Failed Arkansas Trip
- Vicky
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
In June of this year we were supposed to do a week long camping trip to Arkansas to stay at Devil's Den State Park. Arkansas is called the Natural State, so naturally it was scheduled to rain. Unfortunately, weather has been a major factor in camping trips this year. I had been looking at weather and noticing that the chances of rain had been increasing and, well, camping in a pop-up camper with thunderstorms is no one's idea of fun.
One of the day excursions I had planned was riding on the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. That being scheduled on a Saturday the one day it wasn't scheduled to rain. Michael and I decided that we would go do a small weekend trip. Staying in a hotel in Springdale for just one night and doing the train trip the next day before driving home.
The Arkansas & Missouri Railroad offers round trip scenic tours through the Ozark Boston Mountains. You get to sit back and relax in restored passenger cars from the 1920s to 1950s. Our trip was Springdale to Van Buren which was a full day excursion 134-mile round trip. We also get a three hour layover in the historical downtown Van Buren for shopping and lunch.
We began this trip driving down the day before. Lizzy was excited to be staying at a hotel though disappointed we weren't camping. We decided to do some sightseeing. Our first stop was the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. This garden has 12 themed gardens. One theme being a Children's Garden which has a few child-sized doors that Lizzy deemed "wishing door." It is a very small garden but impressive despite being small. Lizzy was disappointed in the lack of animals. We had to remind her it was a garden we are here to look at the pretty plants.
When we left we knew it was still a bit too early for dinner, so naturally, we found a winery. Sassafras Springs Vineyard and Winery is beautiful. The tasting room was once a rustic milk barn. That has options of flights they pour out for you to enjoy on the winery decks. Yes, that's decks. it is multi-layered surrounded by trees with lights. We sat at one section but moved since Lizzy realized there were kids. We shared a small charcuterie board. We ended up sitting next to the spring. We tried our wines which unfortunately weren't that great. We later order pizza for dinner which we paired with a Riesling wine that wasn't even theirs.
After a stay at the hotel with a small breakfast we went to the train station. Lizzy was excited about the museum since it had model trains. Our train car was the 109, a 1950s diner car. We were served a small breakfast of a pastry and yogurt with really good granola and a soft drink or water. Lizzy was lucky and got lemonade. We also got a banjo performance. Sadly, I don't think Lizzy enjoyed the train ride as much as we thought she would have. She was excited to see the engine once we stopped and explore the town.
The historical downtown of Van Buren is very cute with restaurants and boutique shops. We were hoping to find a summer dress for me, which was not fruitful. Though one lady gave her best shot at trying to sell me anything I looked two seconds at. Lizzy liked talking with her. We ate at The Vault a sports bar that was once an old bank. The giant chicken-fried steak that Michael and I shared was not good but the fired okra was amazing.
Once we boarded the train again Lizzy fell asleep much to Michael's annoyance since he wanted to nap and Lizzy's choice of pillow was Michael. We were served a very much southern "charcuterie board", pulled pork sandwich with watermelon. It was so good.
Was the trip a failure? Not really. Just a slight disappointment in some things. We had fun and are hopeful that our next planned camping trip...by Eureka Springs, Arkansas will have better weather since it's scheduled for the fall.
Comments