My God is Bigger Than Your God

How many of you know that one of the largest statues of Jesus in the world is located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas? We didn't either, but as soon as we learned that Christ of the Ozarks looms over a town that we were going to visit anyhow, we didn't hesitate. Standing at the base of this collosus feels like nothing so much as visiting a pagan temple dedicated to Poseidon, but without the sacrificial goats. Idols, schmidols.

I'll say this--Christ o'Ozarks enjoys a great view from where He stands. The drive on the back roads from Mountain Home to Eureka Springs must be some of the prettiest country in the great state of Arkansas. Eureka Springs itself is a resort town that profits from its beautiful landscape and a healthy influx of tourists. The town seems to be especially attractive to bikers, New Agers, and people who enjoy shopping for Christian casual wear (there are outlet shops to prove it). We had a fine lunch of Schiner Bock, as well as some food, at The Roadhouse, where their sign proudly advertises "Many have eaten here...few have died". Happily, we survived our lunch and made it to our next stop: Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (aka Lions, Tigers and Bears in Northwestern Arkansas--Who Knew?)

bull shoals, AR

we stated our morning rolling out of mountain home, and drove along the lakes at bull shoals. there was a really new and informative info center, and views off of the porch of the lake, damn and the white river. a very nice view, but shocking to see how low the lake and river levels were. touted as a really big fishing area, the river was barely connected warm pools of muddy water.

from Paris, TN to mountain home, Arkansas

from Paris, we settled in for the long afternoon haul to mountain home, Arkansas. we opted for a little less direct route off the larger highway. Kate and I studied the maps, made some good notes (many if the roads here have multiple route numbers, and split often!)... then hit the road.

as we traveled farther west in TN, and across a sliver of Missouri, we began to see vast expanses of dried out corn fields. our first sightings of the draught the middle of the country is suffering. crossing the river into Arkansas, the sir was noticeable more humid, and we saw extensive fields of a bright green reedy grass kind of crop. neither if us were quite sure what it was, but the green was glowing!

as night fell, and we were winding up into the hills, we stopped to get dinner in a small town (Mexican again!) before everything closed down at 9pm).

rolled into the town of mountain home pretty late (after 10+$8. and we were both pooped!

Paris, TN

we were excited to roll into Paris tn, as our road guide told us there was not only a replica Eiffel tower in the town park, but a colossus catfish on the town sign commemorating the "the worlds largest catfish fry". we were a bit suspicious about the data behind that claim, but took our pictures anyhow. ;)

we drove into downtown Paris looking for a little local cafe or restaurant to get some lunch... but were sadly disappointed to find there were none in operation. :( all the restaurant business was fast food and chains on the other side of town by the strip malls. Kate found an online recommendation for the local Mexican place, and it suited us just fine.

land between the lakes, TN

from ft Donaldson, we continued driving west into the "land between the lakes state park". technically it was the lame between the cumberland and Tennessee rivers, which have since been damned and turned into lakes. we barely nicked the bottom if the park, but it was nice to get out and soak our feet in the lake for a moment. the water was fairly warm, and had a bit of slime (I'm a big wuss when it comes to lame slime! ha).

sitting on the dock, I watched egrets wading in the lily pads, and a great heron swooping along the surface of the lake looking for lunch.

speaking of lunch, it was time for us to carry on...

the civil war tour

Fort Donaldson, situated on the Cumberland river, which is now the foot of one of the lakes, was the site of an early and pivotal battle that was an early victory for Ulysses Grant, and the northern troops.

we got there just in time for a short film about the area, which piqued the interest of both Kate and I with a compelling account of the northern campaign to take the three forts on the rivers using assaults from land and river on the iron clad gun boats! in planning the trip, we had many ideas about what to see, but both of us neglected to realize we were traveling smack through the hotbed of civil war history! ha.

a day to deviate from the beaten path

today we decided to ignore the google map assessment of the fastest route into Arkansas, and chart our own course that would take us on some smaller roads, past more rivers and lakes.

leaving Nashville, we headed into the northwest corner to the bottom end of "the land between the lakes" recreation area.

a fortuitously timed need for a pee break landed up at quite an interesting landmark we otherwise would have blown by, Fort Donaldson.

Nashville visit with auntie dee-dee

after our multiple stops throughout the day, we got to Nashville a little later than expected for a visit with my aunt.

it was lovely to see auntie dee-dee, as it has been more than 5 years since I last passed through Nashville and saw her. we caught up briefly at her place, before heading to downtown Nashville to walk around and grab a bite to eat.

on the drive, she recounted the horrific story of how her entire neighborhood was destroyed in the flood a few years back. she lost nearly everything in her place, and it has been a long road rebuilding. her place is mostly back together, but still needs a lot of finishing touches, and furnishings. such a tragedy, but also a warming story of how her community came together to help one another.

downtown, we strolled through the bar/restaurant district, and settled on the big river brewery for dinner. we were all super pleased with the dinners, and tried a few of their beers. the ipa and pilsner were refreshing, but none of us liked their seasonal heff.

it was a really nice visit, and I wish we had had a lot more time to catch up... but Kate and I were pooped from a long day (with an extra hour added for central time), so had to bid her farewell for now. until next time.... :)

p.s. thanks a bunch auntie for the great gift bag of road trip goodies! we munched on them all day today! :)

dinosaur world!

nothing can be a more successful to trap tourists than putting giant sculptures of dinosaurs right at exit ramp for the national park. the idea of dinosaur world was just too silly for us to pass up in our road trip. we are becoming quite the fans of "colossus".

of course, as you suspected, the main attractions were behind a door with a fee that wasn't worth it... but Kate and I had fun poking through the gift shop, and taking silly pictures in the parking lot! ;)

mammoth caves national park

when we finally got to mammoth caves, it was almost 1pm, but we were excited to learn we crossed into the central time zone, giving us back an hour!

we missed the tour going into the caves at noon, but got tickets for the 1pm "new entrance" tour. it was nice to have a little time to sit, eat our sandwiches, fill out a few postcards, and relax for a minute.

they loaded the large tour group onto a bus, and we drove to the entrance to the cave. it was a tiny door in the hillside. we filed in one by one, and descended over 300 steps snaking through cracks in the cavern, until we all reached a large cavern 250'+ under ground. pretty cool!

the rangers stopped us along the way to talk about how the caves were formed, the history of their exploration, and to point out different features. we walked up and down, winding through the passages for close to 2 hours. the first parts were functionally interesting, and the last bit was where water dripping into the caves created awesome formations, including a large one called "frozen niagara".

as with many stops on our trip, the sights and information we took in were really fascinating, and left us wanting more! the pictures don't begin to do it justice. next time i would highly recommend some of the more strenuous tours to get off the beaten path!

bardstown Kentucky - bourbon capital of the world!

being that it was only 10am, and neither Kate or I are terribly fond of bourbon, we decided to take a historical trolley tour around town, opposed to doing a tasting tour.

the tour guide, Paul, was a lovely southern gentleman with a vast knowledge of the history of the town, and the roots of the burbon business. we saw many historic site such as My Old Kentucky Home (for which Paul sang us some if the song about it), as well as Jim Beam's home.

really fun and informative little detour. we hit the gift shop for a few samplers for our burbon loving friends... and we were back in the road headed to mammoth caves.

when in Kentucky...

...you have to sample the Kentucky bourbon! Kate and I were happily driving along the highway, taking in all the rolling horse ranches and plantation homes, when we saw the sign to the bourbon distilleries. can't pass that up right? so we began our morning woth a little detour! ;)

Welcome to Kentucky!

What happens when two Yankee gals find themselves in the beautiful Bluegrass State? They drive until they find a good beer, of course! Happily, the scenery along the way made the trip a pleasure. If you thought we'd had enough of verdant, rolling hills and eroded-but-still-venerable mountains in Virginia and West Virginia, you'd be wrong. Patsy Cline kept us company as we sped along, Robin manning the wheel and me manning (an overstatement, for certain) the iPhone. My task was to locate a bar in the greater Lexington metro area that offered craft beers and a decent meal. The humbly named "The Pub" seemed to offer all the necessities-- plus they claimed to show the Olympics. We made a beeline for it, and Robin enjoyed a Lake Eyrie Monster IPA (Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland) and I tried some kind of local brew made in bourbon barrels (worth sampling but more novel than tasty). Plus, there were gymnasts and wait staff in kilts ( the wait staff, not the gymnasts). Thank you, Kentucky.

crossing west virginia

we spent the day slowly crossing the state of west Virginia. it was rolling, and scenic. we continued to chat and catch up on random things... and just let the view go by while listening to music. all in all, a lot of hours in the car, but nice and mellow.

roadside stop

a co-worker recommended a fun little iPhone app called "roadside America" that is an amazing wealth of little tid bits of things to do and see. seems that many of them are large figures and "statues".

we just happened to drive by one of said stops in western west Virginia... a 20' statue of "minnehaha", wife of Hiawatha. ms. haha had a callipygian figure. (look that one up!!) ;)

harpers ferry, WV

we started the morning with a stop at the harpers ferry national historic site. somehow managed to be there just at 9am when it was opening up, so we were some of the first people to take the shuttle down into the village.

the old town is a cross between preserved colonial town, and gift shop Mecca. it was cool to stroll around by the river, and take in some historic plaques. we then moved along to the john brown museum where we refreshed our civil war history. made a stop at the john brown wax museum, but it was an additional fee, and quite creepy, so we kept moving.

spend a few hours wandering around, then it was time to hit the road!

The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum!

Can you really be a good American until you've completed a cross country road trip? I'm about to find out what I've been missing all of these years on our east and west coasts. Driving into West Virginia felt like traveling somewhere rather than arriving somewhere. Although the landscape isn't remarkably different from the northeast, the cuisine (gargantuan portions, white bread smothered in gravy, bacon in the green beans) leaves no doubt that we've crossed the Mason-Dixon.

I'm looking forward to seeing Harpers Ferry tomorrow and exploring, Kentucky, another state that will be new to me. I hope that I can be a proper co-pilot to Girl Wonder; after all, I have big shoes to fill after Christina's stint in the passenger seat. If we don't end up in Alabama tomorrow, you'll know I've been doing my job.

7 state day!

today we made some good miles, dropped down our of MA, crossed CN, slid through a corner of NY, into PA... and rounded out the day crossing from MD, through a sliced of VA, to end in harpers ferry, WV.

now that we are out of new England, we will have bigger states to explore. we are planning to check out the Harpers Ferry national monument park in the morning.... then haul across WV, into KY. we are aiming for Mammoth Caves the following morning, so we will see what we find along the way, and how far our travels get us tomorrow. stay tuned! :)

1st tourist stop!

we made our first dorky tourist stop at "chocolate world" in Hershey pa. being a mid-summer Sunday afternoon, during a rainstorm.... we unfortunately were not the only ones with this idea. the place was MOBBED!

we waited a short time in line, and went in the free "how chocolate is made@ amusement ride. totally funny little attraction, with singing cows and all (took 2 hours to get the annoying song out of my head! ha).

the tour of course dumps you into the gift shop, but it was so crowded and chaotic that it was not at all enjoyable. :( I tried in vain to find a postcard for 10min, then couldn't stand it anymore! we barely made it out alive... without a single chocolate souvenir. oh well.