Thursday, August 18, 2016

Quick Weekend Explore

In the weeks following our LOA, we applied to immigration to accept our specific child. The application itself was not at all painful but the duration of time between sending off a piece of paper and receiving another felt like ages. So, to distract, we took a little mini trip. I had not ventured to Eureka Springs since medical school and have a vague recollection of winding streets of charming shops. As we began our ascent into the mountains, the air felt a touch cooler and we were thankful. The mountain scenery opened up to a resort town feel of B & Bs, restaurants, and tours. We turned on on the main street and our first stop was food: Aqaurius Tacqueria fit the bill ever so nicely. We shared Mexican street corn, flavorful salsas, and I tried the grapefruit margarita which was a great blend of sweet and tart.
We anticipated walking off lunch a bit at our next stop - Thorncrown Chapel. It was as beautiful as advertised but only the quickest of walks winding in to it. I expected to feel a rush of peace and tranquility sitting in such architecture that melds in with the surrounding hills (a la churches in the UK) but the forbidding signs of "don't walk here" and "sit, no walking inside the chapel," along with a volunteer to make sure we didn't break any rules kind of prevented that possibility.
After settling into our little cottage for the night,


cute, right? We took off to visit Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge takes in abandoned, unwanted, or abused animals with a focus on big cats. The Refuge is set off on rolling hills and for a moment, I could almost imagine being back at Tenwek:
We took a tour and learned the animals' histories and stuck around for feeding time. It is a peaceful place and while it is unfathomable to imagine the abuse/neglect/disregard that the animals have been through, it is wonderful to experience what kindness can do.

I would highly recommend a trip. Serena had approximately 2000 questions for the poor guide. We all learned from her questions, though!

We ended the day with dinner at Local Flavor, which we also highly recommend!

The next morning we set out for a quick hike around a local lake,
followed by brunch and town exploration:


'Twas a quick trip and we said good bye and we'll be back -
Off then to explore a little of the Buffalo River, which did bring the peace and tranquility as mentioned above:


We checked out camp grounds for future ideas and Kyle's Landing was definitely the top pick. Are we crazy to hoping to go camping this fall with a 2 year old? Time shall tell.

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