Girl Trip 2015 to Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Every year for over 20 years, Denisa, her Mother, and her two sisters have gone a "girl trip."  They've been all over the country, but this year we decided to go somewhere close to home.  Eureka Springs is home to a passion play that has been going even longer than the girl trip.  It is a live production in the hills just outside of town.  Rain was forecast for the evening of the play, but we were blessed with a beautiful sunset and lovely weather in spite of what the weatherman said.

Not far down the road is the "Christ of the Ozarks" statue.  With arms wide open, it is the largest statue of Jesus Christ in North America.

 Interestingly enough, there is a chunk of the Berlin wall in the parking lot as well.  We're not sure how it got there or why, but it made for another photo opportunity.

Eureka Springs has a cute historic downtown built into the side of the rolling hills.  There are stairs to get to different levels of town, and this one was recently painted by the high school art class.

Denisa loved walking the downtown area whenever she could badger one of her sisters into going with her. We came to find out that there are springs scattered throughout town, and most of them had lovely gardens around them.  This is Denisa's sister, Connie, behind one of those gardens.

Denisa's 85-year-old Mother is also enjoying a different garden at the grotto springs.

Downtown is cute, but we found that you need to go very early or very late to avoid the crowds.  This picture was taken in the morning when parking places where still available.  Denisa had picked out a place to eat downtown for lunch, but there was no parking for blocks anywhere close to it at noon.

On Sunday morning we went to church at Thorncrown Chapel in the hills outside of town.  There's a neat story about how the church came to be built.  But it is known for its amazing glass walls made from 425 windows.  In fact, the American Institute of Architects recently placed it fourth on the list of the top buildings of the twentieth century.  Who would guess that all that glass makes beautiful accoustics for singing worship songs?

According to Tripadvisor, the top thing to do in Eureka Springs is the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.  Over 80 lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) are given homes here after they outgrow people that thought they would be good house pets.  It was hard to get a good picture through the double wire fences, but this wasn't a zoo for the visitors--it was a refuge for the animals that live here.

Denisa is always looking for unique places to visit, and Quigley's Castle certainly fit that description.  Built by hand by a woman that wanted to bring nature inside her home, it features a four foot section of dirt inside the house to plant vines and trees.  The seventy year old plants reach the top of the second floor, which also includes collections of butterflies, sea shells and old hornets nests.

The visitor's center told us about a scenic drive north of town, so we took another winding Arkansas road out to see the Little Golden Gate Bridge.  The town beside the bridge is Beaver, Arkansas.  Since we all were raised near Beaver, Oklahoma, it seemed like a good place to visit.

After exploring Eureka Springs for two days, we drove an hour to Branson, where we had tickets to see a show.  We had just enough time to do some shopping that afternoon.  Denisa picked out a blouse that Debra also liked, and then Connie decided to buy one too.  Mother found one in her size, and talked us all into wearing them to the show that night.  We got more than one funny comment, and plenty of stares.

The last tourist attraction stop was just north of Branson, a place called Bonniebrook.  It was the home of Rosie O'Neill, a female artist ahead of her time in the early 1900's.  She drew ads for companies like Jello and magazines like Cosmopolitan, but became unemployed when cameras were invented and took over those jobs.  But she is most remembered for the little character she sketched that she later developed into a toy--the kewpie doll.

We rolled back into Oklahoma after another successful trip with more good memories.  This was the last event on our agenda before we return to life on the road.  Mark wasn't invited on the girl trip, so he stayed back at the ranch.  He wishes now that he would have taken pictures of the slog through the cattails to fix water gaps with his brother.  It was an interesting day in the life of a rancher that led to a visit to the emergency room.  For once, it wasn't Mark this time.  He also cleaned on the motorhome, getting ready for our departure the next day as we continue on down the road!