I love Arkansas!

Arkansas...when you hear the name, you think barefoot and pregnant teenagers with five kids under the age of five running around underfoot and an unemployed husband with a huge beer (or should I say moonshine) belly sticking out from under his too short dingy white "wife-beater". Admit it...you know I'm right. For me, coming from Mississippi (a state with a worse reputation than Arkansas), I thought it would probably be similar to what I grew up with (a love/hate relationship). Although there are some similarities, there are many differences as well. Arkansas has a natural beauty all its own! It is rugged and serene. It is a subtle beauty that takes you by the hand and pulls you along and makes you feel at home. At the same time, it pushes and teaches you to be bolder, more adventurous. And if you are already a grand adventurer, it smiles and cheers and laughs joyously as it welcomes you to its repertoire of playgrounds. But the best thing is that this natural beauty is undiscovered by most of the rest of America (who simply think of Arkansas in the terms I mentioned in the first sentence of this blog). With a few exceptions, most of the 52 state parks and 2 national parks in Arkansas are not even close to being "touristy". I love it!