Travel Journal: Glamping at Natural Falls State Park

Hello and happy Friday y’all! I hope you have had an amazing week, gotten all of your holiday shopping done, and are ready to relax and enjoy the weekend with family and friends. My husband Keith and I are going to The Nutcracker ballet this weekend, and hopefully will be able to just relax a bit as well. It really feels like it has been “Go! Go! Go!” the whole month of December, but I think for the most part things will be quieting down from here on out. 

Last weekend we went glamping with Keith’s family. We stayed in yurts at a state park near us, and we had a really great time! As promised, this week’s blog post will be a recap of what we did last weekend.

We arrived on Friday for check-in at 4:00 pm. The yurts sit across a ravine from the visitor’s center, so they provide one golf cart for each yurt for the duration of your stay to transport your things between the parking lot and the yurts, and also to get to the park bathrooms, since the yurts have no running water to them. There are also port-a-potties provided close to the yurts, which were very clean. 

Keith and I arrived first and got all of our things to our yurt and settled in by the time the rest of the family arrived, so we were able to help them with their things. It was very fun to give our nieces rides in the golf carts all weekend. After supper of hot dogs roasted on the fire and a cold ride in the golf cart to and from the showers, there was nothing cozier than snuggling in our heated yurts. Like I said, glamping. 

The next day we woke up to a thunderstorm, which was a real bummer since I was hoping to spend most of the day outside. But by the time we ate breakfast, the rain had stopped and it was starting to dry out. So we took advantage of the better weather and took our nieces down to see the iconic waterfall that the park is known for.

One thing I really loved about last weekend’s getaway was being able to read an actual book. Reading has always been my favorite pastime, but recently I have been reading more and more on my phone on the Libby app since it is so much more convenient than carrying a physical book with me everywhere I go (to work, waiting in lines or for appointments, etc.). But there is literally nothing as nice to me as reading from an actual book, turning the pages and smelling the paper. 

By lunchtime, the sun actually came out and it started to warm up. We took our nieces to play on the playgrounds, and then Keith, Luna, and I went on a hike. Later in the afternoon, we took family pictures (I have only been trying to get a nice family picture of all of us for two years now! And I finally got one). 

After a supper of hot soup, we played a long game of UNO before heading back to our own yurts and cozying up for the night. 

The next morning dawned clear and cold. I was able to sneak in one more hike with Luna (on which she spotted Bigfoot) before we packed up and carted our things back to the cars in time for check-out. All in all, it was a great weekend spent with family away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It was so enjoyable to be surrounded by such beautiful nature, and a good reminder that the best present is presence. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! I will be back next week for my last blog post of 2024 (but like, how?)! 

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Published by Bree Hanan Photography

Hi! I'm Bree, and I photograph couples, intimate weddings, and elopements! I am based in the Northwest corner of Arkansas, but willing to travel just about anywhere for a mountain view at sunset.

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