Discovering Tropical Plants and Saltwater Fish in Little Rock, Arkansas

A trip to a couple of indoor garden centers and a salt water fish store was the perfect cure for the wintertime blues.

January is usually the month that I start craving a warm tropical island. It has been very cold in Arkansas the last few weeks and my body is not liking it! We generally have mild winters with just a few days that are below freezing at night. Well, not this year! It has been down to 14 degrees at night and not getting above 32 during the day.

My mother, daughter, and I decided that a little adventure to some nurseries in a nearby (1 ½ hours away) city would be a perfect “Pick me up”. There is basically nothing to do indoors within 4 hours of my home, so being creative is a must. Never having been to any nurseries in Little Rock before, I did a little research online to see which ones might have something to look at indoors.

Hocott's Garden Center has a beautiful indoor garden with all kinds of tropical plants and trees. 

They also have home and garden decor. I love that you just walk through the jungle and find the plants you want. The air plants were hanging in a tree just like in nature!

Address:

3612 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Little Rock, AR

Botanica Gardens has a beautiful store with nature inspired decor for the home and garden. They have a nice selection of air plants.

Address:

1601 Rebsamen Park Road

Little Rock, Arkansas 72202

Good Earth Garden Center has a cute fairy garden, a very large gift shop, hot houses, and you can grab a quick photo with Bigfoot!

Address:

15601 Cantrell Road

 Little Rock, AR 72223

The Fish Tank is an Aquarium supply store with beautiful saltwater fish and live coral. The staff is super friendly and informative. I am still trying to talk the hubby into letting me get a salt water tank!

Address:

400 N. Bowman Rd, Suite 13

Little Rock, AR 72211

I acquired these beautiful air plants on our trip. I have been fascinated with tillandsias for a while, but am just now starting to collect some air plants. I just wish they were not so expensive! If anybody has some extras they would like to send my way, feel free!😄

The first plant is from Hocott's Garden Center and the second two are from Botanica Gardens.

Hope you enjoined hearing about our little trip! If you have suggestions on any other nurseries or garden centers that I need to visit, let me know. I love anything tropical and can not wait for warmer weather to get out in my garden.

Below is short video from the trip

Aruba - A Caribbean Island Paradise

Carnival Cruise

Port : Aruba

I have lost most of the photos that I took in Aruba, (sad face) but I will do the best that I can with what is left...

For our Aruba stop, we purchased a day pass to the Occidental Grand Aruba Resort. It is a five star all-inclusive resort.

A tropical paradise is the only way to describe the resort.

At the center of the resort is a large lagoon style pool with a swim-up bar. Two hot tubs are located on an island in the pool.

The swim-up to bar makes amazing banana and mango coladas! And they are included in the day pass! 

The girls had fun playing with the large chess set.

The resort has two tennis courts.

Kayaks are included in the all day pass.

Lizards were everywhere around the pool.

White sand, palm trees, and turquoise water.....paradise!

A beach walk stretches along the beach with little shops, places to eat, and other resorts along the way.

This cute little store was the perfect place to get some ice cream.

The Desire is one of the 6 restaurants located at the Occidental.

The front lobby makes for a very elegant entrance.

We enjoyed our day at the resort. We lounged by the pool, snorkeled, kayaked, and played tennis, and chess.

I wish that you could have seen my best pictures, but you can tell that it was a beautiful place anyway!

Happy Travels! 

Experience the Caribbean island of Curacao

Carnival Cruise

Port: Curacao 

The most popular thing to do at this port is to walk into the nearby downtown area of Willemstad.

The Queen Emma Bridge  pontoon bridge connects the Punda and Otrobanda quarters of the capital city, Willemstad.

I always love looking through the street vendor booths for items unique to the area.

I purchased a painting  of the downtown area of Curacao. The artist was friendly and posed proudly with her work.

The floating market was stocked with amazing looking fresh fruit! I would love to have something like this at home!

A beautiful stroll through the color buildings.

The clothing was very unique in some of the stores.

Most of the stores carry a variety of items. You might find clothing, wrapping paper, home decor, and food all in one store.

I have to say that I was impressed with the McDonald's. It was very modern and clean. It was one of the few places that we found with free WiFi.

The local police are friendly and on constant patrol.

A view from the ship.

Overall, I just really was not impressed with the downtown area. It was interesting to see, but I wish we had have taken an excursion to see some of the beaches or other areas. Maybe one day I will get back there and see the rest of the island.

Happy Travels!