Thanks for your many suggestions for the Natural State bucket list.
They keep pouring in.
Here’s a compilation of items you’ve sent in along with some items I’ve added.
These are things you should do at least once in your life to earn bona fide All-Arkansan status:
— Visit Bald Knob when the strawberries are ripe in May and order the strawberry shortcake at the Bulldog.
— Sample the fried chicken at the Mount Nebo Chicken Fry while watching the Little Miss Pullet contest.
— Pick wild blackberries while watching for snakes and worrying about how many chigger bites you’ll have at the end of the day.
— Eat some peaches at the Johnson County Peach Festival.
— Kayak with folks who know what they’re doing on the Mulberry River and the Big Piney Creek.
— Have a steak at Jerry’s in Trumann.
— Hang out with some bikers at Roy’s in Paragould.
— Attend the Fourth of July community picnics at Corning, Piggott and Portia.
— Cross the U.S. Highway 62 bridge over Norfork Lake on a clear day and admire how blue the water is.
— Eat the gear salad and the filet mignon at Herman’s Ribhouse in Fayetteville on the night before a Razorback football game.
— Sit outside at Basin Spring Park in downtown Eureka Springs on an early fall Saturday evening and enjoy the music.
— Visit Judge Parker’s courtroom at the Fort Smith National Historic Site and then take a walk down Garrison Avenue.
— Drive along the Talimena Scenic Drive when the leaves are changing and then spend the night at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park Lodge.
— Spend the day walking around Historic Washington State Park in late June and then head over to Nashville to buy peaches.
— Take a boat out onto Grassy Lake in southwest Araknsas at night to look for alligators.
— Walk around the courthouse squares in El Dorado and Magnolia, going into as many of the locally owned shops as possible.
— Eat a turkey sandwich at the original Burge’s in Lewisville.
— Max out your credit card buying things at Mack’s Prairie Wings in Stuttgart.
— Wrangle an invitation to the Sunday night wild game dinner at Gene’s in Brinkley.
— Have a weekday plate lunch at the Pickens Commissary in Desha County during the harvest season and then head south to visit the cotton gin at Winchester.
— Order the buffalo ribs at the Lassis Inn in Little Rock
— Visit the Lower White River Museum at Des Arc on a Friday afternoon and then have a catfish dinner at Dondie’s.
— Spend a summer Saturday morning at the farmers’ market on the square in Fayetteville.
— Visit a sand blow in northeast Arkansas while contemplating the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12.
— Get sunburned while attending Riverfest.
— Go to a Sunday afternoon performance of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra at Robinson Auditorium in Little Rock.
— Eat one of Bobby Garner’s cheeseburgers at the Sno-White Grill in Pine Bluff.
— Buy a stack of books at That Bookstore At Blytheville.
— Watch Sonny Payne do his “King Biscuit Time” radio show on Cherry Street in Helena.
— Drink some water at the Mountain Valley headquarters in Hot Springs.
— Fish for crappie on a south Arkansas oxbow lake during the day and go frog gigging on the same lake that night.
— Watch the cardboard boat races at Greers Ferry Lake and then have dinner at the Red Apple Inn.
— Buy some wine at Altus and then visit the monastery at Subiaco.
— Sit on the east side of Mount Nebo and watch the sun rise over the Arkansas River Valley.
— Watch the Memphis fireworks on the Sunday before Memorial Day from a sandbar on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River.
— Take a slow walk through Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.
— Attend a high school basketball game one winter Friday night at Valley Springs.
— Attend a high school football game one fall Friday night at Nashville.
— Eat a turkey leg at the Arkansas State Fair.
— Attend the fall and spring craft fairs at War Eagle.
— Join in singing “Amazing Grace” during a funeral at a country church.
— Fix a casserole for a church potluck.
— Help clean up a rural cemetery.
— Fish for smallmouth bass from a canoe on the Kings River.
— And that true test to be an Arkansan: Buy far more milk and bread than you need when there’s a 20 percent chance of snow flurries.
Let’s hear from you.
What’s on your list?
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