In which we take overnight trip, or can we get there from here?

Along time ago Richard got a brochure for Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and it looked like a fun place to visit. So we, finally, did plan an overnight trip there earlier in the week. We got out the maps and looked at where we were, and looked at where Eureka Springs is – 165 miles way -- and concluded that we couldn’t get there from here.

Of course we did. It just took a bit of careful plotting on the map. One leaves highway 65, the 4-lane near Branson, and gets off on 2-lane Missouri 86 and then the fun begins. One turns left and right a couple times to stay on Missouri 86, and blesses God that the stop sign one’s husband totally does not see is a 4-way and no other cars happened to be stopped (especially one of those with a light on top of the roof), and then there is a left turn on Missouri P and then a right turn on Arkansas 23 and as the narrow highway leads one farther into the countryside, one realizes that one does not need to pay big bucks to go to an amusement park and be hurled along a metal track for a thrill a minute. No indeed. It would not surprise me at all if the designers of thrill rides had not at one time been driven very fast over the old roads that wind their way through the Ozark mountains.

We enjoyed our mini-vacation. Eureka Springs is an artsy place, and here and there is public art. I am especially fond sculpture that is created from junk.

And I sat down in front of these gentlemen to have my picture taken but they got left out of the picture.

Normally he does not agree to let me take his picture. But he was agreeable on this trip.

The town is filled with lots of interesting little shops and galleries, and I saw a poster that brought back amazing memories. I graduated from high school in June 1967, and these were the bands that were beginning to make music history that year.

 Monterey was a few hours up the coast from where we lived. An aunt who I loved very much lived near Monterey, and I think she went to that festival.

We did not take in any of the tourist attractions, but had a very good time walking around and gawking and eating interesting food. We bought passes on the trolly that drives around the town.

And relaxing. Both of us have been so focused on work – especially Richard – that we have forgotten how to relax together as a couple. And we don’t do spontaneous very well either.

But this time we had almost two full days of being spontaneous and not working. It was like a switch was flipped in the back of Richard’s head. We actually did things that were not planned. If we passed something interesting, we stopped and turned around and drove back to look at it. It was quite a lot of fun.

We were going to drive straight back home in the morning after our night in the quietest motel I believe I have ever slept in...

but we did not drive straight back. In a day or two, I will write about day 2, which was just about as much fun as day 1.