Arkansas Road Trip

OR.....How John should look at the map and not trust me to get us there

OR.....How Joy should not put so much trust in the GPS

Take your pick of titles

Josh had to work on his birthday until about 10 that night so we could not see him until Thursday....the glamorous life of a coach!

John and I had already planned to leave the morning of Josh's birthday

So, I looked at the map to see where we could go and still get to Josh by Thursday.

I found some info on the Arkansas Wine Trail

I pictured taking some great pictures in the grape vine fields

Where did I get the idea, that had been circling in my brain, to make pictures in the vineyard

I read the blog a southernboyandacitygirl.blogspot.com

The guy is Berry born and raised and I got to meet his wife a few weeks ago

They had their wedding reception at a winery and have wonderful pictures in the vineyard

Look back on their blog and you will see these great pictures

We started out bright and early

Thinking we would get there, tour the vineyards and have time to relax at the hotel

Well, about 8 or 9 hours later, we finally found the first winery.

It was really pretty neat. Not sure if it was worth 9 hours but.......

I think that was my fault

We toured the Post Winery and the Chateau Aux Arc Winery. Guess what.... the beginning of fall is not a good time to make pictures in a vineyard. Also, the hotels were not quite what we were expecting

So.......we took off down the road again

Where ...no one knew

I did decide to redo a setting on the GPS
Ahh......that was better

The GPS put us on Scenic Byway 7

Very pretty ride with quaint little towns

No pictures.....it was getting dark

But....no hotels

So...we headed to Hot Springs

We had not planned on going there. We had been to Hot Springs about 3 years ago. I am glad we went because it was so pretty at night.

We had a hard time finding a room but finally got a room at a Hampton Inn outside of Hot Springs

We ate at a great little restaurant on the Lake and had an appetizer that we have never had before. Avocado Fries. Yummy.....if you like avocado

Thursday morning.....down the road again

Josh called and said he would be free around 5

Time to spare

What to do

Looked at atlas

Hey.....I saw the Duggars go to this place on an episode of 18 Kids and Counting

So we typed Crater of Diamonds into the GPS and took off

We still had it set for scenic
2 hours later (it should have taken us an hour) with no sign of the State Park in sight GPS took us to a dirt road

John was not happy and took over as guide while I drove

We made it

I know these pictures are not very impressive and will not make you say

I have to go there

But....

it really was pretty neat and there were a lot of people digging for diamonds and we saw some people come in with their find.

We were not prepared to dig so we just watched for a few minutes

This is the spot where the Uncle Sam Diamond was found. Very close to the entrance. It was a 40.23 carat diamond. The largest diamond ever found in North America.

John and I were curious as to why there were diamonds in the middle of Arkansas

Here is just a little info

It is a 37 1/2 acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient gem bearing volcanic pipe

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only diamond producing site where the public can search for diamonds and it is finders keepers

On the road again to Magnolia

Ahh..... finally got my hands on the birthday boy

He looks happy to see his Mama too

I didn't get a pic of the hug they gave each other but Pops was glad to see
his boy too

We got to see the house Josh lives in

It is a really nice house and was so clean

I didn't ask if they keep it that clean or if they cleaned for us

Uncle Josh showing off one of his birthday presents

Josh asked for an afghan with pics of his nieces and nephews

A funny little story about this.... Courtney sent Kim her pics and then Kim ordered the afghan from one of her companies. She ordered it about two weeks before Josh's birthday. They said it would take two weeks to make so she had it sent to him and paid for over night shipping in hopes that it would get there for his birthday
Two days later they sent her a notice saying it was made and had been sent

We all assumed Josh had gotten the gift and was just too busy to say anything about it

When John and I got there I asked him about the afghan and he said he hadn't got it.......I sent Kim a text...... she followed the delivery on line....it said it had been delivered 9 days ago.

Uh Oh! Josh said...well we do pile up mail on a table in a room we don't use and I didn't know that it was coming. Long story to say that the afghan package was on the table and he opened it on his birthday!

We took Josh out to eat. Saw some college kids that called him "Coach". Surreal moment for this Mom.

After supper Josh and John went back to his house and did what they have done their whole life

watched football

UAB

I did what I have done my whole life and what a state to do it in

Went to Wal Mart

After spending two hours stuck in Wal Mart because of a torrential downpour of rain

but really....I can spend that long in Wal Mart on a beautiful day but I wanted to get back to my birthday boy

I got back in time to watch the end of UAB beating Southern Miss

Josh was so happy for them

Friday morning we met Josh for an early lunch and then he had to go back to work

We hit the road back to Berry, Alabama

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH

We Love You and Miss You