~ Arkansas ~
Spent the last week in northwest Arkansas visiting Josh's family. We had the opportunity to visit a number of the little towns around the area and do a bit of exploring. I was a bit surprised by how hilly and lush (by winter standards) Arkansas is. It would have probably been better for my impression of Arkansas to visit during the summer when the lushness would be more vibrant, but I don't think I could handle what sounds like a very active insect infestation. The trip, for me, would have been better if I had not come down with a flu virus two days into the trip. I am not a good sick person and found myself battling the crankiness.
Highlights of the trip included walking through the cute neighborhoods, finding two good coffee shops (one with good soup, the other with good coffee), visiting a wonderful knitting shop, and having some good people moments. In particular, I had the opportunity to don some real leather biker gear and go on a motorcycle ride through some hills into Missouri with Josh's father. The best day was when the family caravanned to Eureka Springs and spent the day walking around the cute town in the Ozarks. The sun came out that day and the light was simply glorious. Josh and I hiked up to the top of one of the hills into a strange rural Arkansas Ozark neighborhood and had a great time exploring. That evening, the remaining members of the family went to the Crescent Hotel which is apparently haunted by ghosts - - and had plenty of fun.
For photos, here's the link to my Arkansas photo album. I have omitted the hundreds of photos of people opening presents.
As fate would have it, Josh and I continued to have travel snafu after travel snafu. On the way to Arkansas, Josh and I made it to our destination...our luggage did not. As there are not a whole lot of flights to rural Arkansas, it took some time before it arrived. On the way to back to Boise, our already incredibly long travel day was lengthened because the Atlanta airport was completely shut down due to fog, so we had to be diverted to Dallas, and so the sitting around in the airport was augmented considerably. I spent all day yesterday recovering from the flight. We could have gone to Europe in the time that it took us to fly halfway across the country. Anyway, it's nice to be home.