Eureka Springs Fall Get-Away

So Russ and I decided to take a little trip to Eureka Springs without the kids.  We try to do these kind of getaways a few times a year and I'm so glad that we do.  We do them to for a variety of reasons, but we mainly do them to hit the reset button and refocus on our marriage.  I encourage all married couples to do things like this.     

That being said, what's more romantic than the Lacygne power plant?  It really is beautiful this time of year.

We picked a great time to take this trip, as we are both "foliage nuts."  The trees around Beaver Lake were really showing off their colors.

 We've had such a warm fall that the lake water was significantly warmer than the 35 degree air temperature.

Hence, a bunch of dam steam.

I mentioned that it was really cold.  Did I mention that it was raining also?  After purchasing an umbrella at one of the many Dollar General stores in Arkansas, Russ and I ducked in to a little cafe in Bella Vista before checking out the Cooper Memorial Chapel. 

It was stunning and perfectly nestled in the wilderness.  Thank God for these wonderful architects.  

Our next stop was Keel's Creek Winery on the outskirts of Eureka Springs.

The woman working the wine tasting desk that took this picture said we were a good looking couple.  We didn't get too big of a head; after all she was trying to sell us wine.  It worked.  We bought and enjoyed a couple of bottles.  

 

Russ picked out our accommodations, the Eureka Springs Treehouses.  They weren't exactly treehouses, but the rooms were tucked in the trees.  Anyway, here's the room and it was wonderful; quite possibly the best place we've ever stayed together.  

There was a welcome basket and a gorgeous view out the back door waiting for us.

We opened one of our new bottles of wine and enjoyed the peaceful, albeit rainy, day.

We got ready to go out and see what we could see around town.

First we decided to visit St. Elizabeth Church downtown.  Russ and I really love old churches.  This one is know for its picturesque setting and for its beautiful statues.

 

Here's Mary and Joseph, the earthly parents of our Lord.

And here are the "stations of the cross," depicting Christ's last day on earth.

Our next stop was the famous Crescent Hotel.  This place is an architectural and historical wonder.  It has served as a hospital, college, and hotel.  We highly recommend checking this place out.  

One of the features of the hotel is that its haunted.  That's right, it's full of ghosts.  Russ and I decided to check some of these guys out.

If you look closely at this mirror, you can see Russ mocking the whole concept of the hotel being haunted.  The mirror is one of the places where ghosts are said to appear.    

Get us out of here!!!!!!

Actually, many people believe the ghost stuff because this hotel used to be a hospital.  It wasn't a real hospital.  It was a corrupt, junk hospital run by a guy named Baker.  He was a criminal who preyed on folks with terminal cancer by extoling the virtues of the healing spring water in town.  His lies gave so many false hope.  The problem is that his patients often died.  And some of these victims are the supposed "ghosts" of the hotel. 

The lies did catch up to him, however, as his junk hospital was shut down and he was arrested.  Perhaps Baker stopped by St. Elizabeth's confessional on his way to Leavenworth.

Here are some of Baker's supposed miracle cures and excised "tumors" -- these were discovered on the grounds just last year by a gardener doing some work outside.

Thankfully, there was no false hope of an awesome Thai dinner that night.  This little restaurant was a stone's throw from our hotel and we decided to order takeout and just stay in that night.   

Here are a few pictures from the outside of our place.  Isn't it so cute how they've nestled it into the trees?

The next morning, we took a walking tour of the town and I'm so glad that we braved the cold and rain.  We had the sweetest old man show us around for a couple of hours and because of the awful weather, it wasn't at all crowded.

This town is famous for having no right-angle intersections.  They have plenty of L-shaped, V-shaped, and even S-shaped ones.  I was glad Russ was driving because the intersections would have really stressed me out, especially at night.

The best part about Eureka Springs is that it really is a town full of springs.  The town was actually built around the springs.  Our tour guide told us there were still 13 of them in town. 

We thought about watching the Passion Play later that night but because of the weather opted for the Bible Museum instead.  I'm glad we did.

This portrait at the museum was especially impressive.  Completely hand-lettered, the entire New Testament words make up the picture.  Can you imagine the patience and talent this required? Amazing work, Gwang Hyuk Rhee.

We were able to see some of the rarest bibles on earth.  Who knows Latin?  

After we checked out the Bible Museum we decided to go on the Holy Land Tour.  

Our first stop was a replica of the Tabernacle as described in Exodus.  Our tour guide was a walking biblical encyclopedia.  He answered our questions and taught us about all these Old Testament customs.  We are reading Exodus as a family right now, and seeing these full-scale replicas really brought all of what we are reading to life!  You'll see the bronze altar for burnt offerings and Ark of the Covenant as just two examples of what we learned about.

There were a few other stops on the bus tour.  Here we find Jesus birthplace and the inn where Mary and Joseph weren't able to stay. 

And here we have a replica of the upper room where Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper.  This was my favorite part as this man was a former Jew who was a Passover expert.   

And really, what kind of Holy Land tour would be complete without an empty tomb or Calvary?

Or Jesus walking on water? (It was 30 degrees outside; I was sure hoping Jesus had something to warm his feet up after walking on the Sea of Galilee!)

Does this guy look like Peter the fisherman or what?

As we left we popped by the iconic "Christ of the Ozarks." 

Later that afternoon, we decided to do a little exploring.  Russ thought it would be a good idea to check out Black Bear Lake, just west of town.  I'm not exactly sure they allow the public to just wander around like we did, but we did manage to take grab a nice selfie and a couple of scenic pictures before figuring that it was time to leave.  

As we continued to head west, we stopped by the famous Thorncrown Chapel.  It was designed by the same fellow as the Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista.  One can certainly see the similarities between the two.

We took this picture at Lake Leatherwood, next to the chapel.  When I showed it to Evie, she thought it was important that we knew that the monster broke the bench because he was too heavy.  She's so cute right now.   

I mentioned that Russ and I love fall foliage.  We figured what better way to see as much of it as possible than to climb this tower.

We weren't disappointed.  Look at these views.

After climbing the tower, we went back to our treehouse to get ready for dinner. I convinced Russ to take a few pictures for me before we left.   

We decided to head downtown for dinner and stumbled upon this wonderful little place.  They call themselves a cafe, but it was more like a five star restaurant.  We definitely had our fill.

We got up the next morning, had our coffee on the back deck, and decided to walk around downtown one last time.

 

We had such a great time in Eureka Springs and encourage everyone to make this trip.