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Being federal employees, we did not have to work today for the holiday. We decided to take a little weekend trip. Friday night we drove down to Mena (my (Josh) hometown) and stayed with some good friends, Steve and Kathy. We had a really good time hanging out with them Friday night and Saturday. Friday night we tried out a amazing new beer called Samichlaus (thanks for recommending it Justin) that I highly recommend to all you beer drinkers out there (it is a little difficult to find). We also had some really good wine that Steve and Kathy had discovered on their recent trip to California wine country. On Saturday we drove around Mena a little, not much has changed since I moved away almost 10 years ago. Wow, it is crazy that is has been almost 10 years. We also got to see some of their latest works of art. Steve fixes up awesome old cars and Kathy makes pottery in their shop. They are both really good at their respective arts. Although I was unable to acquire an antique car from Steve, Kathy was more generous with her pottery and gave us a couple pieces. The pots are really awesome.

kitchen utensil holder


Garlic pot


That's right Sarah, Annie, and Molly, I moving in on the pottery, that's what you get for moving far, far away.

After parting ways with Steve and Kathy, we drove up to Queen Wilhelmina State Park, which is on Rich Mountain, which is the second tallest mountain in Arkansas. It is only a few minutes drive from Mena and has awesome views. Unfortunately it was a little hazy on Saturday so I couldn't get many good pictures, but it was still a great drive. I highly recommend taking a trip there if you have not been, especially now that the leaf colors are starting to change. Here is one pic I did get, You can see the road winding along the top of the mountain.


Our next stop on our little trip was Waldron which is just north of Mena. My cousin and aunt have recently moved there so we went to see them and spent Saturday night with my aunt and uncle and went to church with my cousin on Sunday. I have a lot of kin folks on my dad's side that live near Waldron in a little community named Haletown. That's right there is a little town in Arkansas named after my family. We had a nice relaxing visit with all of them, it was nice to see family we have not seen in a while.

That concludes the tour of our weekend. The whole weekend was really great. Thanks Chris.