Recap: "Girls Hit the Road"

Jill & Jessa: Counting On "Girls Hit the Road"

• After nearly one month of work, the older Duggar kids are ready to unveil the finished treehouse. “Sometimes I’ll come along and be like, ‘Okay, I know that’s really solid, but we might just want to make it look a little better, too,’” says Jana, as she gently critiques John-David’s work.
• The little kids are thrilled to finally be able to play in the finished fort. “It just brings so much joy to our lives, really,” says Jana, as she watches her brothers, sisters, niece, and nephews enjoy the treehouse.
• Jana, Anna, Jessa, Jinger, Joy, Meredith, and Spurgeon pack for a road trip to Branson, Missouri. They look forward to plenty of “undistracted girl time.”
• Anna comes up with the idea of packing heels and seeing who can wear them the longest. She and Jinger wear heels more often than the others.
• “Have you tried wearing heels?” Joy, who has more of a casual style than her sisters and sister-in-law, asks the cameraman. “It’s difficult.” Jessa agrees, stating that she feels like an elephant in heels.
• Jessa and Ben have only been apart for one night since their wedding, so it’s a big deal for Jessa to go on a weekend getaway without her hubby.
• On the way to Branson, Jana pulls over so Anna, Jessa, and Joy can climb out and attempt to corral a cow back into its pasture. They are successful! “It’s not our first time to chase cows back into a pen,” shares Jana.
• The gals stay in the Branson Bear Log Cabin. After arriving, they catch up with Jill via video chat and are thrilled to find out that Israel had taken his first steps earlier that day. Derick had also just killed a large tarantula in their house. Before putting Israel on the floor to play, the Dillards say they have to check the area for critters.
• At breakfast the next morning, Anna mentions that this could be the last girls trip before the next Duggar wedding. “You could always be six months away from an engagement if you’re single and over 18,” she says, smiling.
• The gals enjoy an at-home spa day, which is something the girls used to do as kids. 
• Anna gives an update on her marriage: “I can definitely look back on the past few months and say, it’s been a hard road, but it’s been a good road. Daily, there is going to be a lot of work…but we’ll just kind of take it one day at a time and keep trusting God and do the next right thing.”
• The girls say that Anna has been a huge encouragement and blessing to them during the time that she has lived in their home.
• When asked what she is looking for in a guy, Joy responds: “Somebody that loves others more than himself.”
• When asked if she grows tired of questions about marriage, Jinger says: “I think it’s just typical. We kind of just expect it.”
• Jana expresses her desire to marry a guy with “dirt under his nails,” rather than a guy with a desk job. “The thing is, when you’re in love, you don’t ask the guy, ‘Do you have a desk job?’” Jessa reminds her sister.
• The ladies visit a 230-foot lookout point called Inspiration Tower, accessible by an elevator with windows. Anna and Jinger are both terrified of heights. (Jana also mentions that she has a minor fear of airplanes.) At the top, everyone is able to step outside and look over the edge.
• The girls dress up in fancy clothing and head out to dinner. Anna and Jessa joke that they have set up blind dates for Jana, Jinger, and Joy. Jinger says she’s fine with that, as long as she can choose her date. The girls feel a little out of place at the fancy restaurant that they choose for dinner. But they all make it through the evening in heels!
• The girls comment on the “prairie dresses”—as Jinger calls them—that they wore in the early days of their TV show.
• “I definitely have those moments I look back and say, ‘Man, that was rough, that was a rough patch,’” admits Jessa. 
• “Those are the embarrassing days,” shares Jana, who says she did not enjoy the poufy sleeves. 
• “They were like bags…We wore those until I was like 12,” Joy says of the dresses she wore until her family made the switch to “normal clothes.”