Connecticut

Playing the state license plate game while driving somewhere in Tennessee.

Mississippi River from Belmont State Park

It was a clear day and wonderful weather for taking a walk. The kids enjoyed running around and the grown up enjoyed considerably less running.

It was the kind of gorgeous day that had us marking this place down and as "return visit needed". Being that we had to get back to prepare for work/school and other responsibilities, we had to leave earlier than we would have liked. They had a pretty big campground, so maybe we will be back?

More signs.

I rarely read all the signs. I'd like to blame the kids, but the reality is that I usually am not a sign reader. The teacher in me is horrified about this. So, most of the time, I take pictures of the signs in case I change my mind about reading them at a later time.

I really (really!) do read a lot of them when we get home, but rarely when we are out.

These signs explain how Belmont, Columbus and Cairo were connected during this war time. For those of you who aren't sign readers, the answer is the river. All these towns were on the river, but opposite sides. The river was a major transportation route for supplies and people, so controlling the river was important.

Kentucky: Columbus-Belmont State park

While we didn't start out on a Civil war trip, it turned out a lot of the places we stopped had a lot of Civil war history. So, the closest place to stop and explore we could find was called Columbus- Belmont state park.

It looked really interesting online and the website indicated it would be open on Sunday occasionally. Sadly, the visitor center was not open. We were still able to enjoy quite a bit of the park, although we were wishing we could have seen the full museum.

Welcome to Kentucky

After finishing up in Arkansas, we hit the road for our Kentucky adventure!

Arkansas Nature preserve: Wapanocca National Wildlife refugecypress swamp

We drove through Arkansas, but we didn't really stop and DO anything in Arkansas. After putting kids to bed and feeling Amelia's burning head many, many times, John and I sat down to figure out our game plan for the following day.

We needed to drive home, but we also wanted to make brief- ish stops in both Arkansas and Kentucky. We wanted to stop long enough to see something and we didn't want to drive too far out of our way. In our research, we found slim pickings. It would seem that most of the major attractions in Kentucky were in the eastern half of the state and western half of Arkansas. Which we wouldn't be traveling through.

We were able to locate a nature preserve just off the highway in Arkansas that was home to cypress trees. Cypress trees used to be somewhat common, but have been cut down for their valuable lumber.

As it was a Sunday, the resource nature center wasn't open, but we enjoyed a quick drive through the park. It was very pretty and the trees were amazing. The kids were less impressed and were quickly ready to move on. We got out and took a quick walk and then went back to the highway.

Cotton fields

I'm not sure why this was so amazing to see, but it was really interesting to see cotton growing in the field. It really looks like cotton balls growing in a plant.