Normally when I do driveway camping, I’m on my own for meals. Oh, I of course have a few with my hosts, but we pretty much stick to our own routines. L informed me upon arrival that he had stocked up on extra groceries for my visit. He made a nice breakfast my first two mornings and a really yummy saukerkraut and pork chop crock pot dinner last night.

His daughter and I got talking about food and when it came out that I love Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, she suggested we have lunch yesterday at Le Monde cafe and deli, a cozy restaurant with a mostly Mediterranean menu. What a joy it was to share an entrée of hummus and pita with someone!

This morning, L and I went next door to B&S’ for brunch (a couple I had met on the beach). I had breakfast burritos for the first time! I don’t eat eggs, so I’ve always stayed cleared of those, but S’ mix was much heavier on the sausage and veggies than the eggs, so they went down just fine.

After gabbing and about a gallon of coffee each, L and I headed out for an afternoon of sightseeing.

We started off by taking in the Keeper of the Plains, a monument that stands at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers (Ar-kan-zes, not Ar-ken-sa!).

This monument represents the local indigenous peoples and marks their sacred ground. There are some informational panels near the monument.

Next, I asked that we go downtown so I could photograph the statues along main street. We had a lot of fun getting photographs with those, but I’ll go easy on L and not publish the rather saucy ones. 🙂

Next, we headed over to the River City Brewery for something cold (and non-alcoholic) to drink where L left me in charge of his valuables.

We then went across the street to the Museum of World Treasures, one of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. It is an eclectic personal collection of everything from dinosaur bones to Egyptian mummies, WWII memorabilia, and autographs. We could only take pictures on the third and first stories, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the war and royalty exhibits were impressive!

We then headed back to the River City Brewery for a late lunch/early dinner. The Brewery makes a variety of beers and only serves its own brews. We put in an order for the pulled pork special and L asked me if I wanted a beer because he wanted one. I took a glance at the menu and suggested we order the sampler, which got us NINE small glasses of beer (it came out to about two beers per person).

We were a little surprised to discover that our BBQ pulled pork sandwiches came topped with creamy coleslaw, but it wound up being really yummy!

The beers were mostly great! There were a few that neither one of us liked and a few that one of us disliked, but we mostly agreed. I really liked their fruity Maibock as well as their Old Town Brown. L like the brown one too as well as the Emerald City Stout, while I found that latter one lacking in mouthfeel and preferred, to my surprise, the milk stout that had a maple syrupy finish.

We had our stouts with a stout and pretzel brownie, not that we were able to finish it. 🙂

It was a really fun day. Thanks, L!