On our way to the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources, we stopped for lunch at Woods Place in Camden, Arkansas. Woods Place is a local restaurant that is known for making everything homemade and fresh.
The inside of their restaurant was nice. The decor around our table seemed to be Grapette Soda-themed, but I don't know about the rest of the restaurant. We got there around 11:15 am so they were not busy but there was definitely a steady stream of people through the door.
As soon as we sat down, they brought out a basket of hushpuppies and bread. This photo is after we'd all had a piece of bread. The bread wasn't as delicious as my mom's monkey bread, but it wasn't half-bad if you put enough butter on it.
I ordered a half-order of the catfish filets because Woods Place is known for their catfish. I wasn't disappointed. I got fries and coleslaw as my sides. I'm not much of a french fry person, but I really liked the coleslaw.
Granddaddy got one of the daily specials - the chicken fried steak with okra and broccoli & cheese. His plate looked really good. The kids both got cheeseburgers and Grandmother got fried chicken livers. The cheeseburgers looked big and juicy.
Travel Guide
Would you visit here again?
Sure, it wasn't bad. The food was good, the portions were right, and the service was good.
Travel Tips?
Menu, hours and directions can be found on their website.
Our Spring Break Adventure continued on Tuesday when we headed to Smackover to visit the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources. We got there right after lunch because we wanted to do light painting, which started at 1 pm. The lady asked if we'd called in advance to register for the light painting because the class was full, but we hadn't. We didn't know we needed to, so we set off looking around the museum.
In the lobby, they had some gasoline pumps on display as well as some interactive exhibits about health, portion sizes, fitness, balance, and flexibility.
Granddaddy and Emily tested out the balance board. We all got a turn but Emily and Noah were the best at it.
I'm pretty sure everyone cheated on the flexibility test, but Emily scored really well on it.
This giant cross-section of a tree trunk was in the lobby by the information desk. It was HUGE!
Another room had a lot of interactive exhibits about the human body. They had a light table with a bunch of x-rays of different body parts that you could mix and match to make a skeleton. There was also an ultrasound similar that would show you either one baby or twins!
The drum on the wall behind Noah was for listening to your heartbeat. You put your hands on the sensors and the drum would beat along with your heart. We all had very irregular heartbeats but some other kid walked up and put his hands on the sensors and the drum started beating in perfect rhythm. Maybe it was just us?
One of the things that Emily and Grandmother liked in this room was the fart noise machine. I didn't get to try it out but you sit on these little stools and it makes farting noises. There was a whole lot of laughing going on while they were playing with the fart machine.
When we got finished in the body room, it was almost 1 pm so I went back to the desk to ask if they'd had anyone who didn't show up for the light painting so that we could participate. The lady said, "Sure, we can always make room! Just follow the signs." Wow, why didn't she say that when I asked 10 minutes ago when we first walked in?
We went into the activity center but the room with the light painting was pretty full so they had maybe 15 people go out into the entryway to do other activities while the first group was doing the light painting. We got to put together some circuits.
We got ours working where the switch would operate both the light bulb and the motor. It was pretty cool and I thought we had great teamwork. Noah's favorite part was obviously pushing the button on the switch.
After we got finished with the circuits, we went to the light painting. It was very cool. They took some pictures of us making patterns with colored flashlights and strands of Christmas lights in a dark room. They were supposed to email us the photos they took, but I haven't received them yet. If they ever send them, I'll be sure to share.
After the light painting, we went back to check out more of the museum. They have an indoor replica of the town of Smackover during the oil boom in the 1920's. It has some vintage vehicles, kerosene tankers, and different buildings and offices along the streets.
This old car was parked in front of the cafe on the street. Noah was actually pointing to the theater that was showing a black and white film. Some of the offices would have voices talking when you walked in and that freaked Noah out completely. He was ready to get the heck out of there. He was also wary of going into the jail cell for some reason.
One area had these oil men hard at work.
We went up the stairs and they had this bright red kerosene tanker on display. They also had a kerosene dispenser that was pretty neat.
I thought it was neat to see different items they had from that time period. A lot of it was related to the oil boom but they had some other things too, like this guitar.
We were getting ready to leave and Noah found this elevator that shows you how oil is made under the earth. We rode up then had to walk all the way back through the town to get back out.
As we were leaving, two kids were playing in front of this skeleton screen. Whenever they moved, the skeleton on the screen moved too. After they left, Grandmother and Granddaddy got a turn.
Check out these videos!
How fun!
Travel Guide
Would you visit here again?
Yes! It was a fun stop on our Spring Break Adventure. I thought it was great that the museum had so many interactive exhibits for everyone to enjoy.
Favorite thing about the trip?
Noah: Everything!
Emily: The balancing station in the lobby.
Jennifer: Getting to play with the interactive exhibits.
Best photo op?
The gas pumps that are on display in the lobby make a great prop for a photo. Also, there is a wall of old signs that is pretty cool. And the vehicles in the old town area would be a neat place for a picture.
Travel Tips?
If you're wanting to participate in any of the special events, be sure to call ahead to reserve a spot. The museum is pretty much halfway between Camden and El Dorado and there's not much else around it so plan accordingly. There is also a walking path and a picnic area outside if you want to bring your lunch.
After we visited the Arkansas State Capitol, we headed off to lunch at Brown's Country Restaurant in Benton. Brown's was a staple of my childhood years. We would often stop here when we were on the road to or from livestock shows. It's easy to get on and off the interstate and they have plenty of parking for trucks and trailers.
We stopped by for lunch on a Monday afternoon so, thankfully, it was not as busy as I remembered it.
Gah! This is the goofiest picture, but I was really fired up to visit this place and see if it was just like I remembered from my childhood. I have so many wonderful memories of stopping at this place because we would get to eat any kind of food we want and we'd always run into our friends while we were here. And all-you-can-eat desserts! And a soft-serve ice cream dispenser! And you can pick your own flavors of Jelly Belly's! And the stairway to heaven! (More on this in a minute.) My heart is beating fast just thinking about all of it again.
So, this is my second plate of food. My first plate had fried chicken, a bunch of vegetables, and a roll. Did I mention this place has a 100-foot buffet? The highway billboard said they had fried green tomatoes so I challenged the kids to try something new on the buffet. Emily tried the fried green tomatoes but she said they were too sour.
Since we're on an adventure, I let the kids choose their own desserts. This handsome fellow chose soft-serve ice cream with hot fudge sauce, crushed Oreos, and loads of fresh whipped cream.
Emily's ice cream was on top of a bed of ... (sugar-free ... yeah, that makes a huge difference right now) lemon jello? And it had whipped cream and Butterfinger on top.
My dessert was a medley of peach fried pie with ice cream, a cheesecake square, and a slice of coconut cream pie. It's not lost on me that the ice cream, cheesecake, and coconut cream filling are all basically the same color. I liked the coconut cream pie the best.
No, we didn't eat again for the rest of the day after this meal.
I had not remembered this, but Brown's had some very pretty stained glass on display in the restaurant area that you can purchase. We were sitting by this pretty hummingbird stained glass.
After we finished our lunch, we went to explore the gift shop. Their candy displays were amazing - look at all the candy sticks! Emily got three different flavors of these to take home.
Look at the lollipop tree! I'm sure my eyes were as big around as saucers as I was walking through the gift shop.
There were so many colorful options that it was really hard to pick something to take with you.
[cue the angels singing] And this is the stairway to heaven, aka the upper floor of the gift shop. I remember that it had hand puppets and plastic snakes and other toys for the kids upstairs, but on this trip, sadly it did not. There were a few toys up there but mostly trucks and things.
You can see the kind of plastic snakes that I'm talking about here. Have you ever seen snakes like this where you hold the tail and they wriggle back and forth? I clearly remember Brown's having these plastic snakes when I was a kid.
We didn't find the Jelly Belly dispensers where you can mix your own custom bag of jelly bean flavors either. I guess they discontinued that sometime in the 20+ years since I last visited Brown's.
I still had a great time at Brown's Country Restaurant and I loved the fact that my kids got to experience something from my childhood. I'd definitely make this stop again if I'm ever in the area.
What are your top buffet choices? I love all the vegetable options all in one place.
We left Northwest Arkansas on Monday morning and headed to the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock. You might remember that Noah's Flat Stanley visited the Arkansas State Capitol a few months ago, and we wanted to visit as well.
Even though I lived in Arkansas for many years, this was my first trip to the capitol. From the outside, it is a very grand building and the grounds are beautifully kept.
Our first stop was this statue out on the corner of the property where I got a picture of Grandmother and Noah. We had to go down to the tunnel entrance because the bronze doors are no longer used for security reasons. The security guard told us that we could go anywhere we'd liked. The general session had just ended three days ago so the House and Senate were not in session.
We went inside and found a stained glass of the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas. Noah was pretty impressed, I think.
We got to see the six bronze doors of the state capitol from the inside. When we were walking up, there was a man outside polishing them. I read online that the raw bronze is polished by hand once a week. They looked beautiful.
We stopped by the State Treasurer's office and they gave us a tour of their office. They showed us the doors to the vault and talked about all the security involved with the two sets of doors. Noah was interested in how all the gears worked in the security door.
We also got to go into the vault and how half a million dollars. Those bundles of money are heavy! (Hey, not that I'm complaining ...). Noah is holding slightly less than half a million dollars here.
You can tell by the smile on her face that Emily sure did like holding a half a million dollars. The Treasurer's Office was taking pictures of their visitors to post to the website. Our pictures are here and here.
The architecture and design details in the capitol building were no less than amazing. There were several large murals about the marble staircases.
I loved this stained glass ceiling. I mean, where else can you see something like this? Isn't it amazing?
A lot of their light fixtures were very elegant and impressive.
I love love love the draperies on this domed stained glass ceiling.
I can't remember if this was in the House or the Senate but we were in the upstairs viewing gallery and this chandelier was right in front of us at nearly eye level. How cool!
We were only allowed to go up to the fourth floor. I wish they would have let us go up to the top!
The capitol grounds were just as impressive as the building itself. They had some beautiful Japanese Magnolia trees that were in full bloom. There seemed to be as many blossoms on the ground as there were on the trees.
The blooms were huge and beautiful! I wanted to pull one off the tree and take it with me, but the groundskeepers were nearby and I didn't really want to get in trouble. I thought about it though!
Travel Guide
Would you visit here again?
Yes! Definitely. It was worth it just to see the architecture and design details of the building. There is so much state history in that building - the marble and limestone were sourced in Arkansas. It would have been neat to go when the general assembly was in session to see the capitol building bustling with activity. It was nice to go during a quieter time though. There were very few people around when we were there.
Favorite thing about the trip?
Noah: Holding half a million dollars!
Emily: The Japanese Magnolia trees, my new favorite flower.
Jennifer: The bronze doors. Would have been even better if they'd let me touch them!
Best photo op?
The State Treasurer's Office where you can hold a half a million dollars. Or outside if the trees are blooming. I'd like to see what other things are blooming at different times of the year out there, too.
Travel Tips?
The Arkansas State Capitol offers guided tours on certain days and times. If you choose the self-guided tour, be sure to pick up a guidebook at the information desk that will tell you what is on each floor. Be sure to stop by the State Treasurer's Office to get a tour of the vault.
On Sunday afternoon, Heather took us to Bentonville, Arkansas, to visit the Walmart Museum. Located on the square in Bentonville, it's in the original Walmart store and has a 5 and 10 store (Five and Dime) and an old-fashioned ice cream parlor in the front and the museum in the back.
There were a lot of people on the square the day that we were there. There's a little pavilion area in the middle of the square and there were people sitting around listening to some live music.
The museum is really neat and has a lot of artifacts from the Walton family and some interactive displays about the history of Walmart. Noah had a lot of fun looking at the interactive parts of the museum.
Noah found a lot of toys displayed in the museum.
Sam Walton's office is still in tact in the museum. It's enclosed in glass so you can't go in there but it looks like he just walked away from it. You have to wonder about all the meetings that took place in this exact space.
One of the neatest parts of the museum was the wall of returns. As you may know, Walmart has a very liberal return policy and they'll take pretty much anything back. These were a collection of the best reasons to return items. The thermometer? It didn't show the correct time! The toy fishing pole? It didn't catch any fish!
They had an entire wall of pins that I thought was pretty neat. This picture is just a small selection of the pins that they had.
At the end of the tour was the ice cream shop. We each chose a different flavor of ice cream to try. Sam Walton's favorite flavor was butter pecan but none of us chose that one. I was actually going to order butter pecan but my mouth said cookies 'n cream instead. Oh well!
Travel Guide
Would you visit here again?
Yes, it was a fun stop. We did not spend a lot of time here but it was worth the stop. I could have spent more time here reading all the backstory on Walmart but the kids were not all that interested in reading that part.
Favorite thing about the trip?
Noah: Getting an ice cream cone!
Emily: The ice cream.
Jennifer: Getting some ice cream.
Best photo op?
Getting a selfie by Sam Walton's old truck was pretty cool.
Travel Tips?
Check the Walmart Museum's website to see if there are any special events going on. Also, I'd like to go back and check out more of the surrounding shops in downtown Bentonville. On the first Friday of every warm-ish month, Bentonville has a festival in their downtown area. It's called First Friday and you can find a schedule on the Bentonville website.
. Have you ever seen snakes like this where you hold the tail and they wriggle back and forth? I clearly remember Brown's having these plastic snakes when I was a kid. 
