The Day We Fell in Love….with a Location, and I turned 29

So if you haven't already known, Mr. Hubby and I are pretty well traveled and have seen some beautiful places in the world. We love experiencing new places, even if they aren't the best, just to say we did it! And who knows, one day we might find the place of our dreams to live out our wrinkly years ;)

For my birthday last year we decided we wanted to do a little road trip to Arkansas…I know, really, no where crazy like the Himalayas, which would have been awesome also. I have always read these awesome news articles about people finding diamonds at this old diamond mine in Arkansas and wanted to try my luck at it too for my birthday, I guess I thought the stars would a line and somehow I would magically walk out of there with a huge 30 carat diamond, a girl can dream. So for my 29th birthday we made the trip from Ohio to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, AK. It really wasn't too bad of a trip since it only took one day to drive, even with a toddler in the backseat. We made a few stops along the way but managed to get there as the sun was going down.

First off, this little town and the surrounding areas have a lot of camping sites and nature parks so I wouldn't suggest packing for a trip to a Ball if you know what I mean. We ended up staying in a little hotel right on the highway, because that is all we could find open, and decided that was it. This by no means was going to be a glamour trip, we would be spending the majority of the next two days in the dirt digging, dry and wet sifting (you'll understand when you get there), and of course, it would be blazing hot since it was in May. I'm so glad now I opted not to wear my favorite white workout shorts the first day because by the end of it we had to strip off all of our dirty shoes and clothes before we could even sit down in the car, so bring extra clothes and shoes. Also, we had to pack a cooler every day we were out there for lunch since the nearest place to eat is about 10 miles down the road and packed at lunch time and they only served things like nachos and hot dogs at the food stand.

To a toddler this was so much fun! Chrispy literally spent the entire time having a blast! He got to get dirty, dig with his own shovel and help us sift…to a true boy at heart this was amazing! After two days of being hunched over in the sun and no luck finding a diamond we were done…or at least I was….done! The experience is something I will never forget and to be honest, we might do it again one day but next time we want to do it in a RV so we could be closer to the park and little town hidden in the woods.

On my actual birthday which was the second day of digging, I managed to get crazy sun burned, yay me :(, and turns out we were staying in a "dry" county….WTF?!!! Seriously, my birthday is Cinco de Mayo (for the people that don't understand that, May 5th) and since my 21st birthday I have not gone without a Margarita on this day. So my sweet hubby and I decided to drive to the next county which we were told was Hot Springs, just two exits down the road to grab an adult beverage.

So two exits down the road turned into a hour of driving in one direction after the exit sign to the most beautiful, hidden gem, amazing, OMG I can't believe our Arkansas friends never told us about this place, Hot Springs, AK!! We are completely in love with this city on a lake. Seriously, there were boats upon boats all tied up along the side of the highway and restaurants on the lake with docks for customers that want to come in off the lake! We stopped at a gas station and picked up a Margarita for my birthday in a can, we keep it classy folks ;), and drove around for about another hour admiring the lake, the beautiful houses, the awesome little city they managed to keep hidden in the woods that anyone would be happy to live. We are in love!

After visiting this magical destination we decided our next family trip is going to be Hot Springs, we really want the chance to get a good feel for it because we could possibly retire there some day…that is the level of love we have for this place! We said our goodbyes, headed back to the hotel to get some sleep and make the voyage back to OH the next day.

We did manage to stop at the new Bass Pro Shop in Memphis, TN and believe when I say this is one for the books! It is in the shape of a huge pyramid and people actually can stay in the actual store! The rooms are all called cabins and some even have balconies that look out into the store. Once again Chrispy was in heaven and we decided if we could get a cabin we would totally be staying the night there, well, they were booked up and would be for the next year! Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Either way, just another place to add to the long list of "I will visit again one day" and hopeful we can book a cabin for Mr. Chrispy one day. All in all, I did have a amazing birthday! My hubby was home from deployment, Chrispy finally figured out how to ride his scouter, we found a place that could potentially be our forever home, and I got to go dig for one of my favorite things…diamonds!

I love trips like these because they are out of the box in terms of vacations and we love the adventure of the new. Hopeful this year will take us on more little trips.

Have a Happy Day Y'all! :)