Hot Springs

Another peaceful weather day allowed a drive over to Hot Springs, about 40 miles southwest of Little Rock.

Construction is nearly complete on a new visitor center for the park with a terrific old fountain front and center of the entrance.

After driving in past the huge Rehabilitation Center (formerly the Army/Navy Hospital), we found Bathhouse Row. Once immensely popular and luxurious, only a few of the bath houses are now operating, but it appeared that several were being restored.

In the roaring 20's, people flocked to these bathhouses either on vacation or in hopes of restoring their health. The buildings are quite a spectacle in their attempts to replicate classic features of the bathhouses of ancient Rome and Greece. After seeing a short video on the history and what transpires with the baths, we decided to try it ourselves.

The Quapaw, named for the friendly Indian tribe that helped the French at the Arkansas Post, offers more of a hot tub experience for groups of people in addition to the private baths.

We chose the Buckstaff since they allow children as young as 10 to participate and we didn't want anyone in our family to be left out.

No photos of the inside, as this truly is a bath house...meaning bath, not swimmin' hole. The ladies and men are in completely different areas of the facility. So, Linda went to the left and Craig and the boys to the right and we didn't all meet up again until everyone was finished, dried off and dressed!

We all received spa treatment by going first to a dressing area. Swimsuits are allowed, but the staff incorporates sheets and towels for modesty sake. First, guests are escorted to a row of large tubs, separated by privacy walls. An attendant helps you into the tub filled with swirling mineral water that mixes the 140 F spring water with cold water for a temperature around 100 F. Bathers relax in the tub for about 15 minutes, then the attendant scrubs your legs, arms and back with a loofah, then escorts you to a sitz bath where you relax again with mostly your posterior and lower back soaking for about 5 minutes. Once again, the attendant arrives to escort you to tables for hot packs. The attendant places hot, wet towels on the neck, upper back and legs. You are left lying on a table to wrapped in the wet towels for about 10 minutes. At this point, the boys reported that Craig started snoring. Next is a vapor cabinet where you are steamed for about 10 minutes. Last is a needle shower, where you are sprayed from neck to foot with cooler water. At this point, the bath is complete and you are escorted back to the dressing area. Craig spoiled Linda by purchasing a 20-minute massage for her. Very, very nice!

Here are Linda and the boys feeling very refreshed in front of a central fountain in the downtown area. Several fountains spray the hot mineral water in the area. We noticed some folks filling gallon jugs with the water at no charge. We were content with the baths and the small cups to drink during our spa treatment.

Note for those considering participating in the baths...the men (guests) were not as modest as the ladies, choosing to forego their provided sheets and towels.

Arkansas Post

When the snow passed on to the eastern states, we were able to venture out to see more of Arkansas. Heavy snows to the north and west of Little Rock prevented any trips toward the Ozarks, but we found sights toward the south. European settlements began along the Arkansas River during the 1600s so we set out to find out more.

Along the way, we crossed the river just as a large tug was pushing a flotilla of 15 barges upstream. Fortunately, traffic was light so we could stop on the bridge long enough to take the photo! After about 1 1/2 hours, we arrived at our destination in the midst of the delta region of the state.

We thought we spied beavers, but discovered a different tail! Nutrias were everywhere. We'd seen the damage these critters can cause during visits to Linda's family at Lake Brownwood in Texas. They create burrows and tunnels along the bank, destroying the root systems of trees and vegetation. We later learned from the park ranger that the nutrias were introduced in this area in an attempt to stimulate interest in their fur. That didn't work out, so years later, alligators were introduced in an attempt to curb the nutria population. As it turns out, alligators don't care for nutrias - preferring snakes and fish.

We saw many varieties of birds along our way, including this large group of white pelicans. This area is close to where the Arkansas joins the Mississippi river and bird watchers enjoy the accompanying migratory paths.

Once at the park, we took a stroll amongst the former town that was once the capital of the Arkansas territory. The buildings are long gone, primarily lost during the Confederate war, but markers guide visitors along a self-guided tour. Several exhibits explain the role of the post during early exploration, settlement, territorial squabbling amongst France, Spain, Britain, Indian tribes and the Civil War.

As we took our walking tour, we found this little guy:

He put up with us for awhile, then took a closer look at us and hopped away to the nearby cover.

The park is very serene, especially at this off-season period. We were the only visitors on this cold day and enjoyed the opportunity for the quiet of the woods and river, the silence only broken by the calls of geese and birds.

Sometimes, the best lessons are learned in the perfect stillness of God's amazing creation!

Here we are...when does it start to snow?

We had a great travel day to get us almost 350 miles further toward the east - Little Rock, AR. Around midnight after our arrival, however, here came snow again! We enjoyed horsing around in the snow a little with the guys - the wet snow was perfect for snow ball fights! The rest of the day was spent working on school, reading and enjoying the view of the Arkansas River right outside our front door.

It's beautiful and very...winter-y! We're glad to be parked under deciduous trees instead of these mighty pines! We heard some loud cracks, pops and crashes as several large tree limbs fell from the evergreens!

We're hoping for the weather to clear enough for some sightseeing tomorrow!

Eastern Oklahoma

To broaden our experience in Oklahoma, we took a drive to Claremore (northeast of Tulsa) and Tahlequah for a couple of new sights.

Claremore, OK is near the birthplace of one of the most famous Oklahomans, Will Rogers. We visited this rather large memorial which was built on land that he purchased for a homesite. Never having had the chance to build the home on the property, the family used the land to house a memorial for this amazing entertainer, athlete and statesman.

The Rogers family is interred near the gravesite for Will Rogers and is marked with the striking statue of a mounted Mr. Rogers.

The memorial is surrounded by a large plot of land, as shown in this photo taken from near the mounted statue.

Being a museum, photos weren't allowed of most of the exhibits. We toured several rooms within the museum that documented Will Roger's achievements as a cowboy, entertainer, actor, author, columnist and statesman. We enjoyed seeing more of his famous quotes within context, such as:

'When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is going to read 'I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like'. I'm so proud of that I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come to my grave, you will find me sitting there, proudly reading it.'

The museum offers a comprehensive review of this man's life - from the humble beginnings in rural Oklahoma, to the independent working as a cowboy, to the surprising jump to entertainment and the Ziegfield Follies, to acting in movies and of course, the columns and radio work. We enjoyed several highlights of his rope tricks and couldn't leave without picking up a video, a CD highlighting his Sunday night radio broadcast and a small book of quotes.

We think his life demonstrates a real American success story and find his humor refreshing, even today.

From there, we moved on to the city of Tahlequah - chosen because of its status as the capitol of the Cherokee nation and designation as the end of the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee Heritage Center pays fitting tribute to the Cherokee history and also serves as a research center for tracing family roots to the Cherokee tribe. We didn't have much daylight left by the time we made the drive over, but we enjoyed touring the grounds and enlightening ourselves regarding the Trail of Tears.

The stories told here seem to share a common thread with other sights we've seen in Oklahoma - of a population with great resiliance and determination despite circumstances beyond their control. The tribe not only survived after being relocated, but has preserved their heritage (including language), emphasized education amongst the descendents and achieved a prosperous future for many members. We'll be reminded of their stories as we trek eastward along some of the same ground crossed in their infamous journey.

That adventure closed out our sight-seeing in Oklahoma and we were off to Arkansas before another snow storm arrived. Along our way, we saw evidence of Okie humor in the dog walking section at a rest area:


Off to beat the snow and Arkansas....

Fast forward - Oklahoma!

We wrapped up skiing in Arizona and high-tailed it across New Mexico to Amarillo. After a quick detour to Abilene, we returned to the panhandle to find we had a lapse in judgment. We had left the trailer in an RV park during our trip to drop off Christmas decorations, etc. in the storage unit and celebrate a couple of family birthdays. During our absence, Amarillo had received 10" of snow and had had temperatures well below freezing. We had left the furnace on, but had not left the automatic switch over feature on the propane tanks - so the propane had run out sometime before our return. We also had disconnected the water hose, but didn't drain the lines. The housing around the water filter had completely exploded, incapacitating our water systems. Fortunately, Craig was able to handily replace it and everything else was fine. Whew! Lesson learned with a very inexpensive consequence - less than $20!

We also took advantage of an on-site RV tech to coat the rubber roof for continued UV and water protection. The techs scrubbed the whole roof, brushed on the coating and had it returned in one afternoon. We feel like we're in good shape to continue our trek to the eastern states.

First stop - Oklahoma!

This RV park is centrally located in Oklahoma City, but has an attractive appeal with the beautiful trees. We parked well out of the limbs' reach, however, with recent ice storms on our mind! No falling branches for us! The club house features a huge sitting area with a large fireplace and several large screen TV's, a pool table, ping-pong, game tables and huge puzzles.

The park is within a mile of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, so that was our first stop. We forgot our camera on this outing, but more than 1/2 of the museum doesn't allow photos anyway. We enjoyed touring thousands of square feet of paintings, sculptures and exhibits for the entire afternoon.

The next day was a much more sober activity with a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, paying tribute to victims of the horrendous April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal building.

The inscription reads 'Welcome here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort strength, peace, hope and serenity.'


The memorial is framed by the Gates of Time. Mounted over the former crosswalks on NW 5th street, completely destroyed along with the building, the monuments display 9:01 and 9:03 - marking the time of destruction 9:02 am on April 19.

The Reflecting Pool spans the width and length of the former street with a serene flow of very shallow water and gentle sounds.

The Field of Empty Chairs pays tribute to those killed in the blast and collapse of the building. Arranged in rows reflecting the 9 story building, smaller chairs represent the 19 children killed in the day care center.

Opposite the chairs stands The Survivor Tree, a 90+ year-old American Elm that withstood the horrific blast. The inscription for visitors reads 'The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated, our deeply rooted faith sustains us'.

At the entrance to the indoor museum is a precious wall, decorated with tiles created by hundreds of children in the aftermath of the bombing. One side of the wall is simple handprints while the other side reflects simple drawings and messages of hope and comfort - expressed as only children can!

Alongside the Survivor Tree, the Rescuers' Orchard was planted with nut and flower bearing trees to honor the thousands of helpers that rushed to aid the victims and their families.

We did not realize or remember that over 300 buildings were damaged within a 16 block perimeter of the Murrah building. Directly across the street from the blast stood a rectory for the oldest Catholic church in OKC, St. Joseph's. The rectory was so severely damaged that it had to be torn down. The church erected this statue, entitled 'Jesus Wept' in it's place. The church also sustained much damage, but has been restored.

As said before, this was a very sobering experience for us all - along the lines of visiting Mount St. Helens. This day was much more grievous since it was caused through human hands and the violence delivered with such callousness. We hold deep respect for the Oklahoma City community for their resilience and determination to recover from the tragedy and also to provide an appropriate remembrance of the victims. We can only hope that someday a fitting tribute for the 9/11 tragedy will be in place.

The sunny day did not stop a very cold wind from chilling us all, so after leaving the memorial, we sought out a Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate at nearby Bricktown.

We enjoyed seeing the unique buildings and beautiful landscaping, but were not up for the water taxi ride!

Developed primiarily for night life, things were very quiet during our visit - suited us fine!

Warmed up, we returned to the RV for a quiet dinner - everyone seemed very reflective, as it should be.

Powder...courtesy of El Nino!

OK - after the third wave of big snowstorms passed through Arizona, here's a photo of the 5th wheel... Just kidding! We couldn't resist taking this photo on our way to the Elk Ridge Ski area after waiting through the snows. Williams didn't get anywhere near the depth that piled up in Flagstaff and the RV park plowed us out nicely. So, on the firsst day that the roads were clear up the mountain, we piled on the snow clothes again for one more day of skiing and snowboarding.

The drive was magical with the still fresh snow and gorgeous blue skies!

Linda's favorite house needed some help with the driveway, but isn't it nice? On about 10 acres, backed up to national forest land...hmm...out of our price range but nice to dream about!

The main road from Williams to the ski area was cleared nicely and didn't have any packed ice.

The drive up the mountain on the forestry service raod wasn't as clear, but our 4 wheel drive made it just fine.

It took a little while for the ski area staff to arrive to issue our equipment, but soon we were on the fresh powder - really fun!

The Snow Bowl at Flagstaff wasn't open as yet and quite a few college students arrived, but we still enjoyed the mountain until the lift closed at the end of the day.

We were very glad we stayed for the extra snow, but watched for a break between the storms to head back to the east. We've got more states to explore yet!