My Trip To Arkansas
Girlz trip bbyyyy Karissa and I had a fabulous time on our almost 2 week vacation. Our first stop was in Columbia Missouri to visit with Saly (an internet friend). We grabbed Ethiopian food, walked around downtown, and grabbed some icecream… see sparkies review
After spending some time with Saly we had to hit the road again and head to our hotel in Springfield. It ended up being an exhausting day from all the driving and I was ready to sleep.
Day two - When we awoke we went to Walgreens to pick up some photos I had printed before I fell asleep. After that we stopped for gas at buck-ees
It was a quick stop before we hit the road again heading twards Ozark Arkansas. When we entered Arkansas we had to get on highway 23 aka my favorite highway <3 there is a very gorgeous outlook and i always love stopping there!! This time we even got some photos!
When we arrived in Ozark we went straight to the Roma Italian restaurant in town. (aka my favorite Italian restaurant 1000x better than Olive Garden) as we sat down at our table it started POURING rain outside! We both commented that we arrived at the right time. We ate our food then headed towards an antique store while we waited to go see Papi.
Visiting with Papi was a fun time and we even got a picture together (thank you karissa)
After our time with my Papi we went to our hotel and my youngest step sister met us there. Karissa and I quickly got changed before we were going to have dinner , then we were out the door headed towards Olive Garden. Along the way we got stuck in some traffic, and stopped at a red light in front of hooters. I had the bright idea to suggest… what if we went to hooters? Billie Jo and Karissa almost immediately said yes , so we called our other sisters and told them to meet us at hooters instead!
Hooters was a fabulous time <3 we were the only girls in there building except the workers and we sat on the patio. Our waitress told us that sometimes the golf moms come in and have lunch there and that’s always a good time. I wish we had a hooters closer to me because I would go there all the time!!!
We ended up going back to the hotel after that, we spent some time in the room and took a quick dip in the hot tub before we tucked in for the night <3
Day three - We got to sleep in a bit on this day (finally). I had a hair appointment at 11am at the ulta in fort smith with Molly. Above is the before picture and below is the after.
After getting my haircut we went and grabbed lunch with my dad. That was a fun time and ended too soon! When we were done with lunch we went back to the hotel to pick up Billie Jo and take her back into town so we could go thrifting. We ended up finding her the perfect graduation dress and shoes! She found a fancy stuffed animal at an antique store as well.
Next we went back to the hotel to all get ready for graduation. We all got dressed did our makeup and hit the road towards the school! Billie Jo left before Karissa and I , so we stopped at the store on the way to pick her up some flowers for after graduation.
When we made it to graduation it was a long time of sitting in a big crowded gym listening to speeches. I was going bonkers so Karissa and I stepped out for a moment. We ended up taking some really cute pictures on my camera while we were waiting for graduation to be over.
When graduation was over we grabbed sonic for dinner, and headed back to the hotel. My step sister Lily came over like an hour later. We gossiped in the room for a bit, then went to gamble! Gambling didn’t last too long (we kept losing) so we went to the pool where we ordered drinks and swam around.
Day four - we awoke earlier then we wanted to, and packed up the hotel room. Once we were out of the hotel we headed to meet my grammy for some breakfast. After breakfast we headed towards Fayetteville. Our first stop was flea market with a Salvation Army right next to it! I found a green glass tea light holder in the shape of a turtle and karissa found some jewelry. When we finished there we headed towards stigma ink where they have buy one get one free piercing deals every Saturday. We had to wait a bit for it to be our turn, but eventually we made it back there. I ended up getting 2 piercings on the middle of my ear, I’m not sure what you would call them… and Karissa got a helix and her 3rds done on her lobes.
After getting our piercings we headed to Nene’s house. At Nene’s house we ate huge strawberries and just sat back and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.
Day five - A day for friends! We had plans to meet with my friend Molly (mentioned on day 3) and their friend Alyssa. We didn’t plan to meet until the afternoon so we had a bit of a lazy start. When we finally hit the road around 11am we were running ahead of schedule, so we made a pit stop at Braum's for ice cream.
Afer braum’s we headed onto the museum we were meeting Molly and Alyssa at. We lucked out and got front row parking as soon as it started raining. We literally could not have found better parking, someone was really looking out for us out of town-ers. We went inside and waited for Molly and Alyssa to arrive and found some really cute postcards in the gift shop that karissa bought.
Just a note Karissa was buying postcards throughout this whole trip and it was so cute! She was sending them off to all the people in her life ,and I thought that was so cute. I think I might do the same next time I go on another vacation.
When Molly and Alyssa arrived we strolled through the museum a bit, before we came upon the children’s art area. If you know anything about me I’m always down for a silly little craft. The gang was down too, so we sat at the little tables and colored/ painted pictures with the watercolor pencils
After we finished with our artwork we walked around a bit more, then decided we wanted to go thrifting. We found a goodwill close by and headed to the car. Molly and Alyssa had to park in a parking lot far away and take a shuttle in, so instead of making them take the shuttle back we all just pilled into my car Millicent. When we pulled up to Molly’s car the driver side back door wouldn’t open. I was so confused and kept unlocking the door LOLLLL. Alyssa had enough common sense to walk around and open it from the outside to let Molly out of the car. I checked later and the child safety lock was on for that door.
When we arrived at the goodwill we were immediately met with outrageous prices. There was a bag there for $39.99 it was a Vera Bradley but STILL that’s crazy! You can get used like new Vera Bradley on amazon for that price or cheaper… and this was not used like new… more like used. Karissa ended up with some good finds from the goodwill, she good a floor poof, and a shirt… maybe more but I can’t remember? I ended up getting a few DVD’s to add to my collection. Karissa was feeling a little tired and I was hungry so we parted ways with Molly and Alyssa and headed off to find some food.
With our food secured (real southern BBQ) we hit the road back home (to Nene’s). Unfortunately the little bit of on and off rain we had been getting all day turned for the worse, and quick! My wipers wouldn’t go fast enough and you literally could not see a single thing! Karissa and I agreed to pull off and we pulled in the first parking lot we saw, a McDonalds. At first we tried to go through the drive through to get drinks so we could just eat in the car, but it was raining sideways and coming down in buckets. I didn’t want to get the interior of my car wet so I pulled into the spot right in front of the door and made a mad dash! By the time I made it back to the car I was soaking wet and shivering, but I had our drinks. Thunderstorm warnings started blaring on our phones and we laughed because well yes there’s a thunderstorm were already in the middle of it.
We had to sit the storm out for about 45 minuets before we could head back home. The whole drive I was nervous it would start up again but once again someone was looking out for us out of town-ers. We realized how lucky we were that the rain started when it did because the road we take home doesn’t really have too many places to pull off safely and there was branches all over the road. It would not have been a safe place to be when the storm started.
Day six - this was supposed to be our diamond mine day but we woke up a bit later than we wanted to and thought we wouldn’t have enough time at the mines, so we went to hot springs! We had plans of going to a bathhouse under the impression tat it would be $20 but then when we got there it was $37… we said no thank you! We had gotten outback before we went to the bathhouse, and we paid for parking at the bathhouse.. so we walked around downtown hot springs for a bit to eat up some time on the meeter. We ended up finding this cute sweet shop that was featured on the food network but I can’t remember the name :( anyway I got some really yummy lavender macrons an Karissa got ice cream
After that we just drove to the hotel and tucked in for the night. It was a very low key day (with lots of driving).
Day seven - We started our morning by going to urgent care… I had forgotten my inhaler at Nenes house and needed it! Once the inhaler was secured we started our drive towards the mines. When we finally arrived we walked in the building, and the power immediately cut off. We were able to buy digging materials with cash, and headed down the deck to the mines. We found a shady spot with benches, and set up camp. I laid down on the bench while Karissa started digging for rocks!
I dug a few chunks up but it was mostly karissa doing the digging. When she was done she took them over to the water tables with the sifter ad cleaned everything off! We though she found 3 diamonds but unfortunately we were mistaken we later found out! But we still had a wonderful time!
The drive home was pretty uneventful there was a fe trees down on the road. I also heard at gas station that there had been some really bad tornados the night before in fort smith, so I checked on my people. We made it back to Nene’s in one piece and tucked in for the night
Day eight - this day was also kind of low key? we did go into town we got karissa diamonds tested (they were not diamonds), we went to an antique store, and we went grocery shopping so we could have a fire the next day!
Day nine - this was our last adventure day :( first we went to the Tontitown museum, my ancestors helped create the town so it was a very special experience. When we arrived I told them my grandma was a maestri, and they jumped out of their chairs to give us the tea on their town! We had a good time looking at everything and hearing the great stories those women had to tell us.
After the museum we went antiquing!! First was country classic antiques I think? They’re right down the road from the museum! They had a lot of good stuff and I got quite a few things hehe.
Next there was another antique store down the street at the next side street, so we went there too. This one was a fun experience, the shop keeper was so kind to me <3 I told her about my glass collection and my trolls collection. I also told her what DND means (do not disturb) I also explained what it does.
After that we got some braums for lunch and headed on our way to the next store. It was a local thrift store and they had amazingggg prices!! all the frames were $0.25, I got an American girl hallmark ornament for $2 and all my tops were $1.00,,,,,, all steal imo. We also had a good time with the shop keeper from this store. She was also from Michigan but moved to Arkansas around the time we were born. We left the store with a smile on our faces and giggling.
When we arrived home (Nenes house) we started a fire. We roasted hot dogs and made s’mores. I called it a night pretty early on because I still had to pack and we were leaving the next day :(
That pretty much summarizes our travels to Arkansas this May! I hope you enjoyed this recap <3
Xoxo until next time,
Maggie
