Heading homeward, slowly

 

We overnighted in Little Rock, Arkansas yesterday, staying at a brand-new Hilton Home2 Suites hotel in Bryant.  It's our first experience with this chain, and we like it.  Prices are reasonable if one falls into one of Hilton's discount categories (I don't know about full price), and amenities are at least as good as, and sometimes better than, many competing chains.  The beds are particularly comfortable.  We'll be looking for this chain in future.

Speaking of hotels, I've found that many are now charging up to double what they did before the pandemic, for rather poorer levels of service and/or amenities.  Hampton Inn used to be our go-to chain when traveling, but their pre-discount prices now appear to be almost universally north of $200 per night.  At this level of overnight travel accommodation, that's simply unacceptable.  There's also a very wide variation between hotels in the same chain, in the same town.  For example, a Hampton Inn on the Arkansas side of the Texas border was only about two-thirds the price of another hotel in the same chain, a couple of miles away on the Texas side.  Riddle me that . . .

We stopped at Beachaven Winery in Clarksville, TN as planned.  It had been several years since our last visit, and the helpful ladies in the visitor center warned us that the taste of some of their wines had changed somewhat, due to difficulties in sourcing all the varietals they wanted to blend their various options.  Yes, cue the "supply chain crunch" once again . . .  That called for a wine-tasting!  We found that their Chardonnay, which we'd previously enjoyed, wasn't as good any more, becoming less bold and a little bland.  Their Riesling, on the other hand (my personal favorite among their white wines) had become better than ever, flavorful and savory.  We ended up taking two cases of it for future consumption, adding a case of their excellent light red Chambourcin and a mixed case of other wines.  Miss D. added a couple of bottles of a sparkling wine that's new to us, and is already planning a mimosa afternoon on our new patio (when the weather gets cooler) with the other ladies of the North Texas Troublemakers.  I'll retire to my study to let them have fun, and pour them into the car to take them home when they're done.

Following the wine-tasting, we reckoned some solid food would be a good idea before driving on, so we stopped at Silke's Bakery & Cafe in Clarksville.  They serve German foods (including a delicious Black Forest cake - yum!), a charcuterie board that defeated Miss D.'s attempts to finish it, and an excellent Reuben sandwich with real German sauerkraut, which more than satisfied me.  Wine duly absorbed and neutralized, we hit the road again, and pulled into Little Rock shortly after seven yesterday evening.  We had a quick bite to eat at a local franchise of David's Burgers, a chain that was new to both of us.  The food was plentiful, and well cooked, but the atmosphere was too noisy for comfort for two old farts older people like ourselves.  Thereafter, we hit the sack.  Driving most of the day is all very well when one is younger, but it doesn't mix well with age!

Tomorrow we'll meander through the Crater of Diamonds State Park.  I'll be interested to see what they have to say about their kimberlite pipes, as that type of rock is named for Kimberley, a city in the country of my birth, South Africa, which was for a time supposedly the biggest diamond producer in the world.  Kimberlite is very closely associated with diamond mining;  almost all diamonds were formed in kimberlite pipes through volcanic processes and pressures.  It's a fascinating field of study.  Thereafter, we'll head leisurely towards Texas, planning an overnight stop before we get there.

It's nice to travel at leisure, with the freedom to stop and look at anything that takes our fancy.

Peter