. Day 10 - Left Armore early after another fantastic dinner at the 2 Frogs Bar & Grill next door to our motel. ... read more

Thursday: Early breakfast in a diner in Fort Smith. Definitely a part of the bible belt. Got talking to a group of guys who were having a “prayer breakfast” and noticed other diners saying grace before they started their food. Keith got talking to a cop who was getting a coffee. He told a bit of the history behind the town which prompted my interest and thanks to google, found that Fort Smith was established as a military outpost to patrol the neighbouring Indian Territory in 1817 and was named after General Thomas Smith. The fort was abandoned seven years later in 1824, but by that time a town founded by John Rogers, formed alongside the fort. The fort was re-occupied and expanded in 1838. The Cop told Keith that the town was a seriously wild ... read more

http://www.heygo.com 17th February - Patchwork Quilts, Whoopie Pies, and Amish Romance. I thought the lady who was giving the tour was a quilter but she is an author who has an interest in the Amish community. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. Tricia did make Amish Whoopie Pies with the help,of her daughter. Not to my taste, it was full of fats and sugars but they did look tasty. Some say Amish wives invented the whoopie pie from remnants of cake batter and frosting. According to the story, the name originated from the Amish men who, when they found these treats in their lunch boxes, would exclaim, “Whoopie!” There was heavy snow outside her window, it rarely snows in Little Rock so it was a bit of a novelty. Tricia has published over 70 books, her ... read more

This month my friend Bekki and I took a road trip up into the northwest part of the state of Arkansas - into the beauty that is the Ozarks. Our destination was the War Eagle Caverns, a set of privately-owned caves with a lakeside entrance. The tour was beautiful as was learning a little about the Corp of Engineers project that created Beaver Lake to fuel industry (think Tyson chicken) in the area. This was Walmart country and their presence is felt throughout the area. Crystal Bridges, a beautifully designed museum with American Art, was fantastic to visit and was free due to the Walton's largesse. In addition, we stopped to see the first Walmart and the Walmart museum. There is also a Native American museum in the area that had some interesting pieces and was ... read more