What I learned in Arkansas

Clay and I went to Arkansas this past weekend. Well, long weekend really: Sat. 10/20 - Wed. 10/24. It was pretty wonderful, if for nothing else but that we got the heck outta town for a few days. We headed up to/over to/down to (whatever you wanna call it) Hot Springs, Arkansas, which I had never been to. I learned quite a few things on this trip, but here are some highlights (and pay attention, some of them could be pretty useful if you're ever in the area!).

1) If you go to Crater of Diamonds State Park, you probably won't find any diamonds. But, apparently the way to do it is to go every day... and take lots of lawn chairs and umbrellas and radios, and bring your own buckets, boots, shovels and screens. Apparently consistency is key. Because half of the people there, I'm pretty sure live in that county and hunt for these diamonds as a source of income.

2) Murfreesboro is about 25-30 miles away from Nashville... this holds true for Mufreesboro & Nashville, Tennessee as well as Murfreesboro & Nashville, Arkansas. I enjoy that fact, just because it's kind've odd.

3) We've always heard that the closer you get to Bentonville, Arkansas, the better the Wal-Marts are. This obviously makes some sense, but until this past weekend, I had NO idea how true it was. They had men's suits, entire clothing lines for golf wear (that was pretty nice), and (probably the most important thing) an AMAZING beer selection. You don't usually think of Wal-Mart and beer together, but they had it going on. Usually, the only thing you'll get at Wally World is your standard Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Coors, Natty Light, and if you're lucky a variety (but never seasonal) of Sam Adams. This one, had Pumpkin Harvest (the new seasonal variety of Blue Moon), and at least 2 varieties of Fat Tire (which you can hardly find in Memphis at all). It was kind've amazing. Plus, a decent wine selection. It doesn't take much to amuse me... quite obviously. But, I wish the Covington Wal-Mart had that kind've beer selection. Sure would be nice...

4) Corn Dog 7.... there is one at the Hot Springs mall. The last time I had one of those, was probably in the late 80's at the Rivergate Mall in Goodlettsville. How I missed that fresh squeezed lemonade.

5) and last... Steve & Barry's. A store I had never heard of. Apparently, they started up North doing mostly collegiate apparel, but now they have just about everything clothing wise. I might start driving wherever I need to drive just to go to this store. The prices were unbelieveable. I bought a knee length black pea coat... for $14.95. I got 3 pairs of dress pants and Clay got 2 pair of jeans and a pair of khakis for $7.50 a piece. 3 sweaters and 3 button down shirts all for about $7 a piece. And a pretty awesome black hooded sweatshirt with stictched gold vanderbilt across it for $8. It was heaven on earth for the girl who hates spending money on clothes. There's one in Jonesboro, Arkansas (closest one to Memphis) and one in Nashville (Hickory Hollow Mall I think) and Knoxville. They are all over, just not in this are too much yet. Either way, I was excited and will probably make the drive to one of them next season just to shop.

And that's it I suppose. I mean, we learned all about the bath houses and stuff at the National Park too, rode a Duck, played some putt-putt at Pirate's Cove, took traditional baths and had massages as the Buckstaff and took lots of pictures too, but who wants to know about that when we can talk Wal-Mart beer and cheap (but nicely made!) clothing?