January 2009-Day trips are an excellent way to get out and learn about a great, or not so great, travel location. This time, we checked out Heber Springs, Arkansas, located approximately 1 hour north of North Little Rock, AR. This is a beautiful drive through small towns, with a finish line at Greers Ferry Lake.
The town of Heber Springs sits on the east side of the lake and has many of the amenities not often found next to a lake. Most lakeside communities are void of the chain fast food restaurants (Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway, etc.), stores (Wal-Mart, Napa Auto Parts, Family Dollar), and motels (Quality Inn, Budget Inn), but Heber Springs offers both the familiar chains and mom-and-pop specialties. This makes it a great place to stop in whether you like to try something new or need your familiar comfort zones.
We took a side street and found a great little restaurant, Seven Springs Restaurant, for lunch-chosen by the number of cars in the parking lot and overflow lot across the street. The interior is your traditional small town décor, recycled tables and chairs, scuffed floor, and limited space, but with a few extra touches, such as the fireplace, decorative tree branches, and paintings from local artists. The service was fantastic, especially where the kids were concerned. They were a bit crabby from hunger and the waitress spoke softly, making recommendations, offering kid friendly and parent approved drinks, while smiling the entire time.
The restaurant has a small salad bar, soup bar, potato bar, taco bar, and hot bar in addition to a huge menu! As a family of five with very different tastes, we easily found something for everyone. The soup bar was phenomenal with chicken noodle, wild mushroom, hominy, and cheddar broccoli soups. The daily special was Chicken Monterey with mashed potatoes, roll, soup, and salad for $5.99. You cannot beat that amount of delicious food at such a great price.
After lunch was a quick stop by the local park. We checked out the seven springs scattered throughout the park, and the kids burnt off some energy at the large playground. The park also has a skate park, amphitheater, and picnic areas. Across the street are some specialty shops, and a little coffee stop, Jitterbug Coffeehouse, and small museum.
Next, we stopped at the Dam Site Campground. This location offers a marina, beach, diving cliffs, picnic pavilions, playgrounds, and very large camping area. For the RVer, many sites have electric and water, sit nestled into the trees, with some right on the cliffs overlooking the water, and bathrooms and showers centrally located. Some sites can be reserved (recreation.gov), which is a must during the summer.
On the other side of the dam, we found the JFK dam overlook (President Kennedy came for the dam dedication in October of 1963), fish hatchery, and campground. This side of the dam boasts the Little Red River, where the world record brown trout was caught. This campground area is also tucked into the trees, has a playground, electric at the sites, electric and water hookups on the upper level, and bathrooms and showers centrally located in both areas. Campers can walk down to the water to fish (make sure you are aware of flood times), with steps down to a walking trail for fishing access available to those on the upper level.
Even being during the winter, the trip was very nice. We would suggest this trip to individuals, couples, and families. We will definitely take another trip to the area, probably during the summer, and next time we will stop in the William Carl Garner Visitor Center (closed during winter months), along with visiting some of the local shops, and Panache, the Aromatique Gallery.
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