It is July 2020 and Covid-19 (also known as the coronavirus) has already swept worldwide and has caused most countries to close down businesses and restrict the amount of people in others. Due to this outbreak many of the normal 'Independence day' celebrations throughout the USA have been cancelled and others have suggested members of the public to stay safe by watching fireworks from the window of their house or car. Sadly, but for understandable safety reasons we couldn't celebrate the 'Fourth of July' as we normally would, therefore we decided to have a quiet trip to a cabin in Arkansas to relax and celebrate in our own way.
After I had place the idea of visiting a new state when possible, Shane had suggested seeing if we could book a cabin through AirBnB and do a road trip somewhere for the holiday weekend. We do this pretty often as they have great rates, some allow pets (which means we can bring our St Bernard with us for the ride) and they often have extra amenities you may not find from staying in a hotel. Shane found and booked, without me knowing, a cute cabin in a place called Alma, just outside the city of Fort Smith. Neither of us had been to Arkansas before, so we were excited to scratch it off of our travel map that we have up as part of a gallery wall. It has photographs recording some of our best vacations as a couple as we enjoy taking pictures wherever we go.
Scratch off world map from www.amazon.com starting at $9.99
The place we were visiting in Arkansas is around a 4-5 hour drive from our home in Fort Worth, Texas so we were able to road trip and take our beautiful dog Canton too! We must admit the drive wasn't the most exciting as it was a pretty straight road which is very flat so we entertained ourselves by singing along to some of our favorite songs. We both have pretty eclectic taste and our playlist flipped between country, rock, pop and EDM depending on our mood.
When we arrived in Arkansas dark clouds were looming overhead. We finally found our cabin which was tucked away down some windy roads and behind trees on a private property. We managed to get the car unloaded and have a quick walk around and explore. We were deciding what to do for dinner as we had to unpack, the weather wasn't looking great and Shane had been driving for a while, we were united in the decision that there was only one thing to do, order pizza! We planned it perfectly. We drove into town to pick up from a local restaurant, we quickly grabbed some essentials like bread and milk from the grocery store and as we were driving back to the cabin the sky opened up with thunder, lighting and torrential rain. It didn't matter to us because although we were on vacation, the cabin was small and cozy and the sound of the rain is rather calming when you have no where to be, so we grabbed some pizza sat back and watched a movie or two.
Our Alma, Arkansas cabin and our tasty pizza.
Cabin found at www.airbnb.com
Pizza: Pizza Parlour Alma
Address: 936 US-71, Alma, Ar, 72921 Hours: 11am-9pm daily
The next day we got up and headed to the nearby town of Fort Smith, Arkansas to have a look around. We didn't expect much to be open due to covid but we found a cute place called the Brick town Brewery where we had lunch and sampled some local ciders and beer. We shared a delicious meal of chicken fried chicken with gravy, okra and green beans because the portion size was huge (we didn't get any pictures due to how fast it was eaten).
Bricktown Brewery
Address: 318 Garrison Ave, Fort Smith, AR, 72901
Hours: 11am- 8pm daily
After letting our food settle we then took a stroll down the main street which was really nice as there were multiple works of art on several of the buildings which we were able to stop and enjoy being on foot. We tried to enter one of the museums but we didn't realize it was appointment only, so we visited a local art gallery instead with some beautiful photography of the Ozarks and some local sculptures work on display.
505 Rogers Avenue, 900 Garrison Avenue and 317 Garrison Avenue
As we headed back down the street towards our car we found some more artwork and Cisterna Park, which has a small fountain and a war memorial commemorating General William O Darby who fought and died in World War II whilst in combat in Italy. He is most known for being the leader of the famous Darby Rangers which evolved into the U.S Army rangers, which are part of an elite special operations force that are combat deployable and now specialize in counter terrorism. Shane really enjoys war history being a U.S. Army veteran himself, so it's always nice to stumble across memorials like this one.
1001 Garrison Avenue, Fort Smith, AR, 72901
Before heading back to the cabin we decided to try a cocktail bar called 906 Lounge because it looked so nice from the exterior. When we entered the interior was also beautiful with a huge bar with a marble countertop, dark walls and lots of gold accents. A lady was playing a calm, pretty tune on the piano giving it a lovely atmosphere. Shane ordered his favorite cocktail an 'Old fashioned' which he said was made perfectly and I tried a Painkiller on the rocks, which was delicious, huge and tasted like something you would have on a tropical vacation. The staff were friendly, knowledgeable of their drinks and we had a nice experience.
Painkiller on the rocks at 906 cocktail and cigar lounge
Address: 906 Garrison Ave, Fort Smith, AR, 72901
Times: 4pm-12am daily
On our drive back to the cabin we had to stop off at a park in the town of Alma where we were staying as it had a small tourist attraction. A park which was small but quaint and it had a fountain with a large statue of POPEYE! Yes, we thought it was random too, but its because Alma it's known for it's spinach. It has actually been nicknamed the Spinach capital of world due to how much canned spinach it used to produce and still has an annual festival celebrating this. We couldn't help but take some pics with our favorite sailor man.
Popeye Park, 135 Fayette Ave, Alma, AR, 72921
Back at the cabin Shane decided that as we were in the great outdoors we should have a traditional American camp night with a bonfire and Smores! I'd never had smores before so he taught me how to find an appropriate length stick, place the marshmallow on the end and hold it over the fire to roast it. He explained that when it starts to turn black that's when it is ready to be placed on top of a graham cracker with a square of chocolate and then squished down with another graham cracker on the other side like a gooey, sugary sandwich. It was delicious, but so sweet so one was enough for us each for the evening. We continued to sit and relax around the fire listening to the crackle as they flames swayed in the darkness, sipping our beer whilst our speaker played 90s rock quietly in the background. Canton even enjoyed it too!
The next day was the FOURTH OF JULY and that morning we managed to find a little restaurant in town that was open and that served up a yummy breakfast of biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs. After filling up we took a car ride to another little town not far away called Van Buren. Unfortunately, most things were closed but we did find a couple of antique store that were open and we love to wander around and look at all the old items. Shane even managed to add to his Coca Cola collection with a few cool finds. Back at the cabin we took Canton for a walk around the surrounding fields and found a perfect old, dis-used basketball court where we set up our fireworks that we purchased en route to Arkansas. Shane was like a kid in a candy store picking out all the different kinds.
After hanging out in the sunshine at the cabin grilling some burgers and hot dogs, we headed over to light our fireworks. The sun was starting to go down so I decided to use the opportunity to take some pictures of the beautiful wild flowers and the sunset, and of course our gorgeous pooch.
Went the sun finally went down we let off some fireworks, because it wouldn't be Independence day without them! Shane not only brought some huge, sky bursting fireworks but he got me some sparklers too to enjoy. It may not have been a crazy party for the Fourth, but we still enjoyed the traditional USA celebrations of watching fireworks, grilling out, smores and bonfires in the beauty of the outdoors and whilst safely social distancing. We had a great time, it was nice to get away and see a new state and be surrounded by nature all within a road trip away!
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