Hit the road at 11 for Hot Springs AR.

Home for the night.

I made everyone stop for coffee at Kollective Coffee in Hot Springs, AR. 😊☕️

We checked out the old bath houses at Hot Springs National Park, basically a museum. People would travel from all around to get pampered in this building created around a natural hot spring.

Ate dinner at Maxine’s, named after a madam.

“Seat” in a single-person bathroom at Maxine’s. 😳

Walked around downtown all day, lots of cute stores. It was brutally humid. A nightmare for me. Went back to the Hipcamp & I crashed in the trailer, & Mel, Toya & Steph went swimming. Sleeping was terrible due to the LOUD air conditioner. Toya & I wore ear plugs & it was still loud.

Always funny when 2 friends end up unintentionally matching!

This is the nasty tent spot. 😒

Ready for the apocalypse.

We went to this cute coffee shop. Super nice folks & good americanos. Lots of cute shirts & accessories in there.

We stopped back downtown to go to this knife store but they were closed due to a power outage. Hit up the mountain tower. Pretty view but $8 to go to the top and no dogs allowed. 😏 we passed.

Drove through the Ouachita Forest, and finally landed at our campsite at Longpool Recreation Area in Ozark National Forest. Set up camp, and immediately started finding ticks. Covered ourselves in Deet. It was also a brutal 90% humidity & HOT. I was not doing well with it.

Ate some snacks & headed to a hiking trail at Pedestal Rock.

This is Pedestal Rock.

We found tons of great caves under the trail.

Miles & miles & miles of thick forest.

This trail was COVERED in spider webs with small spiders in them. Mel lead the way and sacrificed himself for the rest of us. He finally picked up a stick to try to break them up. Steph would pull spiders off him now & then.

On our way back to the campsite, we stopped for this amazing sunset! Enjoyed a campfire intil 1 AM, then took coed showers so we could check each other for ticks.

X

It was challenging, but fun. Definitely hot out! The humidity was horrible. It was nice to be the only ones there, be able to take our time & go at our own pace. A lot different than climbing at indoor gyms. More challenging.

Made our way back to the car about 7, all of us drenched in sweat. The AC never felt so good!

Caught another amazing sunset on the way back.

I built a campfire & Steph & Toya started bean, cheese & avocado burritos, chips & salsa. We did our coed showers again, both Toya & I had ticks on us. 😏

They wanted to check out another trail so Mel, Toya & Steph went to check it out while Sophie & I waited in the car. I’d had it with being drenched in sweat & worrying about ticks. Already pulled 1 out of my skin, & flicked a couple more off of me. They returned quickly when the hike turned out to be more strenuous than expected. Toya found 2 more ticks on her after that hike.

We stopped at this little gas station/store called “Who Da Thought It Arkansas” that had a little bit of everything. Even old used stuff you’d find at a rummage sale or antique store. Got some drinks & junk food & hit the road again.

Started raining pretty hard as we drove through the forest. 🌲🌳⛈🌧

We drove to Dallas & by the time we got there, it was pretty late, so we ended up at Yard House, lucky enough to have the perfect view of some fireworks going off in the distance! 🎇🎆🎉

We stayed close by at La Quinta in Dallas.