Toothless in Arkansas

Cruising through Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, we thought it looked like a decent enough little city.

But when Arkansas' licence plates read "The Natural State" we thought we owed it to ourselves to  head straight for the Ouachita Mountains.

This is a huge swathe of National Forest running through Arkansas' centre.

With Hot Springs National Park closed thanks to the federal shutdown, we contented ourselves with a drive through the township itself, mostly derelict by the look of things.

Onwards we pushed to Lake Ouachita State Park where we found a campsite by the water and in the morning I walked/jogged the Caddo Bend Trail (7 km return from the campsite).

Apart from a few woodpeckers and what I'm sure was a beaver beating its tail, I was left unharrassed. I'm certainly braver again now the bears are very few and far between.

Petit Jean State Park was then only a short drive up highway 7 to the north east. It sits on a high plateau overlooking the surrounding farmland.

Cedar Falls, the Park's highlight, was barely trickling, but we made friends with a little armadillo on our way to the overlook.

This was the first of perhaps ten armadillos we were to see, both alive and dead, as we travelled Arkansas' roads.

With the campsites full to the brim, we grabbed a spot in 'overflow' for a couple of nights and had a beautiful lakefront spot all to ourselves for the first of those nights.

Lake Bailey supported all sorts of life, including honking flocks of geese, huge lilly pads and noisy cicada-like insects.

Emboldened by the seeming isolation of our little spot, the three 'boys' decided to create a club house using the oak and maple trees beside us as a base and by scavenging for bits of timber.

Indy erected a 'no girls allowed' sign, so mummy contented herself with relaxing and reading inside Bessie and occasionally delivering some supplies.

It was almost Lord of the Flies time when dad fashioned a sling-shot out of timber, elastic bands and some torn fabric.

He made sure to explain the rules to the other 'boys', including not aiming at each other or any other animals (wise words sensai!)

In many ways, this two-day slingshotting, boys club fest was in keeping with where we were.

Almost every second person in Arkansas wears camo gear, so they clearly like their huntin'. But I get the feeling the fashions go beyond the hunt.

You need to pick up your script from the pharmacy? Put on your camo.

You run out of milk and pop down to the grocery store? Put on your camo.

You drive around (anywhere) in your 4x4? Put on your camo.

The adults wear camo. The kids wear camo. I'm surprised the dogs don't wear camo. Maybe they do and I just didn't see them.

But the biggest surprise for us in Arkansas was when Indy's bottom tooth started wobbling.

A couple of days later, he finished an apple and announced the last bite had tasted a bit funny. Brilliant!

Then the tears flowed as he started to wonder whether the tooth fairy might not come because he didn't have a tooth to give her.

Never fear - it's nothing that a determined mummy, a day's wait and a pair of latex gloves can't fix.

We exited Arkansas over the Winding Stair Mountain drive, an obvious favourite of bikers with its rollercoaster dips and its winding curves through forest.

It was certainly nice enough and lots of people were stopping to take photos of the scenery, but I can't say that we were all that 'taken' with it.

With Elvis at Graceland

We're a bit partial to Elvis Presley in this family.

Okay, so maybe that's understating things. I walked down the aisle to Elvis' "It's Now or Never". So the respect and adoration is enduring.

And here in Memphis, Tennessee, with Bessie camped directly across the road from his beloved Graceland, we didn't want our communion with the King to be spoiled in any way.

That meant leaving the kids behind and taking turns completing the Graceland Platinum Tour which allowed us to visit the house and adjoining buildings, Elvis' resting place and numerous associated museums.

What struck both of us within the main house was how many of the rooms served a useful purpose and had a natural (not extravagant) size.

His mum and dad lived in the house with him for as long as they were alive (his mother predeceased him) and because of the lived-in feeling of the rooms, you could really imagine family life within the house.

Several recordings were made in the lounge of his 'Jungle Room', where the floor and ceiling were coated in a thick green shag.

And there were a LOT of mirrors. Everywhere.

The open, grassy pasture behind the house still has horses to this day, and the self-guided tour walks you through areas like this and the numerous buildings adjoining the main house.

He did so much for charity. He knew what it was to have nothing and perhaps that early association with struggle-street fed his need to help others.

There are so many costumes and platinum records and keepsakes and videos - we each spent more than three hours going through all of the exhibits at the house and the museums.

The automobile museum showcases the pink caddy that was his mum's favourite along with several others from his collection, including toys like golf carts and trikes they used to race around the lawns of Graceland.

Two of his private aeroplanes are also open for viewing, including the "Lisa Marie" replete with its gold-plated seat belt buckles.

Nath's favourite exhibit focused on the '68 comeback special. Is there anything better than when somebody's written off and up against it and comes out and does their thing and proves to the world that they've still got it.

Mine was probably the Vegas years.

Those who know me best are aware of my affection for jumpsuits. Mum's skills with a sewing machine meant I had several of my own as a young girl. My favourite was a yellow, green and brown floral number.

The exhibit featuring the Vegas concerts had so many of his costumes -- I could have spent hours admiring that bejewelled and embroidered bounty of one-piece awesomeness.

The tour doesn't touch on his demise apart from mentioning that he played the piano in his racquetball lounge area on the very morning of his death. His weight gain and prescription drug addiction isn't addressed.

Standing at his gravesite was perhaps my most emotional moment; reading the inscription written by his father who survived him by only a couple of years.

For days now, Bessie has been rocking non-stop to the sounds of Elvis (with just a bit of Paul Simon's Graceland thrown in here and there).

We'll never tire of listening to the King.

Wish upon a star in Nashville

Let's preface this by saying I'm NOT a country music fan...

But even I can see the attraction of Nashville, Tennessee.

It's a town of about one million people, with a throbbing compact downtown area and is filled to the brim with music and dreams.

Everywhere you go, from the local shopping mall to the biggest clubs and venues, there's someone strumming out a tune and singing their heart out.

And I'm slowly coming around to the idea that a song should tell a story. I still think there's a bit too much personal information for my liking, but I can see how some find the heartfelt nature of this music appealing.

On our first day here we visited the Grand Ole Opry area and had a massive bit of luck.

Firstly, let me explain that we are really mean parents who allow our kids to LOOK in amusement arcades but never give them any coins to put in the machines.

For instance, if our kids see shopping centre rides and hop on board we might wobble the thing back and forth with our hands, but that's as good as it gets.

So perhaps this guy saw our poor deprived children pressing all the buttons in the arcade and getting no love back from the games but he just walked up and gave Indy and Dash free cards for unlimited play as he was leaving.

Okay, so guess where we stayed for the next five hours!

When we finally tore ourselves away, Indy told us (holding back tears) that all his dreams had come true.

Thanks free-card man, wherever you may be!

The next day we caught a shuttle into downtown Nashville and roamed the city streets with Dash unleashing his cool moves and air guitar out the front of every bar.

Sometimes there is so much live music that you can hear the cacophony of four or more performances simultaneously.

We walked the pedestrian bridge to check out the river and took in lunch at the Wild Horse Saloon.

More luck....

Disney on Ice was playing at the Arena. It happened to be the Princesses and Heroes version (which maybe is a bit more oriented to girls) but it was the right place and right time.

Sometimes you forget how awesome it is to watch something live.

The kids were enthralled, and we enjoyed it too - the lighting, the costumes, all of the skating stunts.

It was pretty magical actually.

Maybe Nashville is the place where dreams really do come true.

Wild Woody

We had read about Gatlinburg which sits on the western edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It was described as "tacky" but we think that's a bit unfair.

It was commercial for sure. But it didn't have a down-market desperate style; more of a confident approach to getting tourists to part with their dollars.

But driving onwards to Pigeon Forge we encountered the true definition of 'tacky'.

With no disrespect to Dolly Parton who created Dollywood here and provided the basis for the town's growth, this place is where bad ideas go to die.

It was Nath's birthday, so we took advantage of one of the multiple gokart tracks in the area and went for a spin on the "Wild Woody", a multi-level wooden racing structure.

Together with a Cracker Barrel dinner, and awesome presents of googly eyes and a Kung Fu Panda kite, what more could a man want?

Now I HAD offered to shout Nath to the Biblical Times Theatre, a dinner show with a difference, but he said he was happy just chilling out with us - go figure!

Blue Ridge and Great Smoky

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia through to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina/Tennessee.

We were lucky enough to make it through the Blue Ridge and to stay in mostly government campsites along the way prior to a massive federal 'shutdown'.

The 'shutdown' is the result of a fight between the President and Congress and until it's resolved, everything federal is closed.

Employees (like parks rangers) won't be paid until the problem is sorted out.

So we were able to enter the Smoky Mountains National Park, because a highway cuts through its centre, but all access to its trails and scenic overlooks was blocked off with traffic cones.

We probably would have explored it over a couple of days had we had the chance to camp in the park and hit the trails, but we get the feeling the territory was pretty similar to what we'd encountered on the Blue Ridge.

There have been fewer more relaxing driving days on this trip than the several days we spent along this Parkway.

There were picturesque overlooks aplenty, a slow speed limit (with no angry drivers riding our tail), lovely campsites and some great trails.

The first one we tried was the Fallingwater Cascades Trail near Peaks of Otter.

It was a two and a half kilometre loop down and along a creek which tumbled into small waterfalls in places.

A bridge crossing the creek had been washed out and so the kids enjoyed the adventure of climbing over rocks to the remaining bridge portion.

Then there was the snake on the trail.

We waited fairly patiently for it to wriggle away (with Nath throwing stones nearby to urge it on).

We didn't bush bash, because we didn't know if his friends might be nearby.

On another day, we hiked to all of the overlooks on the southern side of Linville Falls (about three kilometres walking in total) and they were impressive but very popular.

Just before the Falls area we had driven over the Linn Cove Viaduct and neighbouring bridges - the last section of the Parkway to have been completed.

We also explored Mabry Mill which has a water mill plus the creeks and flumes running to it.

The boys also spent a lot of time investigating the collection of historical buildings and farming equipment.

The town of Cherokee prior to Great Smoky Mountains National Park was beautiful, with creeks running beside the main street through most of the town.

Obviously I can't say much about Great Smoky Mountains.

We only stopped once beside a stream (at the only place we found without traffic cones).

That's where we sang Happy Birthday to Nath and enjoyed some birthday cake together.