Day 25, Little Rock, Arkansas

We barely made it out of our room by 11:00 a.m., which is check-out time. The time zone thing is still killing us. Either that or we’re just lazy.

Anyway, up and out the door at 10:59:59:59 a.m. Again, first thing on the agenda is food. At this point the hotel breakfast buffet has been put away for at least an hour, so that’s out. The only place to grab a bite was Arby’s and I really hate fast food for breakfast, but there really was no other choice. So Arby’s it was. We had milkshakes since none of us could stomach a roast beef sandwich for breakfast, especially not one with that nasty ‘processed cheese food product’ on it.

Three hours north of Canton is Memphis, Tennessee. And just right of Memphis is a town called Germantown, Tennessee. It’s my new favorite place. The sign ordinances in Germantown are the most strict (I can’t say strictest, it’s weird) in the country, and you can really tell. The tallest things in the city are the trees, and it’s wonderful! The buildings are all Germanish, but not overly heavy with it. The architecture is there, but it doesn’t have the cutesy little German dolls on everything. It is the perfect balance.

We had a fabulous lunch in town (which has a Super-Target and plenty of Starbucks!!) that was started off with an appetizer of fried dill pickles. Totally weird, I know, but surprisingly good!! (You have to try new food in new places, otherwise you might as well eat every meal at Denny’s.) I had hickory smoked pork chops with steamed broccoli. I don’t know what anyone else had…I was busy mowing. We all shared an apple cobbler for dessert that was just supreme. I love that place. I love that town.

There is supposedly an old downtown Germantown somewhere. It’s probably the largest old downtown in the world of its kind, but I couldn’t find it. So we just hit the road and headed back to Memphis. Memphis sits on the very edge of the Mississippi River, which is the natural border between it and Arkansas. Hence the really wiggly line on the map – it’s the river. Earned a Smart Badge today.

Made it into Little Rock just at dusk, found our cabin, and the kids headed for the pool. It was much cooler today, thankfully, but the pool was still refreshing. They have fireflies here. Now I don’t know about you, but this makes like the second time I’ve ever seen them and I think they are the neatest thing ever. I flashed the light on my cell phone and attracted one of them. I think he was disappointed when he got a closer look though. Evidently I’m not his type.

Off to bed. Actually off to not sleep while the rest of camp is snoozing. I’m writing this at 12:56 a.m. local time and we are all wide awake texting family and friends back home. ;o)