San Antonio: Sea World

Good news: We made it to Sea World!

Bad news: We got there over an hour after the park opened. Closing time: 6:00 p.m.

Good news: Daddy had pre-purchased tickets online, so we didn't have to wait in line to get ours. We were able to go right through the turnstile.

Bad news: Instead of planning our day around the shows we wanted to see, we just went here and there willy-nilly and ended up missing out on a few shows and exhibits.

Good news: In spite of all that, we had a blast! I'm ready to go back!

In a nutshell:
1. The Budweiser Clydesdales are beautiful! And HUGE!

2. We fed the dolphins some fish and tried our best to pet them, but they were just always out of reach. I think maybe Melissa got to touch one. I couldn't lean across the wall very far because my purse would've gone splashing into the tank, and I didn't want to set it down and risk losing it or getting it wet. Otherwise I think I would've been able to reach one. Maybe next time...

3. Shamu's show Believe was good, but not as great as the show I remember seeing as a child. I really wanted to see the trainers swim with the orcas. Still it was good seeing how the whales and their trainers interacted.

4. Rio Loco is great! We all got soaked at the waterfall. Luckily we had enough foresight to rent a locker to stash our stuff so it would be nice and dry. It was the boys' first theme park ride and they loved it. Jacob was scared to get on at first and was fighting me when it was time to get in our raft, but my dad picked him up and he settled right down. In the end, though, he wanted to ride again.

5. Daddy made friends with a macaw, who bobbed up and down every time he shook out his wet handkerchief.

6. We all liked Viva! better than Believe. Dolphins and belugas jumped and did flips while divers dove from scary heights and acrobats performed on wires and rings above the water. A diving clown also provided some comic relief.

7. There were a lot of places to choose our lunch, but we didn't want to venture halfway across the park to find something. We found something near where we were and really enjoyed our food. The boys got kids' meals in plastic Shamu lunch boxes, but they didn't eat much because of all the excitement. Daddy got a tasty-looking Caesar salad with grilled chicken. The rest of us got "healthy" bacon cheeseburgers and fries. Mmmmmm-mmmm good! We had some watermelon slices for a fresh, cool dessert.

8. The boys had a lot of fun playing at Shamu's Happy Harbor. There was a huge rope net for climbing, all sorts of tunnels and bridges and slides, a ship, some sandboxes, and several scaled-down versions of adult rides. The boys rode their first roller coaster - Shamu Express - and Caleb was hooked. He also liked riding the Paint Mixer with my dad. He loves anything that spins really fast! Jacob's favorite ride was one that went up and down really fast. They spent a long time playing at the harbor with my parents in tow.

9. While the boys played at the harbor, my sisters and I went to ride The Great White: "Texas' first inverted steel roller coaster! You'll dangle your legs from ski-lift-style seats and go heels-over-head five times during more than 2,500 feet of breathtaking loops, corkscrews and other thrilling maneuvers at speeds of almost 50 mph!" I was nervous at first because I can't remember the last time I rode a coaster. But it was so much fun, we ended up riding three times in a row. After our last time, we thought we knew what "shaken baby syndrome" feels like.

10. Melissa went back to Shamu's Happy Harbor while Lindsay and I went through the penguin exhibit. It was really cool and colorful inside, but the smell wasn't that great.

11. We were running out of time, so after the boys finished riding a few more rides and climbing the nets, we headed back toward the entrance/exit to visit the shark aquarium and the coral reef. It was really relaxing being inside the coolness again, and we got to see all sorts of fish. One of the medium-sized fish had a large chunk bitten out of its back. We saw another one with a similar-looking scar. Guess they don't feed their sharks enough... :o)

12. Almost as an afterthought, we realized we needed to find a souvenir shop. The boys had seen stuffed Shamus and each wanted one. I wanted to find some T-shirts for us. Then I remembered I wanted to get some playing cards. We had to go to three different shops before we found those! (My mom and sisters and I collect playing cards. Comes in really handy for playing Nerts, where everyone needs a different-looking deck. It also makes it easy to sort out the cards after a game of Nines.)

We left just as the park was closing at 6:00 p.m. The next day, it was going to start staying open until 8:00 p.m. We could've really used those extra two hours, but we were exhausted. Our clothes had dried out and the boys were getting a little grumpy. And we were getting really hot.

After we got back to the hotel, we went for a dip in the pool, then went out to Chick-Fil-A for supper. (We found it this time.) After we got back from there, we all got together for a short game of Nines before heading to bed.

Enjoy these pictures of our Sea World adventure.

San Antonio: Downtown

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at McDonald's, then headed downtown for the day. We found a good spot in a parking garage near the River Center Mall and hoofed it around downtown most of the day.

Our first stop was a boat tour of the San Antonio River - right in the middle of town. (See the slide show below for more pics from the day.) It was really beautiful, the ride was relaxing, and our tour guide was pretty humorous. Lindsay had been on this tour a few months earlier and she told us a few of the jokes the guide was likely to make. She was right. At one point on the tour, our guide asked if anyone had had a birthday recently - either the week before, the current week, or the next week. We all pointed to Daddy and the guide asked him his name. "Daddy!" he replied. The guide and all the other tourists on the boat got a kick out of that. Then the guide said, "No, what's your name really? We can't all sing "Happy Birthday, Daddy". That would be weird." So Daddy told him his name and we all sang happy birthday to him. He was quite embarrassed. Then the guide started asking about recent or upcoming anniversaries. Mama's & Daddy's had been the week before, so he congratulated them on their 40 years together.

After the boat ride, we walked through the mall headed for the Alamo. As we came off an escalator onto an upper floor, we had to pass by several kiosks. One guy on the end was watching everyone come off the escalator. He eyed us one by one, then he did a double-take and his eyes lit up when he saw me. He started asking me a question, but I couldn't hear him and shook my head no. Melissa turned around and told me that he wanted to straighten my hair. When I looked back, I saw he had a kiosk full of flat irons. I then caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. The wind blew through my hair a lot on the boat ride and it had really fluffed out. My hair looked Texas big. And of course it's really curly. I laughed at the thought of that guy spending two hours straightening my hair, because there's no way I'd let him do just one little lock of it. (Mama and Lindsay once took turns straightening my hair. It took at least two hours - and you can believe I left it like that for a day or two.) There's no way that guy would've been able to sell me a flat iron. Yes, sometimes I'd really like to have straight hair, but I also really like what I have. And anyway, I've got better things to do than spend a couple of hours trying to straighten out what God has chosen to curl.

We finally made it to the Alamo. It's weird, this old historical site right smack-dab in the middle of downtown. The buildings around the Alamo are really picturesque. And the landscaping around them is very beautiful. Relaxing. Our Alamo tour was short; the boys weren't interested in it. I tried to tell Caleb some about the battle there, but I realized I didn't know that much about it. I'm not up on my Texas history...

By now, it was after noon and the boys were hungry. We made our way back through town and along the river to Casa Rio, where we sat under a bridge along the river and had lunch. There were several ducks in the water and the boys were having fun feeding them chips. Shortly after we were seated, a tour boat cruised by. It wasn't our tour guide, but we started watching for him. Daddy had the idea to yell out, "Hey, it's Daddy!" whenever he saw him. Before too much longer, his boat came by. He saw Daddy first and yelled and waved. Daddy waved back and said, "It's Daddy!" The tour guide laughed and turned to explain the joke to his passengers. Before we finished eating, he came back by again and did the same thing.

While we were eating, we noticed some people at the table next to us who looked like they belonged to Warren Jeffs' polygamist cult from Eldorado, TX. The women and girls had the elaborate braids and rolls and sweeps of hair, and their dresses were long with long sleeves that buttoned along the wrist and big, square collars. Some of the other ladies were dressed in a more contemporary style, and one was even wearing something casual like jeans or capris. Maybe some were from the sect and the others were more mainstream LDS they had been placed with... The children were standing near the railing next to Daddy's chair. I guess they were too close to Caleb and Jacob because one of the ladies sternly told the girls to move away. Later Lindsay was taking pictures of Mama and Daddy across the table. The same lady who had scolded the little girls rudely asked Lindsay who she was taking pictures of. When she said she was taking pictures of Mama and Daddy, the lady looked at her as if to say, "Yeah, right." Lindsay offered to let her see the pictures, but she just shook her head. A few minutes later, she was standing at the railing by the little girls, ordering some people across the river to stop taking pictures. I think she even stuck her hands in front of the girls' faces to keep them from being photographed. They left the restaurant the same time we did, but they hung back to talk in small groups. Once we got on the other side of the river, Melissa took Lindsay's camera and deliberately photographed them.

We strolled along the river back to the mall and the parking garage, then drove a few blocks away to the San Antonio Children's Museum. We probably would have been better off leaving our car in the first parking garage because we ended up walking several blocks from our second parking garage to the museum. At first it didn't look like much. But as you went from one level to the next and wound your way along the paths, there were several fun things that all of us enjoyed. One highlight was the pin wall. We took turns pressing our hands and faces through and watching everyone's profiles appear. Another fun thing was playing the blue screen drums. You would stand in front of a blue screen while your image was captured on camera. Then a variety of drums would appear on the monitor. To play the drums, you'd have to reach and stretch and contort all sorts of ways. Daddy took a really great video of Melissa and Lindsay doing this. I have a copy of it, but I promised not to post it online. If you're ever in the vicinity of my computer, I'd love to show it to you, though! :o)

We were exhausted when we got back to the hotel, and the pool looked really inviting. When we went out, there were only 2 people there. After about 15 or 20 minutes, about 10 or so more people (mostly kids) came out. Thankfully they didn't do too much splashing and we were able to enjoy ourselves. Later we changed clothes and headed out for supper.

Melissa and Lindsay decided to stay at the hotel. Melissa had leftovers from lunch the day before (Mmmmm... Schlotzsky's), but Lindsay wanted us to bring something back for her. We sat in the hotel parking lot and decided where we wanted to eat. I called Lindsay on her cell phone to get her order while Daddy programmed Chick-Fil-A into his GPS, then off we went. Unfortunately there was construction and we missed the road. In order to go back, we would have to cross over the interstate, drive way back the other way, cross over again, and come back - hopefully not missing the road again. We decided to find a Burger King instead. I called Lindsay back on her cell phone while Daddy programmed Burger King into his GPS, then off we went. "Lori", as his GPS is affectionately known, had us going in circles. "Turn right." "Turn right." "Turn right." "Turn right." Again and again. I thought of the GPS jokes I've heard on a few sitcoms and couldn't help but start laughing. Finally we got out of the loop and found a Wendy's. I called Lindsay on her cell phone to get order, laughing because of our predicament. I assured her we were getting food from Wendy's because we had actually found one and were sitting in the parking lot.

The trip back to the hotel was a whole lot shorter than the trip out! We didn't realize how close we were. I got the boys in our room and ready for bed. I set a time limit and if they were all ready for bed before time ran out, I promised to play a game of Nines with them. They love that game! We all crashed shortly after.

Here are some pictures from our downtown adventures.

San Antonio: Visiting Family

We were in a bit of a rush after leaving Natural Bridge Caverns. We still had to get to San Antonio and check into our hotel before visiting some of Mama's cousins at their home. They had invited us for a Mexican dinner and swimming at 5:30, but we were running a bit late.

Around 6:00, we pulled up to their Spanish-style house. It's very unique; I wish I had thought to take a picture. I think the front door was like a huge piece of textured, amber-colored glass, with a wood frame around the edges. Off to the right was an enclosed courtyard with a lot of Spanish tile accents. The inside of the house was really pretty. It was very spacious and had ceramic tile floors. The backyard had a pool with a diving board and a cabana.


C. E. (Mama's first cousin) and his wife Mary have lived there for over 30 years. (When I first saw C. E., I was struck by how much he looked like my grandfather, his uncle.) Their daughter Katherine and two of her children, Jack (now 7) and Willie (4 months), were there to meet us. (Their son Keith - one of my Facebook friends - is a missionary dentist in Liberia. He and his wife have two daughters and an adopted son from Liberia.) C. E.'s sister Margie and her husband Marshall were there, too.

After greetings and introductions, we snacked on some chips and salsa, then the boys headed out to the pool with Jack, who swims like a fish! Caleb was really impressed with Jack's swimming skills - cannonballs, dives, etc. He braved the water in his floaties and eventually got comfortable enough to venture into the deep end of the pool. Jacob jumped into the shallow water with his floaties on, went under and came back up, then proceeded to get out of the pool for the rest of the evening. He spent all his time sitting on the side, splashing anyone within reach. He wasn't thrilled about getting splashed back.

Supper was great! There were two kinds of salad, Spanish rice, beans, and an enchilada casserole. For dessert, there were some of the best brownies I've ever eaten. Margie told us she used a box mix and added Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Yum! Oh, and there was some homemade orange sherbet, which was also really good. We ate entirely too much!

We sat around the table and visited until Katherine and her boys left. Then Lindsay and I went into the pool with Caleb. We took turns splashing Jacob (who was firmly perched on the side of the pool) and getting splashed back. We had "noodle wars" with the pool noodles, blowing water at each other (and at Jacob) through them. The boys were impressed that Lindsay and I could dive off the diving board and swim underwater. We stayed in the pool until nearly 9:00, then changed into dry clothes for the drive back to the hotel.

C. E. had hurt his back earlier on a deep-sea fishing expedition and was going into the hospital the next morning to have some sort of procedure done. There were some problems and he ended up not having the surgery until that afternoon. A few days later, he was still in a lot of pain. Mama called me Thursday evening to let me know that he had been taken back to the hospital because his organs were shutting down. They did a bone marrow test and confirmed that his cancer had returned after five years of remission. It was all through his body. He was put on morphine to ease the pain while his family gathered. Keith and his family got in Saturday night. C. E. died early this afternoon. They said he didn't know Keith was there, but I have a feeling he did.

San Antonio: Natural Bridge Caverns

On our way into San Antonio, we stopped off to tour Natural Bridge Caverns. This was an educational experience for Caleb; he had learned about caves earlier this year in earth science. He really enjoyed getting to see firsthand some of the things we had only read about.

We didn't have to wait long for the next tour after getting our tickets. Seven minutes later, we were headed down a steep ramp to the mouth of the cave. Once there, our guide told us about the history of the cave and gave instructions about walking through it. We thought we were going to enjoy a cool 70-degree walk in the dark, but the cave has a 99% humidity level and we were sweating in no time.

There were several large rooms inside the cave, as well as many steep, narrow passages. The formations were beautiful. The pictures we took don't do them justice. There were a few water pools and streams running through the cave, but there wasn't much water in them since there hasn't been much rain lately. Last August, there had been so much rain that one of the tour rooms was two-thirds full of water. Tours during that time had to be diverted onto a higher path.

We didn't see any bats while we were there, but there was evidence that they had lived there at one time. Aside from the bat guano in at least two of the cave rooms, there were dark patches on the cave ceiling where the dirt and oils from their bodies had discolored the rock. No formations will grow there now.

There was also one lone fern growing in the cave. Apparently a spore had been taken in somehow, and 40 years ago, when the cave was being made ready for tourists, a light happened to be place near it. It provided just enough light for it to begin growing. It's not very big - or very pretty - but it's there.

Enjoy some of my favorite photos from Natural Bridge Caverns.

13 Places I've Visited

This is the first official "themed" Thursday Thirteen, which I like because so many times I can't come up with a topic. Other times I can come up with a topic, but not 13 things about it.

So to welcome the travel season - or at least the planning phase of it - here are 13 places I've visited (in no particular order).

1. Gatlinburg, TN
This is my absolute favorite place. I love the coolness of the Smoky Mountains, the strenuous mountain hikes, the roar of the waterfall at the end of the trail. I learned to ice skate at Ober Gatlinburg, and now I wish I had attempted the luge. I was too chicken last time I was there - over 10 years ago! It was Thanksgiving then, and things were beautiful! Snow had just fallen in the mountains as we were getting into them. The town was twinkling with Christmas lights. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Ruby Tuesday because Ogle's Family Buffet was closed.

I first went there with my grandparents when I was a "tween" and another time or two as a teenager. I went with my parents and sisters when I was a freshman in college. Billy and I made a few trips out there after we were married. I'd love to go again, though I'm sure it has changed quite a bit.

2. Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga is another place I love! When my grandparents took me the first time, I remember going to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Billy and I explored the trains and shops once when we were there.

Probably my two favorite things to do there are touring Ruby Falls and seeing Rock City, as many old barn roofs in the state encourage you to do.

3. Santa Fe, NM
This was our last big vacation together, 10 years ago this summer. It was also my first time out west. The drive through west TX was extremely boring, but Santa Fe was really pretty. I loved all the adobe construction. One of my favorite things was seeing and learning about the Miraculous Staircase at the Loretto Chapel.

We toured the Puye Cliff Dwellings and the Bandelier National Monument and went out to the San Ildefonso Pueblo to look at Maria Martinez' pottery. One afternoon we headed out to Los Alamos and visited the Bradbury Science Museum.

4. Carlsbad, NM
After leaving Santa Fe, we headed south to Carlsbad. Along the way, we came to a place where we could travel through Roswell or Alamogordo. Since neither Billy nor I are huge alien conspiracy fans, we opted to travel on to the White Sands National Monument. That was a really interesting stop, and the sand was beautiful, though blinding.

The drive into Carlsbad was long, but scenic. Not at all like I envisioned southeastern NM. Carlsbad Caverns were wonderful! I've always loved caves, and this one didn't disappoint. My favorite part, though, was watching the bat flight at sunset. I was amazed at how many bats live in the cave and fly out every night. I didn't think the last ones would ever get out! After a while, it looked like a column of smoke spiraling into the darkening sky.

5. Houston, TX
Billy and I took a long weekend trip here once. I remember the traffic was horrific! The two highlights were touring the USS Texas battleship and NASA's Johnson Space Center. They had various Apollo 13 movie memorabilia on display when we were there.

6. Destin, FL
It's been ages since I was here last! I guess maybe it was with my high school youth group? I went a few times as a teen with my parents and sisters, and maybe once with my grandparents. It's a typical beach town, from what I can remember. Condos and hotels, along with private residences and a few seafood restaurants, line the beaches. Across the highway, there are endless other restaurants, hotels, and tourist shops.

I remember one year when we drove into town, there was a shark-fishing tournament going on. There was a hammerhead shark hanging from a crane, but I don't know if it was real or just a tourist gimmick. I mainly remember being really intrigued by it; I've found sharks extremely interesting ever since I was a little girl.

I remember another time when I went there with my parents... We were driving into Fort Walton Beach, just minutes away from our "destin"ation, when Daddy got pulled over by the police. My sisters and I were immediately alert, watching and wondering what in the world was going on. The officer said he was speeding, but Daddy insisted he was driving with the flow of traffic. He was so mad about getting that ticket! He swore up and down (and probably still does) that it was only because he had an out-of-state license plate. According to the ticket, he was supposed to appear in court on whatever date, after we would've been back home. He said they'd be glad to get his money however it got there, so he mailed it instead. I don't think he's been back since... (Have you, Daddy?)

I'm not much of a beach person anymore. I used to love getting a tan. (Now I prefer to be pale all year long - not interested in skin cancer, thank you.) I also used to like to body surf. (After my last beach experience in Destin, I got stung across the back by a jellyfish. Two consecutive years when I went to the beach at South Padre Island in TX on mission trips, there was too much drama with rip tides and a life-saving human chain, a stingray, and a shark. I stayed out of the water on those trips and haven't been to the beach since.)

7. Orlando, FL
This is another place I've been to several times. On one trip there with my grandparents, my cousin Eric and I grumbled about it raining every day in the "Sunshine State". Still, we had fun at Walt Disney World, Sea World (where we ran into some friends!), and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. We also toured an alligator farm.

Several years later, Epcot opened and I got to go there with my parents and sisters. I don't remember going to the space center that year...

8. Washington, D.C.
I think this may have been one of the first trips my grandparents took me on. I must have been about 7 years old. I remember going up in the Washington Monument, walking along the reflection pool, walking around the Lincoln Memorial, seeing the Capitol and The White House, and touring the Smithsonian Institute.

9. Hot Springs, AR
I can't count the number of times I've been here. My grandparents took me several times, and Billy and I went there on our honeymoon. (We stayed at DeGray Lake.) You can read about our most recent Hot Springs trip here.

10. Eureka Springs, AR/Branson, MO
I went here with grandparents, with my church youth group, and with Billy (though we skipped out on Branson). I always loved looking for The Christ of the Ozarks from wherever I happened to be. The Passion Play was really good; I went twice, I think. I always loved walking around the curvy, hilly streets of Eureka Springs and seeing all the Victorian-style homes. I always imagined what it would be like to live in one. Silver Dollar City in Branson was always a highlight.

When Billy and I were in Eureka Springs, we found a great little Italian restaurant (whose name escapes me) where we ate fresh roasted garlic on hot, buttered bread. It was scrumptious! I got the waiter to tell me how to cook the garlic. Since then, I've only made it once. I need to do that again!

11. Mobile, AL
I mostly stopped here with my grandparents as we were passing through on our way to FL. I always loved going on the tours of the U.S.S. Alabama (battleship) and the U.S.S. Drum (submarine). I remember it was always fun riding through a tunnel near Mobile Bay on our way there.

12. Galveston, TX
This was probably the first real vacation I actually remember. I was 5 or 6 years old. My parents had an old white VW van, complete with kitchenette and fold-down table. I recall sitting at the "kitchen table", coloring away in my coloring book, while Daddy drove us to the beach. I can't remember if my cousin Marsha went with us or not, but I seem to recall her being with us. We camped on the beach, our tent pitched next to the van, I think. I definitely remember two things from that trip: getting the worst sunburn of my life, and seeing a dead baby shark washed up on the beach. That was my first encounter with a shark. I wanted to touch it to see what it felt like, but the little area around it was taped off. And so began my childhood infatuation with sharks.

13. Atlanta, GA
Yet another place I've visited many times. Stone Mountain was always my favorite place to go. I loved touring the antebellum homes and going up the mountain. I remember being so afraid the first time I went up in the cable car. I was afraid of heights. (I used to be afraid of mountains, afraid that I would somehow drop right off. I was always relieved beyond words when we would get back on "the ground" again. Now the mountains are my favorite place to be.)

One year we all went there with Daddy for a week-long class he had to take for work. We spent the day at the hotel, shooting pool in the game room or swimming. When he'd get back in the afternoon, we'd strike out somewhere. One of my favorite restaurants there was Lettuce Souprise You - a monster buffet of salad, soup, and bakery items. That's where I had my first chocolate chip muffin. Yum!

There are so many other places I've been, but I've taken up enough space for now... :o)

Which of these places have you been to? Where else have you been?

Road Trip!

Since the boys were gone last week and Billy had Good Friday off work, we decided to take a quick trip to Hot Springs, AR. We left Thursday afternoon and made it there about 4 1/2 hours later.

The Hotel
I highly recommend staying at a Holiday Inn Express. Our room was clean, spacious, and came with a mini-fridge and free wireless internet. The free hot breakfast is pretty good, too! The first morning I ate a biscuit with sausage and gravy - a little heavier than normal since we were going to be hiking on Hot Springs Mountain. The second morning I went lighter - a toasted English muffin with butter and seedless blackberry jam. Yum! Other offerings included fried eggs (Friday morning), scrambled eggs (Saturday morning), cinnamon rolls, bagels, toast, yogurt, cereal, bananas, boiled eggs, and applesauce. Drink choices included water, milk, coffee, and apple, orange, and cranberry juices.

We had planned to pick up a burger or something from a nearby fast food restaurant when we got into town because we wanted to be sure we were in our room to watch LOST. But as we pulled in to the hotel parking lot, we saw a Bennigan's located right in front of the hotel. After checking in, we walked over to place our order. We figured it would be ready to pick up by the time we had unloaded our luggage. The lady who took our order said they deliver to our hotel and the one on the other side of the restaurant, so we took her up on it. We ordered our burgers and fries, went back to our room, and enjoyed watching some of Miss Guided while we waited for our addiction to begin. After half an hour, Billy called the restaurant to see why our order was taking so long. Whoever he talked with said, "She's going out the door right now." A few minutes later, our food arrived.

The Hike
We left the hotel before 8:00 a.m., headed to Wal-Mart to buy a few gallons of drinking water so we could fill up our hydration bladders in our backpacks. We wandered around the store a while since it was still a little early, then finally headed to the checkout. Not long after that, we were pulling into the parking garage in downtown Hot Springs. Thinking parking was still free, we didn't carry any quarters with us, but as we pulled into the building, we saw a notice that it was now paid parking. We rummaged around and found a few quarters to feed the meter while we walked around downtown trying to find somewhere that was open and would give us change. We ended up in the lobby of the Arlington Hotel, where we bought a roll of quarters. We walked back to the garage, gathered all our gear for our hike, and fed our meter enough quarters to last until 5:00 p.m.

We stopped off at the visitor's center to get trail maps, then headed toward Arlington Lawn and the trailhead. I thought I was going to do okay starting off. I mean I walked a mile in 17 minutes just a few days before. I wasn't taking into consideration the incline, whereas the track I walk on every week is f.l.a.t. I was huffing and puffing halfway up the incline, and this was just the first five minutes! Thankfully the whole hike wasn't that steep! From Peak Trail (our starting point), we connected with Hot Springs Mountain Trail. After a while, we found a bench and sat down to have a snack. I had noticed that my jeans felt a little heavy, like they were sliding down, but I couldn't imagine why. When I stood up from the bench and started to put my backpack back on, I realized my hydration bladder was leaking. This was the first time it had been used, so I was disappointed, thinking it had a leak. Billy took it out of the pack and found that the hose on the bottom wasn't screwed on tight. He fixed it quickly, and I walked around with a wet rear the rest of the hike.

We had intended to hike all the way around Hot Springs Mountain Trail, then come back down Peak and back into downtown. Instead we found Gulpha Gorge Trail, which was pretty strenuous and led in a different direction. Then we veered off onto Dead Chief Trail, which was even more strenuous. The last bit was a steep downhill trail that wreaked havoc on my knees. After 3 hours and 3 miles of trails, we rejoined the civilization of the downtown area.

Most of the trees along the trail were just beginning to bud, and a few had some white flowers on them, but I wasn't sure what they were. I saw one tree that bent at an awkward angle and had ferns growing along the bend. We saw one tree that had split, then peeled in half all the way to the ground. Along Dead Chief Trail, we started seeing small magnolia trees growing here and there among among hickory, pine, and other sorts. The shiny, bright green leaves were a stark contrast the the browns of dead leaves and the deep shades of the evergreens. We also came upon several small streams that crossed the trails. It was nice to stop at them and listen to the trickle of the water.

Bath House Row
After we finished our hike, we strolled back to the van to unload our gear. By that time, my jeans were almost dry. We first headed over to tour one of the old bath houses that also serves as a visitor center. I can't imagine what it would've been like to be a patron there. Some of the showers (I guess for the "needle showers") looked like gas chambers from WWII. The massage therapy rooms and equipment looked like torture devices. It was very interesting to see.

Buckstaff Bath House is still in operation there, and has been continuously since 1912, Quapaw Bath House is currently undergoing renovations. I don't know if that's to make it ready for tours or as another working bath house. The other bath houses are closed to the public. I really can't see myself using a public bath house like that. I'm sure there are all sorts of regulations on cleanliness, but I still don't think I could bring myself to use one.

The Shops
We went in several shops, but the only thing we bought was ice cream... We wandered into a candy store that had all sorts of chocolate treasures. Along the back half of the counter, was a freezer with several flavors of ice cream. Of course I got chocolate peanut butter! It was sooooo good; I wished I had gotten two scoops instead of one, but I didn't need that much...

PoMonkey had mentioned an art shop that sold paintings of monkeys in Victorian clothing (a story she needs to share) and wondered if it was still there. It is! It's called Tara's Affordable Art (or something similar). We saw several Victorian monkeys on all sizes of canvas. I thought about taking a picture of one, but I figured the store owner wouldn't appreciate it at all... Don't worry, there were other paintings, too.

One store we went into sold strands of natural stone beads. The only type different from what I can get around here was dinosaur bone beads. I'm not sure how authentic they are... I spent quite a while looking at all the different beads, but nothing really caught my eye.

The last store we went into had something I'd never heard of before: Crystal Singing Bowls. While Billy and I were standing there looking at them and wondering what they were, one of the store clerks came up and started playing them and telling us about them. Each bowl is a different size, and when struck with a suede-covered stick, plays a different musical note. When you rub the stick around the outside edge of the bowl, the tone gets louder and more haunting. It was beautiful. Very New Age. And very expensive. The smallest one was $120, I believe. Billy and I took turns playing with them for a few minutes, then finally worked up the strength to walk on our sore feet back to the parking garage.

The Disappointment
We were really looking forward to going out to eat at one of our favorite Italian restaurants in Hot Springs: Facci's. I had first been there nearly 30 years ago (yes, 30!) when my grandparents took my cousin Eric and me on a trip there. We went again on another trip, then Memaw, Aunt Sue, and Leigh Ann and I went another time. Every year it was good. When Billy and I honeymooned in Hot Springs, we ate there, and again on a return trip a few years later. The last time we were in Hot Springs together, we saw the restaurant had burned down. You can't imagine my disappointment. Facci's was tradition! I thought to check before this trip and found they had opened again, right next door to their old location. I was thrilled!

After we sat down and ordered our lasagna, salad (for me), soup (for Billy), and drinks, they brought out some wonderfully delicious - and piping hot - focaccia bread with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. It was heavenly. Our salad and soup came, and they were really good. Shortly our main dish was brought to the table. The dinner plates were completely covered with lasagna and sauce, with two huge meatballs perched on top. I eagerly took my first bite. Ehhh. Not so good. It was edible, but it wasn't anything like I had remembered. Still, I ate. I was starving. When I was finally getting full, I tasted each thing on my plate separately. The lasagna was full of too much ricotta cheese and the noodles were overcooked. It was all the same taste and texture. The sauce had the slightest hint of garlic, and I could see a little seasoning in it, but it tasted mostly like tomato sauce. The meatballs, when eaten in the same bite with lasagna and sauce, weren't bad. But when eaten alone, there was not much taste other than salt. Should we ever make it to Hot Springs again, I don't think we'll be going back to Facci's.

The Return
After another free hot breakfast at the hotel, we headed toward Shreveport to meet Billy's parents and pick up the boys. We met for lunch at Country Tavern, hoping it would be as good as we remembered. (I don't think we'd been there in about 5 1/2 years.) It was. And when our waitress brought out our hot washcloths for our hands, Jacob decided he needs one every night...

We made it home by 4:00 p.m. and were all feeling pretty worn from our time away from home. I got the boys into bed later than I wanted to, then Billy and I stayed up a little longer to watch an episode or two of The Office and wind down. Then I crashed. Hard.

It was a really fast trip, but it was good. It was physically tiring for Billy, which he needed. He gets mentally tired after working and going to class during the day and studying for a few hours each night. He thinks he hasn't been sleeping well because he hasn't been physically active. Maybe now that he and Caleb have new bikes, they can start riding a few times a week to get some fresh air and exercise together. (Once Jacob learns to ride, I'll get a bike and we can all ride as a family. I'm looking forward to that!)