In April my husband, the landscaper, is just kicking into high gear. Everyone starts calling in March waiting for the good weather to break and celebrate spring with new landscaping. My girls had their school spring break in mid-April this year, so we had to chose between staying home or adventuring on our own, without Jake. Life is short, so I will always chose vacation!

My usual fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-self had to do a little more pre-planning to go on a trip as the solo adult. Normally, when our family leaves to go on a vacation, Jake starts driving in a general direction, but the exact destination is not determined until I, the navigator, google the weather forecasts, compare locations, and find the cheapest nicest quaintest spot to stay. Traveling without Jake meant that I was both captain and navigator, so any work that I could pre-plan would take a lot of stress off of me while in transit.

I decided on Hot Springs, Arkansas as our spring get-a-way destination. I had never been to Arkansas before so I decided we should check that one off the list. To break up the 10 hour drive, I decided to stop in St. Louis for a night on the way there and a night in Memphis on the way back. The majority of the trip was in Arkansas; one night in Little Rock and three nights cabin camping at Lake Ouachita in the Arkansas State Park just out side of Hot Springs National Park and Hot Springs the town.

I really wanted to go tent camping, but again, as the solo adult with two children, that did not seem like a great plan. Maybe if my girls were older, but at age 7 and age 10, they still want Mommy to walk them to the bathroom each and every time. Instead I found a great compromise between going camping and staying in a hotel: cabin camping. Or as I like to call it: glamping. I had never been cabin camping before and it was just fabulous!

The cabins were a new addition to the campground we were staying at.