Hi friends! We hope you are having a wonderful spring filled with flowers and warmer temperatures!

We are spending time in the south-central section of our beautiful country, generally known as The Ozarks. It’s been great to watch the flowers and trees bloom while we bask in the warmer temperatures. Here are a few highlights from our 2023 trip to date including: The Natchez Trace Parkway, Little Rock, Hot Springs and the Buffalo National River.

Natchez Trace Parkway

Use of The Natchez Trace route dates over 10,000 years; here’s a brief history on the various uses of the trail:

• The trail bisected the traditional homelands of the Natchez, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations. The Native Americans used the corridor for trading amongst the tribes.
• As colonial settlements expanded in the late 1700s, the trail became a mail route! Postal carriers rode horses up and down The Trace to deliver mail to regional drop off points.
• General Andrew Jackson, Meriwether Lewis, John James Audubon, Jefferson Davis, and Ulysses S. Grant are some of the famous Americans to have used this trail.
  • Meriwether Lewis was en route to Washington DC to report his findings on the Lewis & Clark expedition (to the Pacific Northwest) when he mysteriously died in a hotel on The Natchez Trace. Experts dispute if he was murdered or committed suicide!
• In the early 1800s, farmers from the Ohio River Valley (called “Kaintucks”) would float their crops and livestock down the Mississippi River on wooden rafts. Then, they sold everything in Natchez, and walked (or rode horses) along The Natchez Trace back home!

The inventions of automobiles and steamboats led people to abandon this historic route (and it became all but forgotten). Local citizens rallied to memorialize The Trace, and as a result, Congress approved legislation for The Parkway in 1934. The road was completed in 2005!

What makes the beautiful drive even more interesting is that there is evidence of all of the people who traveled in the past. Examples include Indian Burial Mounds, the cabin where Lewis died, and several wagon wheel tracks in the well-worn trail.

The Natchez Trace Parkway offers places to camp (including 3 free campgrounds), short hiking trails, beautiful lakes, and small towns along the way. Although we didn’t make it to the end of the trail, we found the area to be rich with history and beautiful spring flowers. Our experience was great and this parkway should make it to any Road Trip list!

(Click on any image to open the gallery and read the captions)

Little Rock, Arkansas

From Tupelo, Mississippi, we turned west toward Arkansas. Neither of us had been to Arkansas, and let me tell ya … they knew what they were talking about when they nicknamed it ‘The Natural State’! Arkansas is abundant with rolling hills, plenty of trees, and several beautiful rivers and lakes.

Little Rock holds a significant place in US history. In 1957, all eyes were on Little Rock Central High School as it integrated 10 African-American students. The school is still operational; however, it is also a National Historic Site with ranger-led tours and a wonderful Visitor’s Center. Visiting this monumental site was the highlight of our trip to Little Rock. Regardless of what you know about the events in September 1957, a trip to this historic place is a ‘must do’.

Downtown Little Rock sits along the Arkansas River and has 3 beautiful bridges and miles of biking trails! We enjoyed riding through the revitalized downtown and past the William Clinton Presidential Library. All in all, we had a lovely time in Arkansas’ capital city!

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Since visiting all of the National Parks is on our ‘bucket list’, no trip to Arkansas would be complete without visiting Hot Springs NP. Admittedly, this park isn’t exactly what comes to mind when I think of our iconic National Parks. However, it’s surprisingly one of the oldest parks in the system.

The natural healing waters of Hot Springs fell out of fashion after World War II with advancements in pharmacy and the growing popularity of medical insurance. As a result, the town of Hot Springs fell into disrepair with the reduction in tourism. However, thanks to revitalization efforts, this small town is once again thriving!

A couple of random but interesting facts about the hot springs and the town:

• The hot springs water initially fell as rain over 4,000 years ago. That means that today’s hot springs water was rain at the same time the Egyptians were building the pyramids! The water surfaces (out of the hot springs) at an average temperature of 143 degrees.
• Part of the Hot Springs prescription included physical exercise. Dr. Oertel designed 26 miles of hiking trails of varying difficulty as part of the healing regime. Pictures of hikers in the early 1900s show women in dresses and men in linen suits on the trail!
• Several baseball teams held spring training near Hot Springs, AK in the early 1900s. The bathhouses catered to this group by adding gymnasiums. Babe Ruth famously spent a lot of time in Hot Springs.
• Chicago gangsters ‘escaped’ to Hot Springs as needed. There was a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between the gangsters and the city of Hot Springs where the men could come into town if the water got too hot in Chicago (so to speak). A few of the most notable mobsters include: Al Capone, Johnny Torrio, Frank Costello, Bugs Moran and Lucky Luciano.
• Bill Clinton attended Hot Springs High School. Even at a young age, he wanted to work in politics and become President of the US. There is an interesting exhibit about his many high school achievements in the Hot Springs Observation Tower.

A trip combining Little Rock and Hot Springs would make a great getaway! Little Rock offers trendy restaurants, a bike-friendly river way, and a historic site critical to the civil rights movement.

Hot Springs is less than an hour drive from Little Rock. The Park’s Visitor’s Center is a former bathhouse that is open to explore and highlights the grandeur of the time. There are two operating bathhouses on Bathhouse Row that still use the healing hot springs water. Furthermore, the town of Hot Springs has several small gift shops, as well as a wax museum, a gangster museum, and historical bars (that the gangsters frequented!). The town is surrounded by rolling hills (called mountains, but they aren’t really all that) and they are covered in hiking trails. Free spring water is available at fountains throughout town, thus staying true to the government’s demand that the water be available to everyone. While Hot Springs National Park isn’t your ‘traditional’ park, it is worth the time to visit and stay for a while!

Garvan Woodland Gardens is near Hot Springs; the park is managed in conjunction with the University of Arkansas. The grounds are stunning and worth a visit in any season. Additionally, we mined for diamonds in Crater of Diamonds State Park (we didn’t find any – darn), and we camped along Lake Dardenelle (a renowned bass fishing lake), before exploring the Buffalo National River for a few days.

We didn’t know what to expect in Arkansas, but we left feeling that this state needs a better tourism and marketing department! Arkansas is simply lovely! Not to mention that the spring weather has been perfect (but bring your Claritin) and we heard that autumn is stunning as well. Case in point, we are already planning a return trip for the 2024 solar eclipse!

Mark and I have been referring to this trip as ‘The Great Inner Loop’ (because it’s a loop of the inside of our great nation). Here is a map of our travels so far this year:

Next up is Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and we head north to Alaska in late May! In case you missed it, our 2023 plans can be found here!

Hope you have a great summer adventure in the works! (If not, then you should probably check out Arkansas!)

– Debbie and Mark