Tripping to Eureka Springs

While we were camped on Beaver Lake, we designated a day to do some sight-seeing around Eureka Springs. Among the stops in this beautiful area, was Thorncrown Chapel. 

A glass chapel in the woods is a nice place to sit for a spell, and enjoy the quiet. Their brochure calls this "a thin place" where the line between heaven and earth is thin.

The next stop was a 100-foot-tall CCC fire tower that is almost 100 years old. We paid four quarters each to open the gate for the privilege to climb all those steps for the view from the top.

Denisa left the tower first, and Mark took her picture from the top. She's the white dot in the middle of the green lawn at the base of the tower.

Denisa couldn't help herself from taking a picture of the flowers blooming at the base. The red, purple and yellow made a nice contrast in the flower bed this morning. 

The next stop was the Christ of the Ozarks statue. This 67-foot-tall statue is on the grounds of the outdoor amphitheater that houses the passion play in Eureka Springs.

Visitors can also walk through the grounds of the holy land tour and petting zoo. While we didn't take the tour, we did walk through the gate of the Jerusalem Wall into the biblical village.

A surprising display on these grounds is a piece of the Berlin Wall, which was taken down after the Cold War. The German words on this section come from Psalm 23.

The last stop inside this interesting complex is the Bible Museum. While our expectations were low, we both agreed that it was very interesting. We spent a surprising amount of time inside the museum. It held hundreds of rare and antique bibles, including the tiniest bible and the oldest bible. One bible was hand-written on deer skin, another on calf hide. But the one thing we took a picture of was a picture that included every word of the New Testament typed in such a way that the shading made a picture of Jesus.

A close-up of the face shows the tiny words that make up the picture.

Now that we've explored the outskirts of town, it's time to go downtown. We discovered that parking in downtown Eureka Springs is hard to find on a Monday afternoon in early May. We can't imagine driving, and then trying to find a parking spot on these curvy narrow roads in town on a summer weekend. One of the iconic sites of downtown is the narrow flatiron building.

Spring Street is the main drag through town, and is located in a valley with steep rock walls on both sides. We saw steep staircases on Spring Street, so we climbed the steps to see where they would lead. They took us to a trail that parallels the stone walls of the mountain. This is the only town that we can remember that has a trail that looks like it is in the mountains, while we could still look down on downtown. 

We let our noses determine where we ate lunch. After eating on the patio of the restaurant that smelled the best, we left downtown. We drove up the steepest road (in this town known for its steep streets) to get to the top of Eureka Springs. At the very top of town is the Crescent Hotel, built as the "crown jewel of all lodgings." It went out of business during the depression in the 1930's, and was a cancer hospital for some time. But recently the hotel was restored, and is once again lodging visitors to Eureka Springs.

Across the street from the Crescent Hotel is St. Elizabeth Catholic Church.

We enjoyed a walk around the gardens and through the stations of the cross.

The last stop of the day was just as unique as the rest of the town of Eureka Springs. This crocheted totem pole is actually a tall tree stump covered in crocheted granny squares.

Back at the campground, we couldn't wait to see how our solar panels were working. We had unplugged the trailer from our electric hook-ups before we left this morning, to see if our solar power could keep up with the refrigerator's appetite for electricity. Even with clouds and being parked in some shade, we were glad to see that the solar panels had kept our new lithium battery at 100% charge. It has been a successful trip to Eureka Springs!