State 48: Arkansas

Day 1: Kelli and I made it to Arkansas! We flew into Little Rock and drove an hour-ish to Hot Springs. Since it was around lunchtime when we got there, we stopped at Delucas pizza. It was a decent meal, but nothing special. 

We then went to Garvan Woodland Gardens. It was pretty, but it was like most other botanical gardens. They did have Anthony Chapel though which was made of glass and wood. Great place to have a wedding!

Anthony Chapel

Garvan Gardens

More from the gardens 

Gardens 

Peacock at the gardens !

We decided on a German restaurant for dinner - Steinhaus Keller and then had to get dessert from Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcake Shoppe. It was delicious! You can also add ice cream to your cupcake which we did, but I think it was better without the ice cream! 

Vanilla bottom with chocolate top and chocolate ice cream!

It was a long day for the both of us- Kelli woke up at 3am and I woke up at  3:50am for our 6am flight. After dessert we walked back to our Airbnb and went to bed! 

Day 2

We started out our morning with Lake Catherine State Park. We hiked the Falls Branch Trail and saw a “waterfall” which was actually pretty small. It was a nice hike overall. 

Part of the hike

Waterfall

Big boulders 

We decided to drive to Hot Springs Village (30 min away), but when we got there we were told it was invite only! I guess it’s a golf course/country club/ private houses/ restaurants. So that was a wasted trip, but oh well.  

Got back into town and ate lunch at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery. It’s unique because it’s located in a historic bathhouse within Hot Springs National Park.  It’s the only brewery in a U.S. national park and the only one in the world to brew  with 100% natural thermal spring water. 

We then walked the Grand Promenade which is a historic, half-mile brick-paved walking trail in Hot Springs National Park. It runs behind Bathhouse Row and offers views of the thermal springs. We had actually started on this path yesterday, but didn’t see anything exciting so we got back down. I guess we needed to go just a bit further to see the springs.  It was slightly underwhelming. 

Bathhouse row 

Quapaw Baths- still operational 

Buckstaff Bathhouse - still operational 

Hot springs 

Hot springs 

The “green boxes” in Hot Springs are secure, locked covers installed by the National Park Service over most of the area's 47 thermal springs. They protect the natural, mineral-rich spring water from contamination, regulate pressure, and prevent the public from accessing dangerously hot water

We stopped in at Fordyce Bathhouse visitor center and museum. It’s free admission and self-guided tours!  The signage around the museum was interesting and we learned a lot! It was also cool seeing the inside of what the bathhouse would have looked like back in the day. 

Once we were done there we got in the car and drove up Hot Springs mountain to get to the Mountain Tower.  The tower is 216 feet and has an observation deck and a museum.

Arkansas (specifically Hot Springs) has been a little underwhelming. It definitely isnt the worst state, but it might make my list of the bottom 10 states. Some stuff (like the bathhouse museum) was interesting, but not enough that I would come to Arkansas for it.   I’ve learned some cool things though and gotten a lot of steps in AND got to hang out with one of my besties… so no complaints there! 

Stay tuned for the rest of our Arkansas journey! 

Idaho pt 2

After a good rest we were ready to begin our first full day in Idaho!

Number one priority (aside from the potato ice cream) was Shoshone Falls, nicknamed the “Niagara of the west.” It’s 212 feet tall which means it’s taller than Niagara Falls!  This surprised me because I thought it was pretty small when we were there. Then again, we viewed it from above and weren’t able to get super close to it. I also think parts of it were too dry so we didn’t see all the water flowing. (I’m probably still comparing all the falls in Iceland and Norway too.) 

We also stopped at Dierkes Lake which wasn’t too impressive. The water was cold so we didn’t even try to go for a swim. 

Next on our list was the Twin Falls Visitor Center which is on the rim of the Snake River Canyon. We could see (and walk) across the 486-ft tall Perrine Bridge and got to see some base jumpers! Evel Knievel also attempted to jump across the canyon in 1974 with a steam powered rocket. 

We ate at Black Bear Diner for lunch which had the biggest pancakes ever (!!) before heading to Ritter Island. Ritter is part of the Thousand Springs state park (same as Malad). There’s the historic Minnie Miller dairy farm and cascading falls. The historic houses on the island are even available for rent which was interesting. What was even more interesting/unusual was the hydroelectric plant which sat adjacent to the park. Not quite what I was expecting. 

Since we were close, we also scouted out Niagra Springs which was part of the same state park. It was a little confusing and we weren’t sure exactly what we were looking for, but it is what it is. 

Our last activity of the day was with AWOL at centennial park waterfront. Two of us did the tandem kayak and I did the stand up paddleboard. 

We ate at the cove of twin falls for dinner and the food was decent, but we waited a really long time for the waitress to come with the check. (And Meghan never got her drink she ordered!) 

Next and final day we went to Craters of the Moon National Monument. It’s a surreal volcanic landscape of lava flows, cinder cones, and lava tubes.  There’s a scenic loop road which we drove and did a few small hikes. I even went and explored a small cave. Dewdrop cave is a lava tube formed by flowing lava. 

Dinner was at Elevation 468 and had beautiful views! 

That’s all for Idaho! Stay tuned for Arkansas …coming soon!

State 47: Idaho

Every year for the past 5 years, Melissa, Meghan, and I have taken a girls trip. We go to a state that none of us have been to before. Unfortunately, this is the last state that all three of us need. (But don’t worry, I think we plan on stilll doing some kind of trip every year!)

Stupid me found a flight leaving at 8:30am and I thought, okay, that’s not bad… I’ve had flights at 6:30am before so no big deal. WRONG!! I woke up at 4:45am to get ready, meet at my friends house, and then drive to the airport together. (One of the other girls got up at 3am) 

We arrived in Boise, Idaho around 2:30 pm. We picked up our rental car and headed straight to West Side Drive-In. It’s a cute little diner, with something very special: POTATO ICECREAM!!! It  looks like potato, but thankfully it’s not. (Vanilla ice cream, coco powder, chocolate sauce, and you can add nuts if you want.) Oh my yums it was delicious !!

We then drove to Malad Gorge State park and saw the canyon. It’s 250 feet deep and 2.5 miles long. 

Had dinner at Texas Roadhouse because that’s a must when we travel together. We have loved our waiters that “kept them rolls comin’!” 

We crashed when we finally got to our hotel. 

Stay tuned for more from Twin Falls!

Norway pt 2

Day 3: We spent the night in Gudvangen so we could see the Viking Valley first thing in the morning.  (Think of it as colonial Williamsburg, but in Norway with Viking style) We mostly just walked around on our own. They did offer an English tour with a guide, but we were cutting it close time-wise and the guide had a thick accent which made it a little challenging to understand. 

Gudvangen is also really pretty. 

We took a bus to Voss and then a train from Voss to Bergen. 

When I originally started researching Norway, I saw in numerous places that you should not rent a car, but rather use their transportation system.  All of our transportation was booked through Norway in a Nutshell. It was an incredibly smooth process and and worked out great. The trains were in large part very scenic.

When we arrived in Bergen we decided to go up in the funicular since it was a clear day. I’m so glad we did!!  

View of Bergen and funicular 

Bergen from above

Floyen goats 

Amazing lookout

Cute little park at the top with our troll friend

Day 4: Our last full day in Norway involved just hanging around Bergen.  We started with a visit to the Troll Museum and then wandered around town. 

Troll museum exhibit

Troll selfies

Sites of Bergen

Sites of Bergen

I am absolutely in love with Norway. Yes, it’s expensive and yes, the weather can be iffy, but I would say it’s a much better choice than Iceland. Iceland isn’t worth the hype, in my opinion, and Norway is severely underrated.