I have visited Eureka Springs before but never spent a whole week here. We were still traveling with our friends and so this looked like it would be an amazing time and it was. The first day, we drove around the very hilly, windy town to get our bearings. The road here is through the Ozark Mountains and it had a few expansive vistas and plenty of keep your eyes on the road and slow down moments. We stayed at the Kettle Campground and it is very peaceful and full of mature trees which is always a bonus.
We also made a stop at the Keels Creek Winery which is dog friendly but also full of cats. Our pups did well.
The wine was very good and the tasting experience was excellent. All the grapes are truly grown locally and we bought a bottle of red.
We had our favorite meal of the day, linner (lunch-dinner) at the Balcony Restaurant which is in the Basin Park Hotel. The hotel is one of several historic buildings in town. Eureka Springs is known as the most gay friendly town in Arkansas and you can see signs of that everywhere. When I say gay friendly, I mean a town where LGBT people feel safe to be themselves.
The next day, we started with a ride on the Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railway. We had an awesome conductor and learned a lot of area history. The RR and town had been booming prior to the Great Depression. The appeal of the town had always been the springs. Many believed the water has healing powers and I will tell you more on that later. The best part of the train is that the excursion rides (not the lunch or dinner trains) are dog friendly.
In the afternoon, we drove over to Beaver Lake. We had visited one side of this massive, clear, beautiful lake while in the Bentonville area and now we got to see the best campground which is right at the dam. We picked out the best sites in case we ever camp here in the future.
In the evenings, we played cards while the dogs got to play. So much of Eureka Springs is dog friendly which is a nice after a week of softball. We also ate at Sparky’s Roadhouse Cafe which has an extensive menu and is of course dog friendly. In my next post, I will talk about another historic hotel, the Crescent.
Cuteness Overload Alert!
In the car, they share a booster seat where they are both seat belted in and they seem to love it.