Road Trip to Mt. Nebo State Park, Arkansas



The main course

Well it's back to reality after our trip to the mountains of Arkansas.  I highly recommend renting a cabin at Mt. Nebo State Park.  It's about a six hour drive from Dallas but one worth taking.  You enter the park from the town of Dardanelle.  It's a small town, population approx. 4,200.  Be sure you stop at the Wal-Mart that's just before you make your way up the mountain for food and supplies because you wont want to leave once you get up there.  The drive there is nice but there are some major switchbacks getting to the top that will have you thinking you're getting no where fast because every turn looks exactly the same.  Same rocks, same road, same trees, it's kind of funny actually.  When you reach the top it's a short drive to the visitor's center to check in and then there are about 20 cabins throughout the area along with some privately owned cabins that are also for rent.  They have a sunrise point, a sunset point, swimming pool, picnic area (several), playground, tennis courts and a gift shop.  One side of the mountain faces Lake Dardanelle which makes for nice scenery except for the nuclear power plant that sits out in the middle of it!  The other side faces more mountains and trees as far as you can see.  This is the side our cabin was on.  The cabins were built in the 1930s but have recently been renovated so you think you are staying in a relatively new cabin.  Ours was very cute, all in oak paneling with a small kitchen that included a refrigerator, stove, oven, sink, microwave, toaster and coffee maker plus all the necessary kitchen utensils, plates and pots and pans.  It had a full size bathroom with a tub/shower, a living area with satellite TV, a foo ton, rocking chair, fireplace and dining table and then one bedroom with a queen size bed.  Outside we had a patio with a picnic table, lawn chairs, a fire pit and a cookout grill.  When we first checked in we thought we wanted to go into town and check out the local eateries but the sunset was at 7:18 that evening and we didn't want to miss it so we grabbed what we needed at Wal-Mart and headed back to the mountain.  So I have to say that I don't have a review of any places to eat on this trip, all I can tell you is that my own personal chef, Gary, cooked us out some great rib eye steaks while I worked on the baked potatoes, corn and garlic bread in the cabin.  We managed to come up with an appetizer and dessert as well.  See photos below!  Day two of our trip we rented mountain bikes and went on a 2 and a half our ride.  The first half was pretty easy but there was a lot of up hill on the second half.  There is a "bench" that runs all the way around the mountain that is suitable for mountain biking so we took that trail all the way around.  I didn't feel bad about missing this weeks Zumba class after our ride.  That was plenty of workout to last me a week!  I'm glad we did it.  It was really cool to be there riding along the side of the mountain, through the trees with the love of my life!  After the ride we went back to the cabin, cooked up a late breakfast of scrambled eggs, biscuits, sausage and bacon then we cleaned up and took a nap for most of the day.  By late afternoon it was time to situate ourselves outside and wait for the live Bambi show to start.  We had 9 little visitors that evening including one young buck and two spotted fawns that looked like twins.  For dinner that night we had cooked out hot dogs.  Our last morning there we woke up to find 10 deer at our back door.  I got straight up out of bed and sat on the back door steps in my PJs so I could watch and feed the deer.  We left the back door open while we were eating breakfast and a couple of doe just stood there at the door watching us.  I think maybe they wanted a cup of coffee and a biscuit!  It was great fun and anyone who loves the outdoors should take a visit to Mt. Nebo.  You'll love it!

The appetizer

The dessert