Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

We said goodbye to our downtown apartment and headed for Arkansas. One more long drive, but with a few stops in between. before we left Oklahoma City, the boys wanted to see the Paycom coliseum, home of the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA). So…

We also saw what has to be one of the largest Bass Pro Shops. What could be more American than a big ol’ Bass Pro Shop on the 4th of July?

This place was HUGE – with buffalo and a fish tank larger than 5+ people!

As we left we saw Skydance Bridge (inspired by the Okalhoma State Bird , the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher)

We again stayed off the Interstates so we could see some of Oklahoma’s small towns. Like Shawnee, Oklahoma, who have a supersonic missle and helicopter in their town square and the main road named Kickapoo Road, which made us all giggle . We also noticed a LOT of damage to buildings and homes and after some research, we discovered that Shawnee was hit by tornados at the end of April this year. They are still trying to complete repairs city-wide.

As we drove on through Oklahoma, we found a Mom’s Cafe along the back roads… and even some ice cream sandwiches that were barely surviving in the cooler despite wrapping and ice.

We traveled through the Choctaw Nation, which was pretty impressive with their own Health Care Center and Community Centers. This was entirely different than some of the other reservations that we have traveled through on prior trips.

We do love a back road!

State Number 38! Hello Arkansas!

Great little small towns with their Flags waving for the 4th of July

The drive was beautiful – rolling hills and farmland. Arkansas is reminiscent of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia or the foothills in North Carolina

We finally made it to Hot Springs and after dropping off our luggage, we did a little exploring before dinner. We traveled up Hot Springs Mountain trail to check out the Mountain Tower. We were about to head up when we learned that it was $10 per person to go to the top. Now we maybe wanted to see it $5 worth, maybe $20 for the whole family, but not $10 per person… so instead, we took a picture in the bathtub, and found the free overlook 😁

Since we ate in both nights in Oklahoma City, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice steak dinner at 501 Prime. The steaks were delicious but the lighting in the restaurant was just weird 🥴

Back in the room, we played some more garbage, with sporadic bouts of wrestling.

These boys are getting really good at garbage. Michael bet Leo $10 that he couldn’t play the last 3 hands of garbage without talking (only words he could say were “may I” (which is part of the game). Not only did he make it the whole time, but he won all three hands! I told Leo I think we found the secret to his success 🤫 ♥️

Tomorrow we are exploring Hot Springs and maybe some hiking depending on the weather – it is supposed to be over 90° and very humid so we may drive stop to stop as we explore. We’ll see…