Its been 2 weeks, 3 destinations, and one Grandpa since I wrote a blog entry last.
We had a great time in Arkansas. The house was incredible. It was perched on a steep hillside looking down on the frozen waters of Beaver Lake. In the mornings you could hear and watch the birds singing in the trees tops, and because of the way the house sat on the hillside the birds were at horizontal eye level for us. In the evenings we would see other wildlife like the 9 banded Armadillo and deer. It was a needed little piece of heaven after some of the last few weeks dealing with the car, weather, and AirBnB troubles.
While there we were able to spend a good amount of time with Krystals Aunt Brandy. She showed us around the lake, took us to see where Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas all come together. You could occupy space in 3 states at once there. We also got to visit the home of the first Walmart as well. One day while we were working she took Lance and Ava to go see the University of Arkansas and Razorback Stadium. Lance said he may want to go to school there someday. NWA as the locals call it, is a beautiful area and I could see myself going back to visit again. With a bit of sadness we left Springdale but our next stop was Plainville, AR where I would meet my Maternal Grandfather for the first time.
We didn't know it at the time, but we would be driving into a Thunderstorm. We knew to expect rain and some lighting but what we got was a downpour, lightning and deafening thunder. It was awesome! Fortunately the weather held out until after I met my Grandpa, but not much longer after stepping into his home. While sitting and talking, looking at family pictures the rain poured off the roof and the thunder shook the house. We took pictures and told stories made some plans for next year maybe and headed back out into the storm. Between Plainville and Hot Springs goes up over some large mountains by Arkansas standards. At one point we had to go around 2 trees almost completely blocking the road. The rain was coming down so hard my wipers couldn't keep up and we found ourselves watching for large pools of water in the road to make sure we don't splash too hard and hydrolock the engine. While many might be concerned it made me feel like I was back home in Oregon, it was a strange sense of normal for a the better part of an hour. Without too much trouble we got through the worst of it and pulled into the hotel in Hot Springs. After checking in we watched from the window as unsuspecting cars hit a deep puddle of water as the water still poured down, sometimes at speeds of 30 mph or more, splashing water 20 feet in the air in all directions. Eventually we were all hungry so we went to the Superior Bathhouse which happens to be a brewery these days and serves beer made from the water that comes right out of the ground. It is in fact the only brewery in the US that resides inside of a national park. We had some incredible food and drinks. Lance and Ava enjoyed an amazing house made rootbeer and we headed back to the hotel. Within minutes of flipping on the television we learned we had been in a Tornado Warning all evening, but strangely no one was concerned. Historically speaking only 1 tornado has ever visited Hot Springs. We did call the front desk at the hotel to find out what we should do in the event of a tornado. Fun Fact, you go stand by the elevator on the first floor. If the hotel was fully booked I don't know what the other 200 people in the hotel would do because there was only room for about 20 people, really only 10 if I decided to go down there naked. I guess I should write an email to Comfort Inn about this....
Hot Springs Arkansas is a town surrounded by a national park and smothered in history. I know you are going to ask, "Why do they call it Hot Springs?", well let me tell you... the town is sitting on 47 Hot Springs that flow out of the western slope of the town at a rate of approx 1 million gallons a day. It is documented that Native American people inhabited the area and used the water for the therapeutic properties until the Europeans arrived. In 1818 the land was ceded by the Quapaw to the United States as part of a Treaty. In 1819 Arkansas became its own Territory and in 1820 the Hot Springs area and surrounding mountains were placed under federal protection. In 1832 the Springs themselves were given their own designation with federal protection of the waters and in 1921 the springs and water were all designated a National Park.
Over the years some other interesting things happened there as well. During the Civil War in 1862 Hot Springs AR became the temporary state capitol since Little Rock Arkansas was occupied by Union forces. In the Early 20th century Hot Springs was also known for its baseball training camps. At one point Babe Ruth was there and hit a home run into the alligator farm and petting zoo, an estimated 573ft. Another notable visitor to Hot Springs is Gangster Al Capone who enjoyed staying in the Arlington Hotel and was said to rent out the entire floor when he would come to stay. The area was quite popular in the early 20th century and there are still multiple historic bathouses which lease the water from the park to provide therapeutic baths and massages/spa treatments. During World War 1 there was a "State of the Art Hospital" that was built in the center of town that could house 500 patients as well as provide training for doctors. This facility stayed open until 1960 when demand dropped and was sold to the state of Arkansas for $1 dollar. Arkansas now uses the building as a Career Training Institute. Though we were not in a place to indulge in any of the spa treatments we did walk the "Bathhouse Row" and visit the Grand Promenade which sits below the old Army/Navy Hospital.
The drive to Memphis is uneventful, no national parks or monuments off the freeway anywhere close. We did stop off and visit the capitol building in Little Rock. It looks much like Oregon or Oklahoma City's capitol. Not quite as big as Sacramento but still quite stately. The drive from Little Rock to Memphis was flat farmland cut up into tree lines parcels. Largely unremarkable. The first real landmark is in the last 20 minutes when you cross into Tennessee and go over the mighty Mississippi.
Memphis felt dirty and run down. We had hoped that by the time we got to our house that we would maybe be in a better part of town, but for the most part all the areas we drove through had garbage laying by the sidewalk, couches in the front yards, and broken down cars in the driveways. We were told by the host there are better parts of town to stay in but unfortunately for us we were stuck. The first night after getting our groceries we were trying to settle in when we hear what think was a gunshot followed by sirens which we could see go down the end of the road. Krystal called the local police precinct non emergency number to see if they could confirm or deny and here is what they said.
Ya this isn't a safe area
If it was a gunshot I couldn't tell you
Don't worry, most shootings are targeted
at specific individuals
So with that we hunkered down and made plans to leave as early as we could, which happened to be Saturday. This was ok because it allowed us to break up the drive to Laurel over 2 days which meant we can have a night in Tupelo, MS. This town is known for 2 things. The Tupelo Civil War Battle and the Birthplace of Elvis. While we intended on going to Graceland in Memphis, this was $350 for all 4 of us to go, so we were happy to pivot and plan a night in Tupelo instead which let us see some Elvis stuff for free... With this plan in place we decided to go to the Memphis Visitors Center located at Mud Island. Mud Island is a sediment collection that began to grow 120 years ago into the Peninsula it is today (not actually an island) and now homes an amazing park. It sits in the Mississippi River and has an amphitheater, boat ramps, museum, restaurants, and a smaller scale 3D representation of the Mississippi River that still ends up spanning 5 Blocks at a scale of 1" = 8ft. The visitors center was informative and they gave us some nice gift bags with masks, hand sanitizer, as well as general visitor information. We also spent an evening visiting the Bass Pro Shop which sits inside a pyramid shaped building with a freestanding elevator in the center that takes you to a restaurant at the top which is about 250 ft above the ground. On our last day we visited Beale St in the morning, but I think this one is best visited at night. Beale St for those not in the know is like a small version of Fremont St in Vegas. Its blocked off from traffic and lined in restaurants that have live music and food. While Memphis is a place that many may quite enjoy, this is not a place you will catch us in again anytime soon. We were happy to be on the road to Mississippi.
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