The Natural State

Arkansas is known as the natural state for a reason. Everything is so green and lush. Ty and I spent a couple of days in Eureka Springs for my job. We went up a little early so we could explore the town. I was told that all the shops shut down after 5 pm, which is true and a little weird for a vacation destination. The drive up the mountain was beautiful. The town was very quaint. There were several cute stores that I visited. I will show you one tomorrow along with a GIVEAWAY! But back to the lush landscape of Eureka Springs...
We did a lot of driving around enjoying our scenery. We drove over to Beaver Lake and to the Beaver Dam. The water was very clear and very still. There was hardly any wind that day. As we were driving across the dam we saw a sign for a lookout point. We turned around and headed up to the point. It provided some great views. Across from the lookout point was a trail built by some boy scouts. Even though we were both in flip flops we decided to head up it aways. We didn't make it very far because it was steep and we were worried about coming back down in our flippity flops.
I have never seen so many deer consistently throughout a drive. I have seen a lot of deer clustered together before, but I haven't seen deer like this. It seemed like every new road we went down had deer frolicking through the fields. I almost hit a little bambi on one of the roads. Luckily the speed limit is really slow on all of the roads due to all the twists and turns so it wasn't hard to slam on my brakes to miss it.
Our hotel, the Inn of the Ozarks, had a small miniature golf course. If you know Ty, then you know that we played several games! We ate at a couple of restaurants including the famous Ermilio's. Ty enjoyed his food but I was so full from the big conference lunch that I only had a salad. I'm not used to having a full meal of chicken covered in alfredo sauce, scalloped potatoes and salad for lunch, so I was extremely full. Although I did save room for dessert. I saw a snack stand that sold funnel cakes and couldn't wait to get one after dinner, but they were closed. I am still craving one! Can't you just picture the golden cake covered in powder sugar! Are you craving it yet!?!
On the way home we stopped at a roadside fruit stand where we bought peaches, tomatoes, and sweet corn. I love roadside stands! I need to visit the farmers market here in town.
Even though it was a working trip we had a great time. It was a nice relaxing trip. I love visiting small vacation destinations and being able to explore the whole town.

Beaver Lake

The stairs at the beginning of our trail.