Trip To Eureka Springs

July 16 – It was a long day, but a good one!  We managed to get on the road at 9 for Eureka Springs.  The road was slower going than we expected.  Lots of curves and up and down hills.  Pretty much all 2 lane.  This was a good test as we will be going this way when we leave for Idaho, but not all the way to Eureka Springs.

Mid-morning we stopped for a potty break.  Later we decided to stop at the Tyler Bend Visitor Center for the Buffalo National River.  We’ve been there before in 2010.  Truly nothing looked at all familiar but Bill said he remembered us being in that area.  We watched the movie of the river and met a couple who’d come over 200 miles to float on the river but the river is up and they cancelled all trips for 2 days.  We felt bad for them.

When we reached Harrison we stopped at Wendy’s for lunch and texted our friend Joe that we were stopping for lunch and where we were and we’d let them know once we checked in to our hotel.  As we drove out of Harrison we spotted an Aldi.  Great!  We are going to definitely stop on the way back as there isn’t one anywhere near us.

We checked into the 1905 Basin Park Hotel which is down in the valley of the original

1905 Basin Park Hotel

downtown for Eureka Springs.  It reminded us of Bisbee, AZ and Jerome, AZ.  It’s all up and down hills and narrow roads.  All of the modern places are on the main road.  There was motel after motel.  There are only a couple of the old places downtown.  Our

Hotel Lobby

hotel was built in 1905 and is 6 stories tall.  We were on the 4^th floor with access to a small balcony just outside our door.  There is a tiny elevator about the size of the ones in Europe.  We just took a standard room and it was very large with a nice size bathroom.  It was a king bed but due to years of settling, the floor dipped and my head was lower than my feet so around midnight I turned and slept upside down.  Although it wasn’t fancy, it had everything we needed and was appointed with vintage or reproduced furniture and accessories except for the bed and the TV.

Local Flavor

Unique Hotel Sign
former bordello

Once we settled in Joe and Rik met us in the lobby for a walking tour in the drizzle.  We have not seen them since December and they looked great and love Eureka Springs.  Joe manages 2 restaurants from April thru October for people he worked for before when they were there.  They winter back in Eustis when most of the town closes up.

Although the weather was not good, the visit was great!  They pointed out many buildings and springs of interest and shared some stories about places.  One of the most impressive places was the bank.  It’s a single bank, no branches and in the original building with the original oak teller stations and offices, all with glass.  It was a museum in addition to being a bank.  There are all kinds of vintage office equipment and law books as one end must have been leased to a law firm back in the day.  It was a gorgeously maintained building.  There was one attempted robbery in 1922.  Six of the townspeople killed 3 of the 5 robbers.  The other two were caught and sent to prison. 

Local Home

Joe showed us his two restaurants and we stopped Local Flavor which was the one that was open.  He treated for drinks and I had the best red Sangria!  By then the rain seemed to be clearing so we walked back in the direction of the hotel but from the other side of the valley.  It’s a very different perspective.  We said our good byes for the day as we are stopping on our way out of town tomorrow to see them and their new RV.

Joe made a dinner reservation for us at 6:30 so we had

Cool stairs

time to relax in the room before showering to go out.  Of course it was raining when it was time to go.  The hotel has a shuttle so they dropped us off.  Joe and Rik already had plans but that was OK.  Joe compted us an appetizer and dessert!  How awesome is that?  We shared the crabcake appetizer and it was all crab and no filler with a lime dill sauce.  For dinner Bill went with chicken parmesan and it as the thickest chicken we’ve ever seen in that dish.  It wasn’t pounded down, just plump and juicy.  I had Chicken Saverio which is chicken layered with olive tapenade and goat cheese with a balsamic drizzle over a bed of arugula.  I was in heaven!  We should have shared a dessert, and I suggested it but no, Bill wanted his own.  Since it was late he couldn’t have any of the chocolate choices so he had pecan pie in a shortbread crust.  I had bread pudding in a bourbon sauce.  The pudding was heated and swimming in the sauce.  I wasn’t about to let any go to waste!  We were both so miserable as we don’t normally have an appetizer and dessert and I had a glass of wine!  Thankfully the rain had stopped so we walked back to the hotel.  Too bad it wasn’t further.  I was still stuffed by the time we went to bed.  It was a truly wonderful meal with excellent service.  It was so nice of Joe to do that for us.

We were able to watch the season opener for Rizzoli and Isles and then Bill’s show Royal Pains.  I only posted one day and was too tired to write today.