I’ve always enjoyed planning vacations. But who hasn’t? Like the old ketchup commercial used to say – “anticipation” (sing it, and with six syllables). So in trying to decide where to go next, KM, who claims she always leaves the planning to me, said we should check out parts of the Natural State we haven’t made it to yet. I agreed, even though the beach never really stops pulling at me.
But the Ozarks it is, with the preliminary itinerary looking something like this:
A night at the Lodge at Mount Magazine; we’ve had lunch there but never snoozed or brushed our teeth.
The next day we head north (I guess the only vacationers heading south out of the Rock are on their way to New Orleans, or better yet, Blue Mountain Beach – October cannot get here soon enough for me). Night two is The Inn at Carnall Hall. The last time I was in the old building on the northeast side of the University of Arkansas, I was a four-and-a-half-year senior taking a course called Study Skills. As my dearly departed momma used to say, “Lord, son, what were you thinking?”
Perhaps that night, we can talk Fred into a dinner at Ella’s Restaurant in the hotel.
The next day, it’s north again, to Bentonville and 21C Museum Hotel, which, Trip Adviser calls the “#1 Hot New Hotel in the US.” At least, that’s what the 21C website says they say. We will eat that night at the restaurant and bar in the hotel called “The Hive.” My buddy, fellow columnist and former scramble team member (we won four APA tournaments together before he defected back to his home state of Nicksabama) sent me the link to Southern Living’s ranking of the 100 best bars in the South, and The Hive came in at No. 9. I’ll probably order the Arkansawyer, made with gin, lavender, and ginger, but only because this is a trip of new experiences, because that sounds pretty awful. As long as I’m talking about Kyle, or KM2, and booze, his last text read, “Lord, please give me the serenity to never tell the clerk in the liquor store, ‘Thunderbird will do just fine.’” I’m guessing there’s a story there.
I’m really looking forward to this part of the trip. KM and I have been to Crystal Bridges twice, and can’t wait to get there again. If you live in Arkansas and haven’t been there yet, you need to think seriously about getting some therapy.
Day four, we head east, to Eureka Springs, which I never get tired of. We’ve stayed at lots of places in Little Switzerland but not yet at the newer Crescent Cottages, of which there are two – the Hillside and the Treetops. The cottages are on the higher end price wise but from the photos on the website, they look to be worth it. And hopefully, like their namesake hotel nearby, they aren’t haunted.
I’ll have to have a barbeque from Bubba’s, and we’ll walk around the Historic Loop on what should be a morning in the upper 50’s with a low fog touching the trees.
That will wrap it up. We’ll head home, toward Harrison and down Highway 65, stopping in at Coursey’s. If you’ve never been to this 60 year-old smokehouse, above the Buffalo in St. Joe, try more therapy. Mrs. Paula Hale, whose dad started the business, was there in the early days when the floor was still dirt. She remembers, “My father hung each ham from a nail in the wall and wrapped it in a dry-goods box.”
Sounds like a great trip – good thinking, KM.