Mississippi River State Park, Marianna

Stopped here to stretch my legs and loved it. The center was closed because it was a holiday but their walking path was beautiful. Everything was very clean, lots of trash cans, dog bags if you needed them and even some wagons were available if you wanted to pull your smaller children around. There were also plenty of benches. It is a very well maintained park with placards along the way with information about local wildlife.

Absolutely loved this park. The visitors center had a lovely garden full of hummingbirds and butterflies. The interior had a wonderful hands on exhibit about the local area. They had cool little themed backpacks for kids you can borrow for FREE!!! There was one for general forest stuff, astronomy, birding, and plants. They had little games and a sketchbook and story book and tracking book and magnifying glass and other cool kid adventure stuff. Aaaaand they let you borrow fishing poles and bikes. Arkansas State Parks are better than all the other ones we’ve been too and the campsite was super clean and the bathrooms were clean and had running water and a hot and cold shower which was super refreshing and needed. Many resources available, very nice shop with souvenirs, fishing supplies, and camping necessities if you forgot something. The staff were all incredibly helpful and friendly as well. Out of the 8 parks I’ve used during this specific road trip, no others come close to being as nice as Arkansas State Parks and definitely the Mississippi River State Park is ranked No. 1 thus far.