Alisa and I had a 3 day weekend, so we decided to drive 10 and a half hours to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Are we crazy for driving that much in one weekend? Or have we been daydreaming of adventure all day during our 9-5 jobs? Maybe both.
Thursday night we packed up the car and drove to Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. Since we had to leave after work, it was dark for most of the drive. To be honest, it was one of the worst drives in my entire life. I got super bad vibes from some of the small towns we passed through. They had a Trump flag hanging up, old abandoned brick buildings amongst the vast cornfields, and it reeked of cancerous smells. At one point, I was so tweaked out that I was going to hit a deer because I saw one on the side of the road. A few miles later, a pack of them ran in front of me, and I'm glad that I was on edge and paying close attention to the road. Eventually, I made Alisa drive, but that didn't really help my anxiety. We were driving on roads with no lines that were almost as bad as gravel.
Needless to say, we made it to Shawnee National Forest very late that night. We didn't reserve a campsite or want to pitch a tent since we were exhausted. We parked in the backpackers parking lot, which allows overnight parking, and slept in my car. I found this cool trick for CRVs online that allows you to take off the top of the passenger and driver seat and lean it all the way down to line up with the backseats. It basically creates two beds that were surprisingly cozy for sleeping in a car.
The next morning, we woke up early and made some coffee. I made pour-over blueberry coffee and we went to the Garden of the Gods' trailhead. This is not to be confused with the park in Colorado, nor is it as unique. I was very impressed with the park though! Not to mention the topography changes from flat farmland to rolling hills.
Millions of years ago, rain and wind chipped away these rocks to form dramatic formations and cliffs. It's easy to see why it's the most photographed park in Illinois.
The loop is a short quarter of a mile, but there are plenty of opportunities to explore the rocks, which makes the hike longer. We went early in the morning so were lucky enough to avoid the crowds and enjoyed a peaceful morning marveling at the
natural beauty of the Garden of the gods. On our way out of the park, we spotted a Big Foot statue and had to stop to take a picture. 6 and a half hours later and a stop at Sonic to get slushies, we made it to Hot springs National Park in Arkansas. A goal Alisa and I share is to visit all the US National Parks together. It made a lot of sense to go to Hot Springs National Park over a 3 day weekend since we don't have an excuse to come to the state. One of my best friends used to live there, but it was short-lived and we missed our window of opportunity to visit the state.
When we arrived at the park, it was much more
touristy than either of us expected. I had done some research and was aware that it was more historic than outdoorsy, but I was not that impressed. We found a total of 2 open hot springs that were small. I was expecting dozens of them throughout the park. If you are expecting to visit Hot Springs National Park and bathe in some natural hot springs, you've got it wrong. You would be better out checking out Colorado, Idaho, or Washington for that!
We toured Bathhouse Row, which was interesting. People used to think that this Hot Springs water was medicinal and was prescribed to drink it and bathe in it. You can bathe in one of the tubs or even get a massage for about $80. Of course, we stopped and filled our water up in the springs so we could relish in the magical water. There were also many opportunities to learn about the history of the hot springs through museums. We were not very interested in that, though. I am sure it is very cool! We bought pins for our hats, as we get a pin from each National Park we visit.
We headed to our campsite, which was in Lake Ouachita National Forest. When we turned
the corner as we headed up the mountain, we were hit with a stunning view of this electric green lake. It was so beautiful.
We set up our tent campsite and got a fire going before it started raining. We made paninis with the pie iron I found at a thrift shop. They were filled with mozzarella cheese, pesto, tomatoes, and garlic, and were probably one of the best campfire meals I have had to this day. Our signature campfire food is popcorn, and I just got a new campfire popcorn maker for Christmas (I sort of won it in secret Santa). Rain took the night over, so Alisa and I played cards in the tent.
When we were fast asleep in the midst of our dreams, a roaring thunder woke us up. Soon enough, the park ranger was blaring sirens and announcing "Severe Thunderstorm Warning." We decided to take our mats and sleeping bags and spend the rest of the night in the car. We made a good call because it is unsafe to sleep in a tent during a thunderstorm, which I was unsure of. You would think that one of us would know that, but apparently, the car offers some protection from lightning. The more you know!
When we woke up, it was still raining, so we decided to go for breakfast. We went to this cute dinky restaurant called Grannie's Kitchen which had amazing food. I got a strawberry pancake and Alisa got an omelet. Afterward, it cleared up, so we meal-prepped our dinner because we were scared it was going to be raining that night. We packed up the tent and decided to sleep in the car again for the night since there were bad storms coming. Plus, we didn't want to pack it in the early hours of the morning while it was likely to be raining then, too.
Then we went for a 3-mile hike around Ouachita National Forest. Arkansas is known for having an abundance of crystals, especially quartz. We were thinking about going to a crystal mine, but we realized we didn't even need to. This hike in particular had quartz all over the trails, so we were looking for good crystals for a good portion of the hike. I was lucky enough to find some near our campsite that had been uncovered from the storms and were perfect crystals. Alisa found a big one on this hike! The water was a beautiful color that the hike showed off. Mountains were peaking in the distance, which was full of trees that were different shades of green. I am used to rocky, gray mountains, so the change was interesting and fun. With only a mile left of the hike, Alisa slipped on the mud and got a nasty cut from a rock. She hates blood and I was scared she was going to start freaking out or even pass out from seeing it. I tried to rush back. It didn't help me that a loud bang of thunder shook the entire ground. We made it back to the car just in time before it started downpouring again.
That night, Alisa took me to see the Secrets of Dumbledore, which is the third movie in the Fantastic Beast series. I am a huge Harry Potter nerd, so I was very excited to see this. I thought it was really good but lacked some supporting details and evidence I have been waiting to see. I won't get into it and I won't give any spoilers. We got free popcorn and snuck in Swedish Fish and Reeses. I bought the Swedish Fish from a crappy gas station near our campsite, and that was a bad idea. The Swedish Fish tasted like rubbery plastic and was expired. That was disappointing, but I still ate them anyway.
The next morning we got up before the sun. Alisa packed while I made avocado and jelly toast. We drove 10 and a half hours back home to Chicago. You already know that we stopped for ice cream along the way.
Overall, this was a super fun trip. There's something about not being able to plan things that keeps life exciting. The unexpected leads to the spontaneous, and that's a lesson that I will be sure to remember from this trip.
Happy Exploring!
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