Tanyard Springs: Petit Jean Mountain

This past weekend, we headed up Petit Jean mountain in Morrilton, Arkansas, to spend the weekend with our friends, Hannah and Steele.  They live far away, but they were home for the holidays, so we got to steal them from their family for the weekend.

We headed up Friday afternoon, and we were VERY excited and happy about how beautiful the cabin looked.  There were two sleeping areas and a large living/kitchen, along with a good sized bathroom.  Everything had a rustic feel, but the amenities were modern.  There was also a lovely porch, grill, picnic area and hammock.

Hannah and I decided quickly that it was champagne time!  We also unloaded the HUGE amount of food that we brought along with us.

We had a few drinks and played BANG! Which was REALLY fun.  We also started prepping for dinner, which were fajitas!

The pineapple black bean salsa went over REALLY well.  We actually snagged a can of corn at Kroger on the way up the mountain and added it to the recipe.  I think onions, zucchini and peppers were the common running theme of all of our meals the entire weekend.  Yum!

The next morning, we threw the leftover portabellos, onions and peppers into a pan with the pre-made tofu scramble and BAM! we had breakfast burritos!  Pre-making the tofu scramble was a HUGE help.  I will do that every time I travel.

We spent the morning walking around the pretty grounds, and we decided to take a hike down to Cedar Falls.  It was so beautiful!

It was a really beautiful hike.  I was a little nervous, because I broke my leg 2 years ago backpacking in Arkansas, so hiking downhill is hard mentally for me.  However, I got over it and had a really wonderful time!  I highly recommend this hike if you're in the area.

When we got back, we were pretty hungry, so it was portabello burger time!!  We had my warm potato salad and quinoa salad.  These recipes need a little work, I think.  It was still pretty good, though.

The next morning, we just ate up the rest of the food we had, which for me was another round of tofu scramble!  We were sad to leave the cabin.  It really was a great place to stay.

Hannah and I had a bottle of champagne left, so that sounded like a perfectly good breakfast.  On our way off the mountain, we stopped at a beautiful overlook and took a walk around.

Arkansas has so much natural beauty.  A lot of times, I get caught up with living in a place that isn't very progressive on a lot of my life views, but there are some redeeming factors in the state.

Wonderful weekend, and we miss our friends already!  Hopefully, we will get to come back next year!