Russellville, Arkansas

Dardenelle State Park visitor center

We left Petit Jean State Park on Sunday, with a whole lot less drama than when we arrived, thank goodness!!  It was nice to have a short drive to our next stop, Old Post Road Corps of Engineers Park in Russellville, AR.  This is another nice COE park; our site was spacious with extra vehicle parking next to the rig and a great big shade tree!  The day use area was just a short walk from our campsite; it had several great playgrounds as well as a pond with turtles & catfish for feeding. 

Jake really enjoyed the fish tanks

Lake Dardanelle State Park was a short drive from the COE park, so we visited.  Steve originally considered staying here, but having seen both, the COE campground is nicer.  There really isn't anything special about the park itself, but it does have a really awesome visitor center, with large fish tanks and lots of hands-on stuff for the little kids.   After hanging out at the visitor center, we hung out at the playground; Arkansas state parks seem to always have at least one great playground.

We also checked out the Arkansas River visitors center as it was just a mile or so from where we camped.   There is not much to see or do there, but the kids had fun nonetheless.   We thought that they would have more info about how the locks work.   When we left, we drove down by the river and were pleased to see a barge coming up the river to enter the lock. We watched until they had closed the doors and then saw the barge rise higher and higher.

Please touch table at the Arkansas River visitor center

Kids had fun in this tiny visitor center.  It was just a mile down from where we were staying.

Since a barge was coming, we went down to the river and watched it go through the lock.

We used this chance to discuss how a lock worked as well as why they had to be used.

These two enjoyed having a slow day!