Arkansas - Day 4

We tried our best to get up early, just to beat the heat.  All four of us were up by 8:00 am, we ate a light breakfast, and were out the door and headed to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  It was a one hour drive, with the final 30 minutes on winding, curvy, steep roads, the type that will make me car sick if I am not careful.  We were all glad when the drive was over and the car parked in the shade.  I often compare Eureka Springs to Jerome, Arizona as both are built on a hilly spot and both attract a lot of artists.  Eureka Springs is a bit more commercialized than Jerome and there is more to do as this is where they have the Passion Play in the spring, there is a popular wedding chapel, and it is close to Beaver Lake for those who enjoy water sports.  Of course there is an abundance of small motels, bed and breakfasts, and restaurants.

We took the trolley UP hill, disembarked, and shopped our way down the hill.  This was the perfect way to shop as we knew we would not have time to walk up the street and then back down before it got too hot.  As it was, we just criss crossed our way back and forth across the street so that we wouldn't miss any of the interesting shops.  Julie found a black top (on sale for $5!) and a few postcards.  Rainy bought a pair of shoes, slip ons that are beige and very cofortable.  Hank was looking for a specific pair of shoes that he had bought in Eureka before, but the store didn't have his size in stock. 

By the time we had walked back down the hill, it was hot and we were all ready for a cold drink and some lunch.  We stopped in at the Local Flavor Cafe.  Along with ice cold water, Julie ordered a Mimosa while Rainy had a Serrano Spiced Bloody Mary.  They were serving brunch or lunch, take your pick.  Edna had the turkey, avocado, and pepper jack cheese sandwich on a sourdough roll.  Rainy had a pita stuffed with black beans, avocado, and salsa.  Hank ordered a traditional breakfast of 2 fried eggs with bacon, potatoes, and a biscuit.  Julie had the zuchini, mushroom and onion quiche served with a tossed salad and a biscuit.  With full tummies, we got into the toasty warm car and drove the same curvy, winding road back home to Bella Vista.

Later in the day I made a few phone calls and found someone who had a key to Rainy's Grandmother's house.  We met them at Town Center in Bella Vista to get the key, then Rainy and I drove to Jetta's house in Bentonville.  I was suprised, but glad to find that the air conditioning was on in the house as it was pretty hot and muggy outside.  We walked around the house, talking about things we both remembered about Jetta and the many happy visits we had there.  We realized how quickly a home can deteriorate when noone is living in it.  The house felt empty and abandoned, it was just a shell of the person who used to live there.  This made us both rather sad.  One weird thing happened.....Jetta has a room added onto the house that contains a swimming pool, we had already noticed that the pool hadn't been drained and was falling apart.  But the strange thing was that the gas heater in the pool room was turned on!  I went in, the room was really hot and stifling, I turned the heater off.  We wondered: who turned the heater on?  Why was it on?  Weird.  We continued wandering through Jetta's house, looking through cupboards and drawers just to get a better feel for the wonderful person who used to live there.  After about 2 hours, we sadly locked up the house and drove away.  We met up with Edna and Henry at Razorback Pizza, just across the line in Jane, Missouri for dinner.  By the time we got home, it was after 9:00 pm, but we had time for a root beer float before going to bed.

Arkansas - Day 3

We didn't rush to get up this morning, which felt pretty good.  Hank fixed us a wonderful breakfast of fried eggs, sausage patties, bacon, biscuits with red plum & peach jelly, and fruit.  After breakfast the four of us headed into Bentonville to the Museum of Native American History. The museum contains a collection of authentic Native American artifacts with exhibits arranged in chronological order, starting with the early Paleo and moving through the Archaic, Woodland, Missippian, and Historic Periods.  The museum contains one of the largest and most diverse displays of stone tools and arrowheads.

I was excited to see the extensive collection of Central American, South American, Woodland, and Mississippian pottery.  Because I have taught clay units that deal with pottery effigies, these were the items that I was drawn too.  It seems as if every time period and every culture displayed had some type of effigy or animal container, many in forms that I had not seen before.
I also enjoyed the historic rooms which featured rare treasures the Apache, Cherokee, and other tribal heritages. 

This is where I was able to admire the intricate beading and handwork involoved in the making of clothing, moccassins, toys, and other artifacts.  It was a wonderful museum and I was glad to have the opportunity to glimpse at what life was like for America's first inhabitants!















After spending a few hours at the museum, we drove into Rogers, Arkansas for lunch at Back Yard Burgers.  We each enjoyed a delicious burger and french fries.  When we were finished, we drove back into Bentonville so that we could drive by the homes where Edna usde to live, including the home that Rainy remembered the most from her childhood.  We also drove by the future sight of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which hopefully will be completed by the next time we come to visit.  It was pretty hot and muggy outside, so we went home to get out of the sun.  This gave us time to nap, or for me, time to work on the previous day's blog!

For dinner, Hank made another terrific meal of crock pot pork chops with gravy, oven fried potatoes, green bean casserole, and fruit salad.
After dinner, out came the Sequence game board, the deck of cards, and the poker chips.  The four of us played Sequence until after 10:00 pm with Julie and Hank winning 5 out of 7 hands.  We had a blast, playing and laughing the evening away!

Arkansas - Day 2

Rainy and I got up early to make the 2 hour drive to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.  Silver Dollar City, on of our favorite amusement parks, is celebrating their 50th year of fun and good times.  Rainy and I have both been to Silver Dollar City numerous times before, but still couldn't pass it up since we were so close to it.  One of the thigs we like so much about SDC is that when it was built, the large trees and vegetation were left in place as much as possible.  This means that you can walk around and always be in the shade!  This is totally different from most amusement parks.  Along with rides, there are a multitude of shops, crafts demonstrations, theaters and event venues; all of which are based on an 1800's mining town theme.
Our first ride was Thunderation, a roller coaster where uou rumble through the treetops on a run away mine train.  This was a mild ride for Rainy, but Julie considered it to be about as wild of a ride as she could do.

Next we wandered in and out of the shops.  We watched a glass blower at work and then watched as two women were making peanut butter fudge.  Part of the fun about Silver Dollar City is watching the craftsmen at work.  You can observe a  blacksmith, coppersmith, jewelry maker, potter, or baker just to name a few.  One amazing thing is that you can buy their wares for very reasonable prices, unusual for when you are visiting in a captive market.

They also have old buildings on site such as the Wilderness Church.  There was an axample of a beutiful log cabin that was built in the 1890's and had been restored on site.
Of course we went on other rides, revisiting Rainy's favorrite ride, Fire in the Hole.  Fire in the Hole is based on the theme that the Baldknobbers have set the town afire.  It is a thrilling coaster with suprises around every corner, including a dosing of water at the very end.  Other water rides we enjoyed included Lost River of the Ozarks; The fastest whitewater in the Ozarks, it propels your raft down a mighty raging lost river with numerous turns, twists and drops. Prepare to get soaked!  Well, Julie was soaked but Rainy managed to remain mostly dry.  We also went on the American Plunge; we climbed more than five stories into the Ozark sky and splashed down at a rapid speed. This traditional log flume ride offers a thrilling way to get a refreshing all-American soaking!

We also saw two shows.  The first was a bluegrass band playing at the Homstead Picker's Shed.  The band added quite a few jokes and silly stories in between songs, but it was still fun.
At the Silver Dollar Saloon, we saw the Frontier Follies, a madcap comedy that ensued when Bart and the girls hired a couple of big city directors to produce a new saloon show.  Rainy and I shared the strongest beverage they served, a rootbeer float!  It felt good to be out of the heat and in the cold saloon, but by the end of the show it was nice to get back outside.  We stayed until just after 5:00 pm and then headed back to Bentonville.  We had a full at Silver Dollar City, it was nice to get back "home".  Of course we visited some more with Edna and Hank, then crawled into bed, tired and bit up by mosquitos.

Arkansas - Day 1

We stayed last night at The Historic Legacy in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas.  The hotel was built in 1913 at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Gaines Street.  At the time, it was considered to be the finest hotel in Arkansas.  It has since been added onto, updated, and restored to its original condition.  The marble staircase is an example of the fine workmanship and historical feature of the hotel.  We enjoyed a liesurely morning, sleeping in and taking our time checking out.

It was time for lunch so we drove downtown, to the Market District in search of a restaurant called the Flying Fish.  We found the eatery, it was parking that was hard to come by.  After circling the block about 4 times, we lucked upon a parking spot that was a short walk from the restaurant.  Julie ordered one fried catfish filet with fried okra.  Rainy had her hopes up for mudbugs (crawfish), but the were all out; she ordered a catfish po' boy and a cup of crawfish chowder instead.  We shared a dish of bread pudding for dessert.  The walls of the room where we were sitting were covered with those talking mounted bass that have been popular gifts for a number of years.  Each bass was donated by its owner, with the owners name and date of donation written below.  It was a hysterical sight!

After we left the restaurant we made the 4 hour drive to Bentonville, Arkansas.  Bentonville is the hometown of Rainy's dad's family; her grandmother Jetta still has a home in Bentonville though it is currently unoccupied.  When we pulled into town we drove around the old town square.  The first thing we noticed was that the businesses were booming!  Unlike other towns and cities we have driven through, Bentonville is a thriving community, due in most part to its being the home of Wal-Mart.  Many of the buildings were in the process of being refurbished!  It was wonderful to see.  Next we drove to Jetta's home.  The gate was unlocked, so we drove on in to walk around and remember old times that we had spent there.  The first thing Rainy noticed was that the old walnut tree, the one she used to climb, was no longer there. We walked all around the house, peeking in through the windows.  The enclosed swimming pool was in a horrible state of disrepair.  No one had drained the pool and the walls of the pool were caving in.  This saddened both of us.  But it was very nice to revisit and talk about wonderful times spent there.

Next we drove out to Bella Vista where we would be staying with Edna and Henry Braker.  A note for those of you who don't know:  Edna was married to Rainy's Gandpa Wayne until he passed away when Rainy was about 3 years old.  Edna since married Henry Braker, a wonderful and kind man.  Rainy still thinks of Edna as one of her grandmothers!  It was such a great joy to see them both; though I had seen Edna and Hank in Phoenix just this past January, Rainy hadn't seen them in more than 10 years!  Hank cooked a wonderful dinner of spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and fruit for dinner.  We enjoyed blackberry cobbler with ice cream for dessert.  It was the first home cooked meal we have had the luxury to enjoy on our road trip.  We stayed up a while, talking about the past and filling in one another on our lives and on our relatives.  It was a wonderful evening!

Memphis

We got on the road singing along to the Paul Simon song that goes something like this...."Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee, I'm going to Graceland......".  We were both well rested and excited about the day ahead of us.  The 90 miles to Memphis seemed to go by very quickly, we pulled into town around 11 am and decided to get a bite to eat before going to Graceland.  We stopped at Huey's, a restaurant known for its world famous burgers.  Can you find Julie and Rainy in the photo of the bar?  Julie ordered the World Famous Burger with cheddar cheese and a side of onion rings.  Rainy ordered the burger served on texas toast with onion strings.  There is nothing like a fabulous $5 burger!  Rainy has taken to ordering sweet tea which seems to be the drink of choice in the south while Julie sticks with her tea unsweetened.  When ordering tea, you better specify unsweet or you are naturally served the sweetened variety!

Now we were off to Graceland!  The complex was very large.  After paying for parking, we walked into the ticket pavilion to get tickets which included touring the mansion, the airport museum, the car museum, the '68 special and the Fashion King.  We began with the highlight of the tour, Graceland itself!  The mansion was amazing due to the fact that everything remained untouched from the day Elvis died, none of the furnishings had been changed, it was like stepping back into the early 1970's.  Of course Rainy and I LOVED the furnishings!  We heard comments about how tacky it was, but we didn't think so.

The living room featured a long white sofa.  The accent colors were all in blue, Elvis' favorite color. There was white furniture with gold trim, just like I had when I was growing up.  The dining room was just off the living room, and the china cabinet was filled with sterling silver serving dishes.  There was a beautiful chandelier hanging above the table that was set for six.

The next room we toured was the kitchen.  It had been remodeled in the mid 70's and the decor certainly reflected the era.  The kitchen was done in shades of gold with a gold refrigerator.  The indoor-outdoor carpeting had shades of gold, orange, and brown.  Everything on the counter was left exactly as it was when Elvis died.

We walked down the stairs which were lined with mirrors.

The next room was more like a multi-purpose room with a seating area, a string of TV's, stereo equipment, and a bar.  This room was done in shades of yellow and blue.

Next was the billiard room.  The walls & ceiling were completed covered with pleated paisley fabric.  I loved this treatment!

Then we were in the jungle room, a room upholstered in faux fur & heavily carved furniture.  This was Rainy's favorite room!

We walked outside, through the carport where Elvis kept his cars and motorcycles, and past the swing set.

We passed by Vernon's office (Elvis' manager).

Then we walked by Elvis' shooting range.

Now we were outside again, walking around the back of the house.

We re-entered the house into the room where Elvis was playing the Piano shortly before he died.

The last room we viewed displayed Elvis mementos including awards and gold records.

In the meditation garden, we walked past Elvis' grave.

The tour was over & we had looped back around to the front of the house where we caught the shuttle bus that took us back to the main pavilion.

After cooling off in the gift shops and getting a drink of cold water, we decided we should tour Elvis' two airplanes.  The largest, the Lisa Marie, contained seating, two dining areas, a guest bed, and Elvis' bedroom (done in blue of course).  All of the seat buckles were plated in 24 karat gold.  Did you know that FFA regulations required a seat belt for the bed as well?

The smaller jet was upholstered in yellow and green, which I thought looked like a party jet without the elegance of the Lisa Marie.

By now we had seen enough of Elvis, we got in our car and drove along the Mississippi River.  It was much too hot and humid to get out and go for a walk.  We did decide to explore famous Beale Street downtown.  We stopped in BB King's Blues Club for an ice cold beer!  Rainy had a Blue Moon and Julie ordered a New Castle Brown Ale in the souvenier glass.

For dinner we went to the Beauty Shop.  The restaurant is in a converted beauty shop, the one where it is said that Pricilla Presley used to get her hair done.  We shared the Goat Cheese Dumplings for an appetizer.  Rainy ordered the Crispy Duck and Julie ordered the Cobb Salad with Grilled Shrimp.  For desert we shared Creme Brulee with a cotton candy sugar topping and the Red Velvet Cake. The food, service, and the setting were all fabulous.  It was a wonderful ending to our day in Memphis!

We left Memphis, driving west to Little Rock, and arrived at the historical hotel The Legacy around 10 pm.  Once again, we were tired after another wonderful day!

Nashville

We hadn't done any laundry since we were in New York City and clean clothes were becoming hard to find.  Since they had a washer and dryer at the hostel, we decided that now was as good of a time as any.  The only drawback was that the dryer took a long time to dry the clothes.  We had 2 loads which I started at 10:30, they weren't finished until 1:00 pm and even then the clothes were still a little damp.  Never mind the dampness, we were itching to explore Nashville.

Our main destination was the Country Music Hall of Fame.  We spent the entire afternoon there, walking through the exhibits which were set up as a time line depicting the start and growth of country music.  The exhibitions were interesting and often included video clips and music.  One of the things I liked the most was looking at the clothing worn by many of the different musicians being portrayed.  Once rhinestones were included, the outfits became much more elaborate and intricate.  The Boots!  Usually custom made with the artist's name or initials on the boots.  No representation of a musician would be complete without a couple of automobiles.  The acoustics were amazing; you could be listening to a song and three feet away you couldn't hear a thing, this allowed for many different things to be going on all at the same time.  The finale was the rotunda where they have a plaque representing each of the musicians that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

When we left the Hall of Fame, we walked to Jake's to enjoy some Bar-B-Que.  This was a very casual restaurant, you ordered and picked up your food at the serving counter.  Rainy and I shared the rib platter; for sides we shared cucumber salad, mac and cheese, green beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and of course, cornbread.  They had 6 different bar-b-que sauces and we tried them all.  Julie's favorite sauce was described as sweet and spicy.  Rainy's favorite was the Carolina's, a mustard based sauce.  For dessert we shared the chess pie and the chocolate pie. 

Next on our agenda was the Grand Ole Opry!  When we bought our tickets we had to buy two single seats so we would not be sitting together, that was okay, at least we were going to the opry!  The show was at the Ryman theater, the original location of the Grand Ole Opry.  There were 8 performers scheduled, each playing for 15 minutes or so.  The show began with Riders in the Sky.

Next came Chris Young, Jimmy C. Newman, Mark Chestnutt, Jeannie Seely, Montgomery Gentry, and Jimmy Dickens.

The finale was the Charlie Daniels Band!

The show ended at 9:30 and we were off to Memphis.  Rainy was driving and Julie was sleeping!  We got as far as Jackson, Tennessee, which was about 90 miles from Memphis and decided it was time to look for a motel as it was after midnight and Rainy was getting tired.  We pulled off the interstate and found the Casey Jones Motel tucked in between all of the chain motels that you would expect to find.  Our room was air conditioned and actually fairly decent.  We were settled in for the night.

4 Days on the Blue Ridge Parkway

On Friday, July 9th, we went to visit Jetta one last time before leaving Fredericksburg. We arrived at Wilburn Place just after Jetta had finished having lunch we sat with her for a couple of hours, looking at a stash of old photos she had with her. Most of the ones we looked through were of Rainy when she was just a little girl. Jetta seemed to enjoy the pictures and could grasp who was in the picture, but couldn't necessarily relate them to the young woman who was sitting by her side. We left when Jetta was tired and ready for a nap.

We left Fredericksburg, driving west, to pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway at Rockfish Gap near Waynsboro, Virginia, the very northern end of the parkway.  The Blue Ridge Parkway extends 469 miles along the crests of the southern Appalachians and links two national parks - Shenandoah and Great Smokey Mountains.  As we drove, late in the afternoon, it started to rain, the rain was much heavier than what we experience in Arizona, but it is quickly absorbed into the ground.  There was a bit of runoff next to the roads, but none of the flash floods we would expect in the desert after this kind of drenching. The rain lightened up and we set up camp at Otter Creek.  Otter Creek tumbles for 10 miles down the Blue Ridge into the James RiverIt was a quiet campground without many visitore, so we were able to find a secluded campsite tucked into the forest.  We set up our tent, but the surrounding wood was too wet to start a fire.  Rainy read a short story by Barbara Kingfish until it started to rain again.  We scrambled into the tent for the night.

We awoke to a beautifully sunny day!  Traveling along the parkway is a beautiful experience.  The winding roads have a 45 mph speed limit, no one is in a hurry, and there roadside overlooks are plentiful.  We took a detour off the Parkway to see the Natural Bridge, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  Just past the natural bridge is a replication of an indian village with interpreters, a bit further down the trail was Lace Falls.                                   

  

We continued our journey along the parkway, stopping frequently to enjoy the overlooks and the hiking trails.  Rainy looked up swimming holes  and found a great place for us to detour slightly off the parkway for a swim.  The swimming hole was deep enough that we could jump off the rocks at the edge, plus there was a built-in water slide!  The cold water felt refreshing on this warm day.  Of course we had to walk along the creek for a bit.  Rainy lifted rocks searching for water creatures and found a salamander.  She also captured a couple of crawdads!  We took another detour, this time into Roanoke, Virginia for an early dinner at Thelma's Chicken & Waffles.  Rainy and I both ordered the fried chicken, which was outstanding.  On the side we shared grits, green beans, sweet peas, and of course, a waffle.  Back on the parkway, we camped at Rocky Knob, a much drier location without the fire flies that were prevalant the previous night.  There were way too many spiders at this campsite, so we quickly went into the tent, zipping up all possible spider entry places.  It was a warmer campsite, bit it did cool off quite a bit during the night.

 

Our first stop the next morning was Mabry Mill, which was run by E.B. Mabry from 1910 to 1935. We took the trail that lead to the gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, distillery, and other exhibits.  The exhibits were all fascinating, set up to recreate what the area would have looked like when Mabry ran the mill.  There was a restaurant nearby which featured pancakes made from grains ground at the mill as well as ham.  On the menu there was city ham and country ham.  I made the mistake of asking the waitress what the difference was, she replied "City ham comes from city hogs and country ham comes from hogs raised in the country".  Actually, city ham is baked while country ham is salt cured and then fried, of course I ordered the country ham.  Along with my ham I had the cornmeal pancakes.  Rainy ordered the combo plate which came with a cornmeal, buckwheat, and pumpkin pancake.   She also had a side of sausage patties which were fabulous.

Our next stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway was the Blue Ridge Music Center which celebrates Blue Ridge Music and Musicians, a significant strand of American musical culture alive and thriving in the region.  Lucky for us, there was a group of musicians playing on this wonderful Sunday afternoon.

We continued our journey, with our next stop being the original Brinegar Cabin which was built by Martin Brinegar about 1880 and lived in until the 1930's when the homestead was purchased from his widow for the parkway.  The cabin had two rooms, the main room filled dominantly with a large loom and a spinning wheel.  The loom is in working condition and is used for demonstrations to park visitors.  There was also a smaller cabin used for food storage.  There was a wonderful garden filled with sorghum, flax, corn, gourds, pumpkins, beans, and so on.  The garden must have been at least 4 times the size of the cabin!

Our goal was to reach Price Lake, set up camp, and have time to do some fishing.  We managed to find a camp site that was right along the lake but still secluded from other campers.  I told Rainy to start fishing as I was setting up the tent.  She had a few bites, was tortured by a fish that was stealing her worm.  She finally managed to catch the fish, a small perch!  Once camp was set up, we headed out to hike the 3 miles around the lake, fishing as we went.  I have to admit, the fishing was disappointing to say the least!  Rainy caught one more tiny perch, and that was it.  The highlight of our walk around the lake was that we came upon a beaver on shore that scurried into the water when we approached!

It began to get dark, so we picked up the pace as we continued our hike around the lake, stopping less frequently to fish, still we hiked the last 15 minutes in the dark, gently feeling our way through the giant rhodadendrum tunnels.  Back at camp we enjoyed a campfire (we had bought some wood) and had s'mores.  It was almost midnight when we crawled into our sleeping bags.

It had rained during the night, and we woke up to some pretty dense fog.  The driving was a bit slower but the views were fascinating with the fog creeping in and out.  When we reached Linville Falls, we left the Blue Ridge Parkway to head west to Nashville.

It was a 5 hour drive to Nashville.  We got into some pretty heavy rain again which forced us to travel at a reduced speed.  The drive was beautiful, but it wasn't the parkway.  We arranged for a private room at the Music City Hostel.  We got checked in and headed out to dinner at a restaurant called the Loveless Cafe.  The cafe has been in existence since the 1950's, originally as part of a motel.  Recently the cafe was expanded and the motel converted into shops.  Before the meal was served we enjoyed freshly baked biscuits with peach, strawberry, and blackberry preserves.  Rainy ordered Fried catfish, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans.  I had the barbequed pulled pork with cucumber and onion salad and hash brown casserole.  For dessert we shared a blackberry cobbler with ice cream.  I think we left with take-out boxes showing that we ate less than we were taking with us.  The food was the best but the servings were huge!  After dinner we went to the popular Blue Bird Cafe to listen to music.  Monday night is open mic for singers and song writers.  It was wonderful to listen to the musicians, the youngest which was 13.  Some were really good, some were okay, some should have stayed home.  We stayed afterwards to listen to a country rock band that was playing.  They too were very good and their music was fun.  It was getting late and we were tired, so it was back to the hostel for a good nights sleep and a much needed shower.