What Arkansas means to me

 When I was a child my parents would drive us every summer to visit our grandparents. Nonnie and Pepper my father's parents lived in Sherwood, Arkansas 

Mema and Pepa my Mother's Mother and stepfather lived in North Little Rock 

and had a summer home on Greers Ferry Lake. 

We came in from Savannah via Tennessee and I remembered the rice patties and irrigation systems and shack-like housing just as it still sits along the highway. We ate barbecue a catfish along the way. I ate okra steamed and fried ;) and greens. We stayed at a campground next to Greers Ferry Lake and met a couple from Searcy, Arkansas who gave the visit a more homespun feel replete with shared meals and great conversations - thanks, Beth and Gordon!  The Campsite was a bit flooded because Greers ferry was 9' above normal.  We stayed dry though. On the rainest day we drove down to Conway to see my Father's almamater Hendrix. 

We visited Blanchard Springs Caverns in Fifty Six Arkansas and shared the last piece of pecan pie  just like my Pepa would when we went there when I was a kid. 

Arkansas was a real trip down memory lane for me! So many stories I can hardly find words for! I will say Arkansas is a beautiful state once you get out of the "everywhere USA" zones and if you have never seen any of the Ozark mountains they are worth the visit. Much of the Ozark ways were drowned when they put in the hydroelectric dams that formed Greers Ferry lake (among others)- but if you look you can find some of the old craftsman and silly slogans that make Arkansas Arkansas and it is really worth a visit. 

Maybe that is just my nostalgia talking yet I feel vindicated in my love for Arkansas because even Jenny was in awe of its natural beauty. 

Next trip was to St Lois then Kansas - westward bound!