In October of 2023 we took a road trip to Oklahoma and Arkansas. It was part family visit, but also a chance to see a part of the country which was entirely new to us. We had a good time overall, with a few surprises along the way.
As you can see from the map we traveled through Kansas as well, but due to time constraints we weren’t able to see any sights in Kansas, though we did spend two nights in the Sunflower State along the way. Don’t worry though, we’ll travel that way again in the future and give Kansas a closer look.
Day 1: Tulsa and Owasso, Oklahoma
Our primary purpose in visiting Tulsa and Owasso was to visit family. But we did venture to Tulsa’s Gathering Place park. The Gathering Place is a huge urban park full of fun outdoor activities for kids and adults. My kids really enjoyed the very, very vast playground attractions which cover many acres.
We walked around the park, enjoyed the koi at a lake, traversed the many trails, enjoyed the nature and bought some ice cream and drinks. This is a good place to go to spend some free time while in Tulsa. The park has free admission too.
Day 2: Owasso, Oklahoma to Hot Springs, Arkansas
The second day was one that would involve a number of stops as we traversed a portion of the Talimena Scenic Highway to Queen Wilhelmina State Park, Mena Arkansas for lunch, the Crater of Diamonds (a longtime interest for the family, and ending at our hotel in Lake Catherine outside Hot Springs.
Queen Wilhelmina State Park
My original plan for our stop at Queen Wilhemina State Park (just across the border in Arkansas on the Talimena Scenic Highway) was to take the short trail to the Lovers Leap Overlook.
Unfortunately when we arrived it was very windy and chilly and we were not prepared for the weather as this short video shows.
So instead we took a few photos from the overlook and made a visit to the lodge and gift shop.
Afterward we walked over to the historic 1920s steam train engine nearby, and then the odd Wonder House, which is a multiple story historic house made of stone that was built in the 1930s.
Somehow this little house has nine stories. You can only look into the windows but you can start to understand that the stories are not conventional ten-foot floors as you would normally expect, but are rather split-level floors at staggered elevations of the house as it sits on a slope.
Mena, Arkansas
Our next stop was Mena, Arkansas which is a small town in west-central Arkansas. It is the end point in the Talimena Scenic Highway and a great place to visit on its own.
I had one place in mind for lunch and it turned out to be as good as advertised: The Ouachitas.
I’ve seen the Ouachitas called Ouachita Coffee Roasters as well, but it’s a pretty cool mix of coffee shop, beer brewery, and pizzaria. The pizza was exellent and if we weren’t heading onward to the Crater of Diamonds I would have loved to have tried the beer and coffee as well. The interior is cool too with a lounge area and long tables for dining. It’s one of the few places that seems to do many different things well.
Crater of Diamonds State Park
I have to admit that my plans tend to be a bit ambitious and time is always my worst enemy. The Crater of Diamonds State Park closes at 6 PM but the diamond mine (the crater) closes at 4PM. So in other words we had to hurry.
Driving in Arkansas is slow going over most of the roads. They are long and windy and traveling 50 miles takes over an hour. When we arrived at the Crater of Diamonds we had less than an hour to dig, but we were not going to miss out. I had packed digging tools with us for the trip just to dig for diamonds.
The garden tools turned out to be pretty good at turning over the hard soil quickly. The best tool was actually a weeding tool that I could push down into the hard surface soil to break it up.
We found some quartz and jasper and brought home a few rocks that we found interesting. I’ve heard there can be diamonds within the rocks so we may break a few open to see if there are hidden gems.
Despite the rush, this was a fun stop for us and we made another stop at a gift shop to add to my shot glass collection.
The drive to Hot Springs from Crater of Diamonds was a bit more relaxed and easy. When we arrived at the Staybridge Suites at Lake Hamilton (just south of Hot Sprinsg) we had a two room suite and two days to relax a bit after the rushed day of driving and site-seeing.
Day 3: Hot Springs National Park and Garvan Gardens
I have to admit that our first impression of Hot Springs was a bit underwhelming. The town south of the national park appears a bit run down and congested. On arriving in the historic town we saw a lot of buildings that appeared to be historic but many were in a vacant state of disrepair.
After finding a place to park in a parking garage just off the Bathhouse Row, we ambled down to the Pancake Shop, another often-recommended restaurant that we fit into our itineray.
There is no shortage of food at the Pancake Shop and the food is delicious. I ordered the Deep-Fried French Toast with eggs and bacon. It’s a little more expensive than typical breakfast restaurants but I still think it’s a good morning breakfast before exploring the national park.
Hot Springs National Park
Hot Springs National Park is an unusual national park considering it focuses on historic bathhouses and has a relatively small natural area amid an urban setting. But that has a lot to do with the history that surrounds its establishment.
Long before the idea of national parks existed in the 1830s the hot springs of Arkansas were considered a place of special importance. The United States government under Andrew Jackson decided to create a “Hot Springs Reservation” to protect the hot springs. The town grew up alongside the reservation.
When the national park service was established and the first national parks were established, Hot Springs Reservation was absorbed into the park system as Hot Springs National Park. Unlike most national parks the focus is on man-made structures and history, but the natural features (primarily the hot springs) are well worth seeing.
Our first stop was to the hot springs on the Grand Promenade. But before visiting the bathhouses we wanted to hike up to the mountain tower. It was a short uphill hike on the Peak Trail as you can see in the video.
I decided to take the stairs up to the tower museum and viewing area, which was a bit of an added challenge but there is an elevator to the top. The views of the surrounding mountains and bathhouse row are pretty impressive. You’ll learn a lot more about the history of Hot Springs and it’s importance to the early days of baseball in the museum.
After hiking back down from the mountain tower we walked the Grand Promenade to the Bathhouse Row. The bathhouses are an amazingly beautiful representation of Gilded Age luxury and we walked through the Superior Bathhouse Museum run by the national park service.
Garvan Gardens
After touring the museum we left Hot Springs National Park for arvan Gardens. Garvan Gardens is a huge outdoor garden area operated by the University of Arkansas on a peninsula southeast of Hot Springs.
I have to warn you that Garvan Gardens is not small and really takes a couple hours to fully explore. We walked about through about half of the total park before fatigue started to wear on us from all the previous hiking.
The park is not only full of plants of every imaginable kind but also unique structures and even interesting wildlife, like a green snake. We hoped to see the chapel too but unfortunately there was a wedding going on at the time of our visit.
After a long, tiring day we were ready to eat a good dinner. Since we were also celebrating my birthday the next day I chose the German restaurant Steinhaus Keller. It was great and they brought be a desert cheesecake with a Roman candle 🙂
Day 4: Hot Springs to Eureka Springs
The next day we woke up and had breakfast in the Staybridge Suites before starting off on the slow, windy, but scenic drive north to Eureka Springs. My initial plan was to go first to Mount Magazine State Park, then to Whitaker Point, and then to finish the evening at Eureka Springs where we would also see a magic show at the Intrigue Theater.
So heading north we made our first stop just before noon at Mount Magazine Lodge. My sons and I set off for a hike to Signal Hill which marks the highest point in the state of Arkansas while Shelley called in for a work meeting.
Mount Magazine State Park
We made a video of our hike and as you can see from the video we had a good time. The fall colors were by now really starting to show and that made this trek in the Ouachita Mountains highest point particularly enjoyable.
After returning to the lodge we met up with Shelley and had birthday lunch (for me) at the lodge. The lodge restaurant was meh and if there had been other options nearby I would have considered that instead. Still, the view was nice.
At lunch I decided against stoping at Whitaker Point, which is arguably the most photographed spot in Arkansas. Even had fallen and cut his leg right at the end of the hike to Signal Hill, Whitaker Point is considered a semi-dangerous hike for kids (there have been fatal falls on the trail), and I wanted to get into Eureka Springs a little earlier so we could amble around town and eat dinner before the magic show.
The drive north was on the Pig Trail which is Highway 23. It is a very scenic drive through a forested canopy. The trees were fully at the height of fall colors as I had hoped, but it was still a really pretty drive. Along the way a groundhog crossed the road and I got a quick photo of him as we were passing.
Shortly thereafter we arrived at the historic town of Eureka Springs.
Eureka Springs
Eureka Springs is one of the major tourist spots in Arkansas and I was looking forward to seeing it. It mostly lived up to my expectations but I did find it a bit difficult to fully grasp.
We stayed at the Quality Inn and I was wise to make reservations early since we would be there on a Friday evening in the fall, the height of tourist season. After we checked in we changed into clothes for the evening and drove into the downtown district.
The downtown district is very popular and the sidewalks and streets were full of people ambling from one location to another. I was hoping to stop at a restaurant in the town but I found it a bit difficult to find a good place for the family and we ended up driving to a different spot outside the downtown area.
Eureka Springs is a bit eclectic and has a varied crowd. Not every place seems very family-friendly (one place I walked into was the New Orleans hotel which had a 21-and-over sign at the bar). But it is a really cool downtown architecturally and historically so it’s worth walking the very uneven sidewalks and crossing the bridges from one side street to another.
We ended up going to the Rockin’ Pig Saloon. Truth to tell, I was a little disappointed with the Rockin’ Pig despite the good reviews online. The crowd was a bit edgy (two types of people seemed to hold sway in the restaurant and if you were neither than you seemed a bit out of place). The BBQ food was good overall but the service was also overwhelmed by the number of people in the restaurant. It was a bit disappointing too since it was my birthday.
After the dinner, we drove quickly back to the hotel before going to the magic show at the Intrigue Theater.
Intrigue Theater
I don’t have any photos of the Intrigue Theater but I will tell you that it’s a small old church that’s been converted into a venue for a magic show. The show is really good and with so few people in the audience almost everyone gets to be involved. My son Evan was brought up on stage for one of the tricks.
If you really want to be in the show pay the extra for front row seats. He called on the front row many times more than the rest of the audience.
I figured out how a few of the tricks worked but most of them are really baffling. I highly recommend it.
Day 5: Eureka Springs to Haysville, Kansas
The next day would be a drive back to Oklahoma for another visit with family, followed by an evening drive to Haysville, Kansas for the night. I truthfully had trouble sleeping and woke up at 4 AM to walk outside and took this picture of the Orion Constellation over the forests by the hotel.
After finally returning to the room for a last few hours of sleep and a pretty good breakfast at the hotel, we started west from Eureka Springs toward Owasso, Oklahoma.
There was one stop I really wanted to make sure to do before we left Eureka Springs and that was to the Thorncrown Chapel. Fortunately the fall colors were really taking hold by now and I was able to get some nice photos of the chapel at its seasonal best.
The chapel is right off US 62 west on the way toward Bentonville so it was an easy stop on the drive. It was nice and peaceful and well worth the stop.
After the chapel we continued on our way back to Oklahoma. I had one more stop in mind before we arrived back in Owasso to visit with family. The Natural Falls State Park in Oklahoma.
Natural Falls State Park
If there was one place that truly exceeded my expectations it was this state park in Oklahoma. I hadn’t read much about the park and my older brother who lives only an hour away had never heard of it. But we found the scenery and the trails there to be very nice. The falls and the grotto of dripping water along the cliff face were stunningly pretty.
The attached video shows our exploration of the park. This time Shelley was able to accompany us as we went low and high to see the falls and surrounding nature.
After the falls we headed onward finally ahead of schedule to visit with family and we did have birthday cake at my brother’s house. It was a nice visit, including testing out his swimming pool.
Finally we drove onward through the Osage Reservation north of Tulsa to our final stop in Haysville, Kansas.
Day 6: Haysville, Kansas to Home
I was hoping to stop off at a museum or two on the drive back through Kansas. Unfortunately,, it seems most everything along the way is closed on Sunday and we had limited time to make the long drive. Kansas, we will be back and see you in more detail.
Overall it was a good trip. I do feel that all the driving was a bit exhausting especially in such a short amount of time. Covering 1400 miles in a week is a bit exhausting. Additionally, I would have liked more time to relax and see more in places like Eureka Springs, the Arkansas Ozarks, Oklahoma and along the way in Kansas.
So I’m going to back off for a little while on long road trips and focus more on shorter drives and flights to locations. Having your car is nice however as you can be as spontaneous as you want and don’t need to worry about returning a car.
I had never been to Arkansas and it was nice to finally see this last of the states west of the Mississippi River that I had never visited. Additionally I had only just barely been to Oklahoma and that was just across the western panhandle in 2018. Finally, it was good to see Kansas again after 23 years. It was almost as though the entire trip was one of new discoveries.
