’Cause I Said So : ‘Cause I said so
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
It's summertime; time for swimming pools, cook outs, church camps, and summer vacations. For a while, my family has been planning our vacation. While in Eureka Springs this past December for my little sister's wedding, we took note of all of the tourist-y sites that we had never been to.
One son noted the Turpentine Creek big cat rescue; the other was excited about all the caves advertised around town.
I had already picked up on all the antique stores and flea markets while David was attracted to the many outdoor opportunities available.
So we decided that this summer was a perfect chance to spend some time in and around Eureka Springs.
In November, we were fortunate enough to get to spend a week in San Diego with the understanding that this trip would take the place of the summer vacations both before and after. But, knowing that the only way to really relax when you have vacation time off is to get away from home, we started weighing our less expensive options. We have several cabins in the area that have been made available to us by gracious friends and family and ended up choosing my uncle's cabin on the Kings River because of the easy access to Eureka Springs and, of course, Glendon would be fishing at some point.
On Tuesday I was ready to go. I had picked the most interesting tourist attractions, chose the most direct routes to conserve gas, shopped for groceries, and all that was left was loading up after work on Wednesday and heading off. Unfortunately, that's where my plans went out the window and the adventures (or rather misadventures ) began …
Wednesday afternoon David called from work to say that the power was out and he wasn't able to get his work done and would have to stay late. No problem, I had a meeting at church so I would just meet him at home and we would leave an hour or so late. Wrong ! At 9: 30, David came dragging home. We discussed the options of leaving Thursday morning or my "wise"suggestion was to leave now and then we can just "wake up in the morning and we'll be on vacation !"
So, without an extra inch of room to spare, two excited boys, and two exhausted parents, we headed to Berryville at 10: 30 pm.
The drive was pretty uneventful.
At least traffic isn't much of a problem after bedtime ! What a relief to turn onto the little dirt driveway leading to the cabin.
It was 1 a.m. and we were ready for a good night's sleep.
We rounded the bend marking the last half mile when David stopped suddenly.
We stared in bewilderment at the road ahead. It couldn't be ! Construction crews at a neighbor's farm had driven heavy equipment down the muddy lane and left enormous, impassible ruts for several yards.
Helplessly, David got out to assess the situation, and with a look of defeat declared that the road was impassible.
We had to weigh our options and decided the "best"one was to go back home and make a plan B after some sleep. David didn't have much to say on the three hour drive home, I'm sure that he doubted his sanity by following my wise "leave at night"plan.
To make a long story short (if it's not too late ), we were able to leave Friday morning in a borrowed truck. We enjoyed Quigley's Castle, Cosmic Caverns, and Turpentine Creek.
We were even lucky enough to have my uncle show us some of the lesser known nature sites in the area.
In years to come, I don't know if we'll remember the attractions, but I know we'll never forget the adventure !
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