Southern US Road Trip: 11/25/21

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  Day 8

Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri

After finally leaving Louisiana, we drove into the amazing Ozarks. Our first stop was Hot Springs, Arkansas, where we saw, you guessed it, a hot spring. It was almost too hot to touch, but it felt nice in the cold. Then we drove up and down a lot of mountain roads and briefly stopped at a small rendezvous we saw. Next, we went to an awesome waterfall (Cedar Falls, in Petit Jean State Park). We first viewed it from an overlook, then actually hiked to it. The entire area looked like it was meant to make people feel small, and we all enjoyed clambering on the rocks, lounging in the sun, and just taking in the beautiful view. After spending a few hours there, we started driving again. We attempted to go to Eden Falls. Unfortunately, Google Maps tried to take us to the closest point, not the trailhead. We ended up driving on a windy, steep, dirt road up a hill, that definitely is not meant for any vehicle without four-wheel drive and plenty of ground clearance. We barely made it up, then saw the road was blocked by a trench, so we managed to turn around and leave. At one particularly large rock that hit the bottom of the van, Kade had the idea to get everyone out of the car and run down to lessen the weight. The whole situation was silly and scary at the same time, but we made it out. Unfortunately, we did not realize the map had made a mistake until the next day (and over an hour away), so we continued on to Branson, Missouri. There, we stopped lodge/restaurant and played foosball while we figured out where to stay. Then we drove to our selected hotel and left again to try and find Thanksgiving dinner somewhere. Unfortunately, everywhere we tried was either closed or too busy, so we went back to the hotel and swam in their cold pool and lukewarm hot tub.

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