Arkansas, Fort Smith: 4th, Fireworks, Food, Films

A second trip to Fort Smith, Arkansas, had been planned at the start of our "US and A" trip in 2007. The second trip was organised so that we could take a friend of ours from London, Sophia, to a 4th of July party that was being held at the home of Kyle's dad (Leon) and stepmum (Linda). The party was normally held on 3rd July so that everyone could spend the actual 4th with their families, so this was the day we headed there to join in on the festivities.

To get to Fort Smith, we had to drive almost three hours from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where we had been staying a few days with Kyle's mum (Judy) and his stepdad (Marc). Sophia, who had come to the US for just over a week, had arrived a couple of days earlier and was looking forward to attending her first 4th of July party. Kyle thought it was quite amusing that both Dan and Sophia, two Brits, were in his hometown helping him and his family celebrate the national holiday that commemorates America's independence from - who else but - the British.

We got started on our journey just after noon and on the way to Fort Smith, we stopped to eat lunch at Mt. Ida Cafe, which was located on Highway 270 West, about 1 hour from Hot Springs. The place was really cosy and had many interesting things hanging on the wall, and the waitress at the restaurant was very friendly. She thought it was great that a group of Londoners decided to stop in for a meal that afternoon and she made some excellent suggestions for our food choices - the burgers were amazing, as she said, and the fried pies for dessert were really tasty, too. Also, both Dan and Sophia enjoyed trying tater tots for the first time; tater tots are like "Oven Crunchies" in the UK. Finally, the fried apple crumble was our favourite, but the coconut cream pie and cherry pie were also delicious.

Once we were all really full from lunch, we headed once again towards Fort Smith on the small country highway. A couple of hours later, we were in the city and on our way to pick up Kyle's grandma (Ruth). We took Ruth to Leon's and Linda's house so she could visit with them and then we took Sophia to Central Mall so she could do some more shopping. While Sophia was in the mall, we went to Sweet Bay Coffee Company, a cafe near Creekmore Park in Fort Smith, that had free wireless internet and delicious flavoured iced coffees.

By the time 8:00pm rolled around, we were back on Spring Mountain, the developed neighbourhood where Leon and Linda lived. The 4th of July party had gotten started and some of the guests had arrived. Food was being served and the live band had started playing, so we joined in on the fun and sat down at one of the tables in front of band with some dinner. The food was good and we had some beers whilst enjoying the music. Sophia tried some wine that was not to her liking; it might have been a bad bottle. She then moved onto a wine cooler but it was margarita flavoured and, since she didn't like tequila or other spirits, she didn't enjoy it. Despite not getting to enjoy a drink at the party, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

Throughout the evening, we spent most of the time sitting at a table with Sophia, Ruth and Kyle's brother (Craig). At one point, Leon's neighbour (Don Hannigan) sat down and talked to us about our trip. It was actually quite refreshing for someone to seem really interested in the places we had travelled to and also what we have experienced so far this year. He had done a lot of travelling himself and could relate to many of the places we had been.

After we had all eaten dinner, we ventured to the dessert table with Sophia and ended up choosing carrot cake for our after-dinner treats. Kyle and Sophia devoured theirs really quickly and went back for seconds. While Dan was talking to Don, he noticed that his cake disappeared; we soon found out that it was Ruth who had sneakily eaten Dan's piece of cake, even though she said she didn't want any, and this meant that Dan didn't get to try any in the end. She was a little tipsy and may not have realised that Dan had brought that cake back, so it was both cute and funny that it had happened.

During the evening, some of the guests who came to the party shot fireworks off in the driveway outside Leon's and Linda's house. The tradition of shooting fireworks for the 4th of July was definitely upheld and we had fun watching them. Kyle's stepsister (Danielle) was one of the firework shooters and we went out to talk to her and some of her friends. We arranged to go out with her later that evening once we took Ruth home. Once the band finished playing, Ruth was tired and wanted us to take her home, so we left with her and Sophia. Sophia decided she was tired, too, so she didn't go out with us.

The place that Danielle suggested we go was called Arlie Muck's and was located in downtown Fort Smith. It was a cosy bar with a few pool tables and juke box. Danielle's longtime friend, Ben, joined us and we played several games of pool whilst enjoying a few beers. By the time 3:00am had rolled around, we decided to call it a night and we left the bar, eager to get back to Ruth's, where we were staying with Sophia, to get some sleep.

The next morning, Ruth made us all a small breakfast before we started getting ready for the day's events. That day included having a Mexican lunch with Ruth, Danielle and Sophia and the original plan was to go to El Arrito, a small place next to the elementary school that Kyle attended as a child. However, the restaurant was closed on 4th July so we ended up going to Central Mall to eat at El Chico, a chain Mexican restaurant. We had a great, but huge, lunch and we were revived from our tiredness from a late night with some delicious Dr. Peppers as well as tortilla chips and salsa. The portions were huge, which had been the American standard nearly everywhere we have eaten, so we rolled out of the place with burritos and chimichangas pouring out of our ears.

Danielle was kind enough to take Grandma home after lunch, so we could see a film that afternoon with Sophia. "Disturbia" was playing at the dollar movie inside the mall and neither of us had seen it earlier in the year during our travels in Asia. Also, the film was not scheduled to be released in the UK until October, so Sophia had not seen it. The film was written by a good friend (Chris) of a good friend of ours (Brady) and it was exciting to see the project that he worked so hard on. The verdict was that all three of us really liked the film!

When the movie was finished, Sophia did some more shopping in the mall and we went back to Sweet Bay Coffee Company to have more yummy iced coffees. We also stopped by Walgreen's, a pharmacy chain in the US, to have some photos printed for Ruth. When the mall closed at 6:00pm, we picked up Sophia and then went to Ruth's to give her the photos; afterwards, we then drove to Leon's and Linda's to give them some pictures.

Leon had very kindly bought us a large tent that we could use during our roadtrip across the southwest United States, an upcoming adventure that we had planned. We were really excited to see another piece of the puzzle slot into place for that part of our "US and A" journey! We had to leave shortly after that, in order to make it to the cinema in time to see another film. The second one we saw that day was called "1408" and was an eerie ghost story with John Cusack and Samuel Jackson. It was good but not nearly as excellent as the last film we saw that evening.

"Transformers" was one of the top films either of us has seen this year. The movie was packed with action and funny dialogue and the casting was really good. Even though the film started late in the evening and we got back to Ruth's after 1:00am, it was worth it because we all really loved the film. Sleep came easily that night for both of us, but Sophia had trouble falling asleep because the light outside the window next to her bed came on a few times and she thought someone was outside, trying to get in the room. We suppose that was too many scary films in one day for her!

We skipped breakfast at Ruth's the next morning because the plan was to eat another meal at Mt. Ida Cafe on our way back to Hot Springs. We made a really early start and left at 7:00am, after saying goodbye to Ruth and her little dog, Bo. Check out the previous journal entry to find out what we ate and really enjoyed at the restaurant, and also what we did over the next day in Hot Springs, before making our way to Kyle's sister's (Kelli's) house in Fayetteville. We included this in the previous entry to save us the hassle of writing another Hot Springs entry at this point, and also to avoid having you ignore another entry in our list!