Back From The Ozarks

 I don't know what I expected when I planned a one week trip to Branson, Eureka Springs, Bentonville and Little Rock, but what I experienced was definitely NOT what I expected.  I will write later in detail about some of the things we did and saw, but this is just my general impression.

I had heard southerners were friendly.  I just didn't know how friendly.  Everywhere we went we were greeted warmly with, "Hi, y'all,"  and a big smile. We were impressed.  

Most of the towns we visited were small, very small.  Eureka Springs has only a few thousand residents, yet the downtown business area is bustling.  Cute shops for crafts and original artwork abound, clothing stores and souvenir shops are abundant.  Want a "Trump 2024 lunchbox?"  This is the place to get one. 

As nice as the people are, politics is off limits.  In Branson we found that some of the shows made political comments.  At one show the cast came out wearing T-shirts that said " I stand for the flag, I kneel for the cross."  Obviously a reference to Colin Kaepernic taking a knee during the national anthem.  The oddity of the uproar over players kneeling during the national anthem as a form of protest is that taking a knee is a military tradition, for a number of situations.  Colin took a knee to peacefully protest police brutality toward blacks.  It had nothing to do with disrespecting the flag.  But I digress.  I thought the T-shirts worn were in poor taste, and it left me with a negative impression of Branson.

The scenery in the Ozarks was also not what I expected.  I guess I've watched too many episodes of Ozark, the Netflix show.  The landscape was beautiful.  Big, beautiful trees, real close together, made it look like all there was were trees.  Not so.  Beautiful farms, raising chickens and many crops, most abundantly rice.  Who knew?  The dogwood trees were in bloom, as were the red bud trees, which I loved.

The highways, and for that matter the cities, were clean.  No trash, no grafitti.  I was impressed.

Finally, the food.  Most often restaurants served a mixture of southern favorites, like fried catfash, fried green tomatoes, biscuits and gravy, fries and gravy, collard greens, etc.  They tried hard to incorporate some healthier choices, with some success.  I could not get non fat yogurt for breakfast, or for that matter, toast.  I was offered biscuits or sweet rolls.  I could not get non fat milk.  We did, however, in several cities (Bentonville and Little Rock), eat at upscale farm to table menus, similar to what we would get at home.  I ended up going to the local grocery store to stock up on yogurt, carrots and fruit.  A seasonal fruit plate was my go to item, if all else failed.

More about my trip to the Ozarks in another blog.  We had some great experiences that I hope you will enjoy hearing about.