Eureka Springs and getting lost

Well leaving early and getting to your destination early really works.  It was a long slow meandering trip on blue roads but I still got to Eureka Springs before 11:30.  I went immediately to the information center and Historical Museum.  The curator was extraordinarily helpful.  She helped me with a map of the area, told me about the town and showed me around the museum.  She also told me about her family and that she was originally from the West, Vegas and Arizona.  We had a good time for about an hour.  She told me about a great local cafe for lunch and she was absolutely correct.

The town is noted for its Victorian buildings, many of them have been turned into businesses or little hotels.  Slightly out of the Downtown more of the houses are in their original condition.  Some have been restored and are gorgeous.  Hot Springs is really a more interesting city.

The curator sent me up to the Crescent Hotel because it has great views and a crystal dining room.  Well the view was disappointing and the crystal dining room was a joke.  The hotel is old and historic but just looked seedy.  There were a number of people staying there though.  They did have a fancy new Spa and Salon which was just amazing.

I then went looking for this funky castle that was built by a woman during World War II.  She couldn't get all the things she wanted so she made do with what she could get.  It should be a hoot.  Well I never did find it so I'll have to hunt it down tomorrow.  I wound up in Bentonville and it was already 4:30.

As I was driving along on my way to Eureka Springs I was amazed at the vistas of the Ozarks.  It is outstanding when you see how much land is undeveloped and just beautiful.  The Ozarks are soft like the Smokies, the roads are twisty and a real challenge to drive.  It keeps you on your toes, it is the type of driving I really enjoy.  I was also struck by the poverty along the way in the little towns.  Some had signs up that said population 85 or 396.  Young people get out if there is any possible way.

Lazy Sunday

Today started rather slowly.  I found a UU church but services didn't start until 11:00.  I made my way to their church, which had a beautiful sanctuary.  I was very warmly greeted and passed around.  They invited me to stay after the service for their version of Lunch Bunch, which is lunch served in the Fellowship Hall. The service was quite different from ours.  It was lovely and their choir was very good.  The choir was almost as large as ours.  The congregation is about 165 people and they seem to be a very active and friendly group.

I went to the Clinton Library and it was very impressive.  I forgot how good we had it under his administration.  It made me incredibly sad to think of the state we have descended to.  It made for a depressing end to the day and visit to Little Rock.

Well tomorrow I will get an early start on my trip to Eureka Springs.

Saturday and some discoveries

My major discovery is that my schedule is upside down.  I should be traveling early in the morning rather than killing time until museums and exhibits open.  I have been so frustrated but it came to me today.  So since tomorrow is Sunday I will stay two nights in Little Rock and leave early for Eureka Springs, Arkansas on Monday.  I found a UU church on the web and will attend tomorrow.  Then after lunch I can get my sightseeing in.  Oh joy I will be on a normal schedule.  I also discovered I'm a little too friendly.  I need to cut back on that.  Most people don't seem to want to talk to strangers.  I'll work that out as well.

Anyway today I discovered the Cotton Museum, which is part of the Cotton Exchange.  I was fascinated by all the things that are done with every single bit of the cotton plant.  I really learned so much.  They had the history of the start of cotton growth and of course it wasn't so nice.  After the end of slavery the cotton plantation owners mechanized and threw the sharecroppers out of work.  Besides the process of cotton growing they explained all the different uses for the different parts of the plant.  Then they went into the different musicians that made up the Memphis sound.  I actually recognized Muddy Waters and maybe one or two others.  The history went back to the early 1800's.  It was a good accidental find.  Originally I was going to a museum that didn't open until noon.

I've wound up in Little Rock.  I spent 45 minutes searching for the Tour office that AAA said was at 500 President Clinton Ave.  I looked at other things, I wasn't just being dumb.  Well  no one has ever heard of this office.  500 P C Ave is the Museum of Discovery.  Little Rock has an electric trolley system that loops around the city.  It was free today, even though it is only fifty cents regularly.  So off I went to orient myself to the city.  This lets me know where I will be going tomorrow.

Casey Jones and the Parthenon

Today was an interesting day in Nashville and beyond.  The first thing I did this morning was make my way to a giant replica of the Parthenon as it is the same size as the one in Greece.  It was built for the 1897 Exposition.  People standing next to the columns look incredibly small.  It is quite impressive.  Downstairs they have an art collection, which in my snobbish way I found inadequate.  Upstairs they had a replica of the statue of Athena as she looked in Greece.  She is almost 42 feet tall.  The statue is really quite ugly but there you have it, not all Greek statues were beautiful.

My next stop was The Grand Ole Opry.  I went on a behind the scenes tour as I didn't want to stay until night to see a show.  The tour was interesting even though I didn't know many of the performers named.  The dressing rooms were decorated to the hilt and named for members of the Opry.  It is a great honor to be asked to become a member of the Opry family.  You also have to be asked to perform, you can't volunteer.

As I was driving to Memphis, my next destination, I happened to notice a sign for the Casey Jones Railroad Museum.  Well my curiosity was piqued.  Off I went to learn more about Casey Jones.  He was a real man and quite a hero.  He came from Cacey TN and that's how he got his nickname.  He was noted for always being on time.  Well on this particular day he had taken over from someone else who was way behind and he was almost caught up.  Up ahead he saw that a freight train hadn't made it onto the side track as it was supposed to, he slowed that train from 75 to 35 when it crashed into the other train.  He was killed but the passenger cars stayed upright and a few people had a few bruises.  The exhibits at the museum include the house he and his wife lived in and raised their three children.  It was a fascinating experience.

My final place was the Grotto of the Crystal Shrine.  This is in the middle of a cemetery.  The grotto is man-made and filled with crystal niches.  Each one is some scene of Christ or his disciples, I think.  One has a beautiful tree with some one hiding in it.  Another is Jesus and the others carved out of beautiful dark wood with black crystal as a roof in the niche.  It was a lot of fun.

Now it's time to write postcards to two special people, so more about Memphis tomorrow.

Mammoth Cave plus

Well I had driven to Elizabethtown to see the Coca-Cola Museum only to find out that it had closed in 2011.  But not to be discouraged I decided to substitute the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.  But First...

I got to Mammoth Cave and parked.  Went to get a ticket for a guided tour.  The only tour with an opening was at 12:15 and it was currently 10:25.  I wanted a tour so I had time to kill.  What do I do, I head for the restaurant and drink Diet Coke for at least 3/4 of an hour.  I spent time in the gift shop and then went out to wait for the tour.  The tour was 2 miles of walking including climbing 7 flights of stairs.  I must say my knees didn't hurt, which was a miracle.  A nine year old girl made friends with me and we traveled the cave together.  She was adorable and afraid of the dark so I gave her a small flashlight I found in my pocket.  She kept me from slipping and breaking my neck in rough areas.  The tour we took had no stalagmites or stalagtites.  Mammoth is not a cave with much of that kind of thing, which is really to bad, since that is what most people go to see.

Anyway after the tour I went out for my car and couldn't find it.  I searches the parking lot for half an hour and finally called 911.  Of course I cried because all I saw was my trip ruined on the first week.  A park ranger was dispatched to help me look.  Well what I didn't realize was that there was an entirely different set of parking lots around out of the way.  This is where I had actually parked.  I have never been so happy to see a car in my life.

I went to the Corvette Museum but I found it quite boring but it did take up some time.  I then headed to Nashville.  Well I have no idea if I am in Nashville or not because I hit an horrendous rain storm and poor signage so tomorrow I will figure out where I am.

I found a Comfort Inn in a questionable part of town, which everyone warned me about.  It was all I could see in the storm.  I did find a lovely Mexican restaurant for dinner.  The waiter doted on me.  Wait staff seem to feel sorry for people alone and lavish attention on them.

It's been a long day and I still have postcards to write.

Hateful GPS

Today was the day of betrayal by my GPS. A trip that should have taken 2 1/2 hours took more than 5 because my GPS kept either flaking out or giving me bad directions.  I would check the map and try and retrace my steps and recode the GPS from the new location and we would start with new creative mistakes.

Well I finally got to my first destination for the day which was the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.  It is a beautiful restoration of the original buildings.  They have excellent docents doing the demonstrations, just like at Old Salem.They still own several thousand acres of land but don't cultivate much of it.  They have an herb garden just as the shakers did, it is lovely.  They also grow the vegetables that are used in the restaurant on the campus.  They also have a lodge where you can stay.  It must be lovely.  I spent several hours there and then headed out.

I threatened the GPS that I was going to replace it with a Garmin so suddenly it was working better.  I plugged in Elizabethtown, which has a Coca-cola Memoriabilia Museum.  I thought I would compare it to Atlanta's real Coke museum.  I got into Elizabethtown too late to get there so I have checked into a motel.  Next I have to find a nice place to eat dinner.  I had a small amount of fruit and nuts for lunch and a lot of aggrevation.

Tomorrow will be a better day.  I'll get the hang of this traveling with maps and a wonky GPS.

Clinton and Oak Ridge TN

I am writing this while completely sated from a lovely meal at a restaurant named Rouxbarb.  Judi and I split Foie Gras that melted in your mouth.  My main course was duck and dumplings.  The duck was succulent and tender, just perfect.

Judi took me to an old school named Green Macadoo which was an all black school in the Jim Crow days. When the town of Clinton, TN was sued at first the black students were being bussed for hours to another county to go to a black high school. This was the separate but equal.  Then the supreme court struck down the separate but equal.  12 students were admitted to the Clinton High School and all was going well until a Northern rabble rouser showed up to stir up hatred.  Eventually the National Guard was called in and the rabble rouser was sent to jail.  It was a wonderful little museum.

In the afternoon we went to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum.  It gave the history of Oak  Ridge during the years of World War II when they were developing the Atomic Bomb here.  It was a fascinating exhibit.  It showed how people lived, how there were gates to get into most of the town.  How there were different forms of housing, the levels of security that people lived under and other harsh conditions.  The museum held other exhibits of the pioneers, the native americans and the animals of North America.  It is a lovely museum with lots to see.

Who knows what tomorrow holds.