Arkansas

"What Does Bentonville Arkansas Have to Offer?"

...was exactly my question when Arkansas reached out to us for a visit. With that being said, this is a paid blog post but ALL opinions are my own and I put that on outside! 

We flew into the North West Arkansas airport (XNA) via a nonstop flight on United Airlines out of O'Hare Airport in Chicago. The flight was uneventful and pretty short, about an hour and half. But if you drive its about 9 hours, I heard. When we arrived the airport was actually bussin' and exceeded our expectations. It was new, built up and had all of our favorite airport vendors and restaurants. They only had one luggage carousel and random rocking chairs in the waiting area. We were able to check in for our rental car as we waited on our luggage because the baggage claim is in the same area as the car rental place. Very easy/ thoughtful layout. That made getting in and out a breeze. They are working on building another luggage carousel but I have honestly waited much longer in bigger airports for my bags. 

After we grabbed our bags and rental car, we noticed our luggage had a little tear in it but we didn't care because we were rushing to a Starbucks because we had a few meetings to attend. That was the wrong idea because soon as Kam opened the trunk to the car, a spider landed on our bag and ran right into the hole... Arkansas: 1 BPO: 0! 

As we were driving from the Fayetteville/Bentonville airport, we couldn't help but notice how amazing the houses were. It felt like everyone had a mansion and tons of property. My favorite thing I noticed was how green it was, like very thick and lush trees grass and bushes, I was instantly in love. 

After 3 hours of working we headed to our first restaurant Havana Tropical Grill and Restaurant. We started with the beef empanadas which came out so hot and crispy. Im not a sauce girl myself but I did enjoy the sauce that came with it. We had some fire empanadas in Puerto Rico and we said these were very close to those so we gave it a 9.5/10! We both ordered a cuban sandwich with sweet plantains. If you know me, you know how plantains are my weakness. I will eat them anywhere, anyplace, any time! They were so ripe, soft, and caramelized. I got the midnight cuban it came with ham, cheese, salami and cheese. Kam got the chicken cuban what came with grilled onions and bell peppers with no cheese. Our bread was toasted to perfection and super soft too. IDK how they did it. We wanted to come back here but we didn't have time. Thats how much we loved it. 10/10! 

We headed to our Airbnb which was so cute and cozy. I loved the colors the neighborhood and the outdoor space! take a look for yourself! Shoutout to Arkansas tourism for the best welcome gift in the game right now! 

We spent an entire day E-biking around Bentonville. Apparently Bentonville is the mountain biking capitol of the world! So we started at the Visit Bentonville store front. We picked up the bikes, helmets and signed a waiver. I see why they had us sign a waiver because 10 miles in I went flying over the handlebars. I bruised by hip, legs, knee, chin, cheek, and scraped up my hand and cut my leg. I even bent the bike wheel and some nice person took out some tools to reset it for us. I was a bloody mess but I still went another 8 miles after falling and we had so much fun too! Here is what we saw:  

The next day we woke up to do the coolest thing we have ever done! We flew on a tiny Cessna plane to float the Buffalo National River! Our first national river. I wanna spend the entire blog talking about this experience! we started by meeting our pilot Austin. Apparently this 15 min flight is his daily commute. He says its cheaper to fly. If you drive its on average 90 mins. He said "aint nobody got time for that". I honestly never thought about airport hangars and whats inside of them but I learned they're private and you can pretty much build what you wanna inside yours. Austin had a luxurious studio apartment and a Jeep in his! I was shook because I never thought people spend the night in these! But anyways the flight on the way was a little bumpy and I was so scared. I've never been on a baby plane like this before! We landed on a back country grass landing strip then we drove about 15 mins to Buffalo Outdoor Company Main Office. Here we rented our kayaks, grabbed our "river ready" lunches and breakfast too. We then drove down to the river launching deck. When I saw it, I was so scared!!!! It was moving fast as f*** boi! And aint no lessons or tutorials or nothing. So, I suggest you practice on the Chicago river like we did. We had to adjust our own foot pedals and put our own kayak in the water and then off we went for 5-6 hours on the buffalo river. 

I wasn't sure how well I could paddle because I was nursing my injured hand from the day before. I was just fine, in pain, but I was fine! As we floated we were mesmerized by the cliffs and bluffs. I couldn't believe THIS was Arkansas! We floated for an hour through rapids and then we stopped on an island to eat breakfast. Tell me why im trying to dock my little kayak and another one of them eight-legged hooligans jumped on me from out the trees mid concentration. I could have DIED. Thats outside for you! The river still was my favorite part of the entire trip until Kam flipped his kayak and was swept away in the rapids. I heard a huge noise and I see Kam in the water trying to gather his belongings. His kayak was filled with water and he lost his paddle. He was holding on the the steep river bank with one hand and his sinking kayak with the other. The kayak was so full it was gonna sink if he let it go. The rapids were moving too fast and it floated me away to an nearby island on the opposite side of Kam. We were separated 500 feet for at least 45 mins. I could not see him and he could not see me! Oh Lawrd! Why couldn't we be "Black People on the Couch" for once smdh. I kept calling out to him and he was answering but I could not determine his state or if he needed help or not. I felt bad because I could not help him. I tried paddling up the river the opposite way, I was unsuccessful because the current was just too strong. The river split in two so I took my kayak the other way up the river, it was moving at half the speed and it was very shallow. I finally made it back to Kam, but I was still on the opposite side of the river so I was still really not able to help but at least i had a clear view of him. He was okay. I was so relieved to finally have eyes on him again. He emptied his kayak and floated to the island to meet me. On the way back in the shallow water I flipped my kayak too trying to avoid a giant branch. All I had to do was stand up and drag my boat 2 feet because the island was there and the water was super shallow. We lost my lunch, water bottle and sunglasses but we still had our lives, and for that we are thankful. 

Our troubles were not over yet because as we continued Kam flipped again after just 5 mins back on the water. I was so mad because why is he leaning!?!? This time he was quicker gathering his sonic coins and I just floated around until Kam met up with me down river. This had my heart rate up so much because we still had a few hours and a few miles to go. We were over it by the time we got to our original side quest stop (hiking a local Hemmed in Hollow trail). With the river moving so fast and us being tired from fighting for our lives we floated on by kept going until we reached this cute waterfall that we got to walk in. We floated for about 12 miles over 5.5 hours. The max speed was 10MPH from my apple watch. We finally got to the end and tended to our wounds with our first aid kit and then drove back to Buffalo Outdoor Company. I got a new lunch and ate in the car as we headed back to the grass air strip. The flight was so much smoother and clear on the way back to Bentonville. You probably should skip this if you have never kayaked before, only do this if you have some experience. Apparently these rapids are known to put folks through the spin cycle so be careful. 

For our final day we woke up late and went to Walmart to replace our spider filled suitcase (that spider is now the owner of it and i hope he likes the new apartment). You can not come to Bentonville without going to Walmart. It is the Walmart HQ after all. We noticed this lil botanic garden in the parking lot so we went there too. It was small but free. Then we went to this restaurant called Prelude Breakfast Bar and I had the best pancakes I have ever had in my life called "This is Sin"! Then we took the lil 1 and a half hour flight home. 

Places and things to do but I don't feel like writing a think piece about:

• Trail run through black apple creek trail burns arboretum loop

• Dinner at the hive. honestly it was just okay. I did not like my food and Kam said his needed more seasoning. 5/10 the 5 is for the ambiance. 

• Breakfast at Ozark Mountain Bagel Company. I got the typical bacon egg and cheese. 7/10.

• Visit the 8th street market for Yayos tacos. Restaurant by a James Beard nominated chef! Get the pastor tacos and churros! 10/10.

• Meet with friends at Pedlar's pub. I got the burger salad with the thousand island dressing, 7/10! 

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Overall, I was very surprised by Arkansas! They had so many adventures and landscapes that I was completely unaware of. We felt safe, It's easily accessible, the people are super nice and I feel like this is a very affordable destination based on prices for food and activities. We will return! thats a fact! See ya out there! 

Sponsored by Arkansas Tourism