Eureka Springs - Day 4

Yesterday evening, when we were having a lazy evening in our room, surfing the web for ideas for some place else to go, some new neighbors moved into the "suite" adjacent to ours.  We knew they were there when the loud music started early in the evening. Joel just cranked up the volume on the TV a couple of notches and kept on surfing. 

I was surfing for a new destination, too.  I looked all over the top half of Arkansas, the bottom half of Missouri, and parts of Illinois and Kentucky.  It seems we've pretty well toured these areas.  I couldn't find a thing that excited me.  Eventually, from across the room, Joel asked, "Well, where have you been looking?"  I told him.  He rattled off a couple of web site addresses.  They didn't excite me, either.  "I suppose we could always just go home and work in the garden."  Joel surfed a little faster.

About the time we turned out the lights, we heard a series of low, throbbing hums.  We both bolted upright in bed.  "What was that?"  We kept listening.  It was the neighbors' jacuzzi jets, thank goodness, and not some freaky electrical appliance malfunction in our room.  We rolled over and went to sleep.

About 6 a.m. this morning, I was awakened by a woman's shout.  Alarmed, I raised up my head to listen.  It was coming from next door.  I kept listening.  She kept shouting.  Panting is more like it.  Swear to God, it sounded like they were re-enacting the restaurant scene from "When Harry Met Sally" ("I'll have what she's having.")  I covered up my head with my pillow until the noise died down.

But by then I was awake.  I got up, turned on the coffee pot, toasted a slice of zucchini bread that we'd taken with us, and took my coffee, my bread, and my kindle out to the porch, hoping the neighbors were done.

Joel got up about an hour later.  We showered, dressed, and loaded our stuff into the truck.  Joel went to the office to turn in the key.  When he came out, he said, "The guy said, 'Y'all sure are up early.'" 

"Did you tell him the neighbors' loud sex woke me up at the crack of dawn?"

Joel had slept through the loud sex.

"There was another guy in the office," he said, after I told him the story.  "I should've high-fived him."

Men. 

We still hadn't decided on another destination, so we just drove in the general direction of home, looking for breakfast.  Meanwhile, I started getting flash flood warnings for Eureka Springs, southern Missouri, and northern Arkansas.  These warnings pretty much covered all of the places we'd talked about going.  After breakfast, we headed home. 

We mostly stayed ahead of the storm, though it caught up with us briefly in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  By the time we hit Memphis, the warnings had been extended to eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee.  The deluge hit just about the time we walked through our front door.

We both have the rest of the week off from work.  During the drive home, I suggested that we could re-group and head somewhere else tomorrow.  Joel said he'd thought about just staying home and painting the living room.  This was music to my ears, as I'd long ago grown sick of the "Butternut Squash" paint that turned out to be more like "Schoolbus Yellow" on our walls. 

Who needs another trip when there's a willing man with a paint roller in the house?

It's good to be home!

Eureka Springs - Day 3

We slept late (well, late for us) this morning and barely made it up the road to Angler's restaurant in time for breakfast.  We didn't have any specific plans for the day.  While we ate, we browsed through some brochures we found in the entry way, but nothing jumped out at us.  When we finished our breakfast, we headed toward town to find something to do.  Along the way, we saw a sign for Thorncrown Chapel and decided to stop and have a look.  There was a church service in progress, and, oddly, we were not allowed inside until the service was over.  We decided to do some other sightseeing and come back later.

Our first stop was the area where the Passion Play is held.  No play was in progress, but we got out of the truck and walked down to the statue of Jesus.  Jesus is big in Eureka Springs.  Really big.

We took another spin through the historic district.  We parked at the Crescent Hotel and went inside for a bit, then drove around a little more.  Had some ice cream.  Visited a shop where live rabbits take your money and give you change at the cash register (for real).  Explored a Cherokee gift shop.  Went back to Thorncrown Chapel.

This chapel really is magnificent in a way.  It is nestled in the woods along the highway.  The ceiling and the walls are glass.  At the door, we were told by The Church Lady, "This is a sitting chapel.  If you want to take pictures, take them sitting down."  We went in, sat down near the back, enjoyed the view for a few minutes, and then got up to leave.  When Joel raised his cell phone to snap one last picture, Church Lady admonished him, "THIS IS A SITTING CHAPEL."  Geez.

 

 

There are no overhead lights - just the skylight in the ceiling.  The only electric lighting is in wooden fixtures along the walls.  Every light fixture has a cross in it.

After leaving the chapel, we checked out a couple of antique stores, then headed back toward the lodge.  There was left-over pizza in the fridge, and our plan was to stay in and rest for the afternoon and heat up the pizza for supper.  Joel thought that some beer might be nice with the pizza.  We stopped at a country store to buy some, but Joel came out empty handed; no beer on Sunday in Arkansas.

Our lodging is paid up through tonight.  Tomorrow, we will either have to go home, find someplace else to go, or extend our stay here.  I think we've about seen most of this corner of Arkansas.   
We had thought about checking in to one of the hotels in the historic district, but we aren't very excited about ghost tours and gift shops. 

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Eureka Springs - Day Two

Oh, we have had a big time today!

We started out with a leisurely breakfast at Angler's at about 9 a.m.  Good biscuits.

After that, we went for a tour-guided boat ride on Beaver Lake on the "Belle of the Ozarks," a pontoon boat.  The morning could not have been more perfect - sunny, but not hot. 

After the boat ride, we drove into Eureka Springs, intending to tour the historic downtown district.  There was some kind of bicycle race in progress.  The historic district was positively choked with traffic, which is probably normal for that area, and made worse by the racers.  We got out of there as soon as we could and started looking for some place to eat lunch.  Today's choice:  The Rockin' Pig.  Awesome.  Seriously.

As we were finishing our meal, I asked Joel what he wanted to do next.  He said he wanted to see the Daisy Air Rifle Museum in Rogers, Arkansas, about 30 miles away.  We struck a trail.  It was a tiny museum, but Joel loved it.  We bought BB guns for all the grandkids who don't already have one.

 

 

After the museum, we started back to Eureka Springs, then Joel remembered he wanted to go to the Camping World store in Lowell, Arkansas, about 30 minutes from Rogers.  We did a U-turn and headed to Lowell.  Joel is wanting a new camper, and this store sells the brand he's been shopping.  We spent about an hour going in and out of campers, but never found one that seemed exactly what we were looking for. 

 

We took a different route back to Eureka Springs.  By the end of the day, we must have traveled every highway in two counties!  On the way back, we picked up a pizza for dinner.

 

Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow.  We still have not seriously toured the historic downtown area.  We think that it might be less crowded Monday, when the weekenders go home. 

 

But, for now, it's a beautiful night, and I might just see if I can figure out what all the fuss over jacuzzis is about.  ;) 

 

 

 

Eureka Springs - August 9, 2013 - Day 1

My brother and sister-in-law invited us to spend a week with them at their cabin near Boulder, Colorado. Our plan was to drive to Colorado, spend a week with them, and then drive to Mt. Rushmore (and parts thereabout) for a few days. Unfortunately, our mother got sick and was hospitalized, and she was still in the hospital on our planned departure date. We did not feel comfortable doing such a long road trip with Mother in the hospital. We opted, instead, for a road trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which is about a 6 hour drive from our home.

We headed out at about 9 a.m. and drove to Arkansas at a leisurely pace. We wasted a little time in Mt. Home, Arkansas, looking for a restaurant that did not exist - at least, it did not exist in the area in which we were searching. We have a fairly hard-and-fast rule about eating on the road: no chain restaurants or fast food, if we can help it. Finally, we spied a little Mexican restaurant in a shopping center and decided to go there. It was okay (though not nearly as good as our little Mexican place back home).

It was about 6 p.m. when we reached Eureka Springs. The streets were choked with traffic - cars, motorcycles, trucks pulling boats. Joel had booked us a "suite" in a "resort" on Beaver Lake, several miles outside of Eureka Springs. The road to the resort is crooked and steep, but we found the place without incident.

This place is called Sugar Ridge Resort. It consists of a main building and several cabins. Our suite in the main building is on the second floor. We checked in and hauled our suitcase up the steps. At the top of the steps, there were several turds on the treads and the landing. I made a face and stepped over them, calling to Joel over my shoulder, "Watch out for poo!"

Our "suite" turned out to be one large room with a sofa, a king-sized bed, and a kitchenette with a refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, and coffee pot. Opposite the foot of the bed is a mirrored wall, and in front of that mirror is a very large, deep jacuzzi tub. We had not gone looking for a room with a jacuzzi tub, but nearly every hotel/motel/resort advertises in-suite jacuzzis. These Arkansans must have a thing about cleanliness. ;)

After stashing our suitcase, we stepped out on the balcony to take in the view. Not bad.   

 

 

I snapped a couple of pictures, then started back down the steps to get something from the truck.  On the way, I wondered out loud what in thunder had POOPED on the steps.  Joel said it was probably a raccoon.  When I turned to glance at him, I saw it sitting in the rafters, right above Joel's head.  It didn't seem to be the least bit frightened of us.

 

 

Inside our room is a journal where previous guests write their opinions of their stay in this suite.  Nearly every entry mentioned the raccoon(s).  We went back out to the balcony, tiptoed, peered up toward the rafters, and saw at least three more 'coons peering back down at us.

 

By the time we'd hauled our stuff up the steps, it was time to look for some dinner.  The down side to staying several miles out of town is that we have to drive a good ways to find food.  We ended up at "The Rowdy Beaver" on the west side of town, mostly because we liked the name.  Joel had ribs.  They were oven-baked, drowned in barbeque sauce, and seemed complete strangers to the grill, but they were edible.  I had spaghetti and meatballs.  I must say the meatballs were pretty good.  The sign outside the Beaver advertised karaoke on Friday nights.  I have never been around karaoke singers when I wasn't embarrassed for one or more of them.  This time proved no different.  After a few beers, Joel was about ready to grab the mike, himself.  I promised him that I would video it with my phone and put it on Facebook if he did.  He restrained himself.  I saw some other wives videoing their husbands/boyfriends.  I smell blackmail.  ;)