We took off from our hometown in Michigan on December 27th to road-trip our way to Dallas, Texas. Flight prices back to Denver were much higher than the flights TO Michigan, so we decided to look at other routes to get ourselves back home after Christmas. When we realized the Lions were playing the Cowboys in Dallas on December 30th, we decided to drive from Michigan to Dallas, and then fly to Denver from there.
Downtown Dallas from the front door of our Airbnb
Naturally, there was no way we would just drive the straight shot across the country. We were able to plug-in 3 National Park sites, including 1 National Park, and 1 new state! We didn't end up making it to the game, but found an amazing Lions bar in Dallas. We did, however, make it home for New Year's!
Happy New Year from the Mile High City!
We took off bright and early from the Mitten and made our way to our first site, George Rogers Clark National Historical Park. We were clueless going into this park, but were surprised at how much we learned. It was a great start to our trip and we definitely recommend a visit, or at least, reading up on the events that created this park in Vincennes, Indiana.
George Rogers Clark Memorial
We got super lucky as we were leaving to tour the grounds. A park ranger was leaving the visitor center as well, and invited us to go inside the memorial. This thing was beautiful and the massive murals were incredible.
You can read our full park recap over on Instagram!
One of seven murals inside the memorial
This first night on the road, we went out-of-pocket with our usual goal of eating local and wound up at a Bbuds in Marion, Illinois. This was probably a better idea anyway, since there wasn't much around. We had another early morning the next day, so we made our way back to the hotel and hit the hey.
Historic Vincennes, Indiana
Day 2 of the trek to Dallas took us to our final 2 sites for this trip. First up, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. We all know the story of the Little Rock Nine, but being there in-person, was kind of surreal. We enjoyed our time exploring the visitor center museum and walking the grounds. The school is absolutely beautiful!
Little Rock Central High School
We wanted to stretch our legs a little more before the hour drive to our final destination of the day, so we headed to downtown Little Rock. We love a bridge, so we took a stroll across Junction Bridge. This was a former railway bridge, converted to pedestrian bridge.
Junction Bridge - Downtown Little Rock
After getting a few more steps in for the day, we were off to Hot Springs, AR. Hot Springs National Park was of course the main attraction for our visit here. We explored the park for a bit, then checked-in to a super cute Airbnb.
Our 29th state!
The park was really cool, with an interesting mix between natural and commercial history. Hot Springs itself was a fun little town and we definitely plan on returning!
One of the bathhouses along Bathhouse Row
Another exciting portion of this trip was visiting a brewery that has been on my list for 5 years! Superior Bathhouse Brewery is the only brewery within a National Park and the only brewery to brew with natural spring water. All of that is really cool, but they take it a step further by offering a "Beer Bath". This is an 18-beer flight of every beer on draft and obviously I had to partake.
Time for the Beer Bath!
The Beer Bath was an interesting experience, but the food was extremely good. They even had a build-your-own Grilled Cheese for Kayla!
Bathhouse converted to brewery
Our last adventure of the park was taking a scenic drive and going up the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. This 216ft tower provides great views of the city and park, along with a museum!
216ft above Hot Springs!
Once we got back to solid ground, we checked out a few cool sights within the city and then it was onward to Dallas! This is about a 4.5 hour drive and we could not wait to get to our final destination. We had planned on checking out some sights downtown, but we were exhausted and ready for dinner. We checked-in and headed out to enjoy a meal and some drinks in Deep Ellum.
Deep Ellum - the RiNo of Dallas
We had a blast bar-hopping our way through the neighborhood. Maybe we enjoyed it so much, because it reminded us of where we live in Denver. There were a ton of similarities, even a couple of the same restaurants!
Armory DE had some amazing cocktails!
The following day was the big-hurrah. We enjoyed downtown Dallas and some great food, before making our plans for the Lions game. We passed on tickets and found the "Lions Den". It was a blast hanging around so many other Lions fans and we even got free hats! Of course, the game ended in some buffoonery, but a good time was had nonetheless.
The Lions Den!
This trip was an absolute blast, but man we were tired. After 12 days back in Michigan and 1,337 miles on the road, you could say we were ready to be home!
We missed you, Colorado!