Making an Arkansas Bucket List

Last week, my husband flew to Denver to interview for what I can only say would be his dream job. The interview went really well, but the gears of medical academia grind slowly, and we won’t be hearing about a hiring decision until at least November and maybe January, and then if he gets the job, possibly not moving until next summer. This means we’ll be living with a little uncertainty for a while. Rather than focus on the unknown, we’ve decided to live what may be our last year in my home state to the fullest. I want to make an Arkansas Bucket List and focus on enjoying what this place has to offer for as long as we’re here. If we end up not moving, at least we’ll have had a really fun year!

Some of the things I want to do are:

• Take the girls canoeing on the Buffalo River
• Road trip for a weekend to Memphis and Oxford MS (I have yet to make a Faulknerian pilgrimage and must do so while we’re so close)
• Take the girls tent camping for the first time
• Spend a weekend in a cabin
• Visit Johnny Cash’s childhood home in Dyess
• Take the girls to an Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball game
• Visit the 3 Arkansas BBQ restaurants that made Garden & Gun’s BBQ Bucket List: Craig’s in DeValls Bluff, Jones in Marianna, and McClard’s in my hometown of Hot Springs
• Take the girls to the State Fair
• See the fall color in the Ozarks
• Attend our alma mater, Lyon College’s Scottish Fest
• Rock out at the Americana concert series at South on Main (tickets to this series were our anniversary gift to ourselves, and I’m super stoked about seeing The Indigo Girls with Patterson Hood in December)
• Spend a night at The Capital Hotel (maybe for my birthday in December?)
• See a show at White Water Tavern (We used to live right by it, and I hung out there a lot before kids. Haven’t made it back to my favorite dive in a long while.)

There are a few things that would be on the list, except we’ve already done them recently

• Visit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (the current Warhol exhibit is pretty awesome!)
• Go boating on Lake Hamilton (my parents live on this lake, so we can go anytime!)
• Visit Garvan Woodland Gardens

Obviously, there is much more that we could add to this list, and this is where you come in! Got suggestions for things we can’t miss in case we move? Bonus points if they are convenient to Little Rock or little kid friendly!