Tuesday April 8, 2014 - Hot Springs National Park - Gulpha Gorge Campground

We slept in this morning - which doesn't happen too often.  I didn't wake up until 6:45.  I got the coffee started and Dean got up soon after. 

It rained last night and I think again early this morning.  Everything is in bloom here.  It is just beautiful.  After we got around this morning I started a good cleaning of the trailer.  I gave it a really good dusting, swept the floors and wiped all of the counters and cabinets down.  I'll wait until we are ready to leave tomorrow and do a quick vacuum. 

Dean hung a towel rack for me in the bathroom.  Since space is pretty limited in Bentley, we put up a shower curtain rod at the back of the shower to hang our towels after we've showered.  The towel rack hangs behind the toilet so I don't really care to leave our towels there all the time; but we needed somewhere to hang the other towel when someone is showering so the new towel rack will work great for this.  Once we finish our showers I can hang the bath mat here.

Once we finished our chores we decided to take a walk around the campsite.  Everything was so pretty this morning after the rain.  All of the bushes, trees and flowers are blooming, there is a beautiful brook behind our trailer that is running quite well.  The sound is very soothing.  We knew there was a trail near the campground.  It went right up the side of the hill behind us.  The hill is higher than the bluff in Riverside Park.  We did two legs of the trail and estimated we walked at least 2 miles all together, maybe a little more.  Here's a picture looking down on the trailer about half way up.

By the way, you think Oswego has lots of sweet gum trees - you should see them here in Hot Springs.  The same fool who sold them in Oswego must have come straight to Hot Springs and started giving them away! 

While we were having lunch, I thought I heard something fall in the closet in the living area but I could not find anything amiss.  Pretty soon I heard it again, but I also noticed something outside the window.  Just like home, a bird was trying to get in!  We opened the window and a pretty brown bird was sitting in this bush outside our window.  Does anyone know what kind it is?  We believe it has built, or is building a nest in the bush.  There were two of them and one carried a twig into the bush.

We decided we would do some more sightseeing.  Dean wanted to go by and see Oaklawn Racing where the horse races are held and I thought the Garvan Woodland Gardens sounded like a neat place to see.  We also needed to take one of our propane tanks to be refilled.  These cold nights have caused us to go through one tank already.  In fact Dean had to switch one of the tanks yesterday morning because the first one emptied in the night.  Brrrr - no wonder it was so cold yesterday morning!

Dean has been researching the best road to take out of Hot Springs to Durant, Ok (our next stop) without having to go through the downtown area.  He wanted to drive the route and make sure it was going to work.  Sure enough - it will be perfect.  It took us close to the Garvan Gardens, and shortly before we got there it started to rain!  We were near Lake Catherine Campgrounds, where I first thought we would stay while we were in Hot Springs, so we decided to drive on down and check it out.  It's quite a ways from town but what a beautiful area.  It's on a small lake that would be great for kayaks or canoes.  The trees are gorgeous.  This would be a great camping spot for a group setting.

Since it was still raining we decided to take care of the propane and take it back to the campsite.  After it rained the temperature dropped, so we decided to grab different jackets as well, along with another umbrella.  We headed back to Garvan Gardens.   We walked through this garden area for one and half hours or more (it was almost time for it to close) and we could have spent the entire day here.  It covers 210 acres and the flowers, trees, buildings, walkways, bridges, and use of stones is breathtaking.  The tulips were in bloom and there were thousands of them in every color you could imagine.  Azaleas, dogwood, redbuds and numerous other shrubs and flowers were blooming.  The waterfalls, ponds, were running full with the recent rains.  We could have set and listened to these sounds.  There were several areas we never made it to, and there is an entire other "island" that is a bird sanctuary.  If you've never been to Hot Springs - put it on your list and make sure to visit this wonderland! 

 

 

 



(You can click on these pictures to enlarge them and they are much prettier).

 



From here we traveled to the Oaklawn Racing and Gaming facility.  Dean was pretty disappointed as we could not see the racetrack or anything to do with the horses at all.  We walked through their casino and back out.  As we were driving away, we did go by part of the track you could see from the road.  I told him we will have to check into their racing schedule and come back and stay again.  He loves horses.  The gambling side does not interest us much, but watching them race would be a fun thing to do.

We came back and I fried a couple of hamburgers inside and I guess they got a little smokey because next thing I knew the smoke alarm was going off.  Geesh!  Dean opened the door, and I turned on the exhaust fan and that worked until he closed the door and we set it off again!  From now on the cooking is left to him on the grill - outside!  Not only that, I had all of that grease to clean up that splattered everywhere.  BUT - those were sure some darn good burgers and worth the commotion it caused!  :)

Tomorrow we will be heading to Durant, OK to the Choctaw Casino RV Park.  We will be attending a Heartland Rally - everyone in attendance is the owner of a Heartland trailer of some type.  This will be the first time we have ever participated in something like this but it's a good way to meet other campers so we are jumping in.  I'm sure we'll have a good time.  We will be there for 4 days.

Stay tuned to see what Bentley has in store for us..... down the road!

Monday, April 7, 2014 Hot Springs National Park, Gulpha Gorge Campground

What a day we have had.  Hot Springs is a great place to visit.  If you haven't been here make plans to do so.  It's really an interesting town.

We took our time getting around this morning.  I was still trying to get clothes dry from yesterday and finally I think they are all now fully dry.  YEA!   We finished up our Subway sandwiches from yesterday for lunch and then we took off to explore.  We started on Main Street and stopped in the National Park Visitors Center in the former Forsyth Bath House.  If you get the chance to tour this facility take it!  It must have been top of the line in its day.  There is all kinds of mosaic tile, beautiful hardwood, full gym, staterooms, etc.  What a great facility this was - and it catered to some interesting folks over the years.  Many baseball teams used to come here so they could soak in the hot springs; as well as a few gangsters.  The town is full of history.

When we left the Visitor Center we walked along a walkway behind bathhouse row to an area where you can see the springs outside in a small area.  You can see the steam rising.  Dean stuck his hand in and said it was HOT.  The temperature is around 140 degrees - however outside it might have been a little cooler due to the temperatures.

 

Walkway between bathhouses.

 

 

You can see the steam on the right side from the springs.

 

 



The morning started a little cool but warmed up nicely to mid-60's.  Almost perfect weather and much welcome after yesterday's rain.  The thermal water was in many fountains around town and you can actually go to several locations in town and draw water free.  We might fill our water cooler up before we leave town.  You never know - maybe that water will work miracles on us old retired folk!  :)

We walked several blocks along Main Street to check out the shops.  Similar to shops you would see in Eureka Springs.  I think we only walked inside of one.  We enjoyed looking at the old buildings though -- the hotels, shops and most of all the bathhouses.  The bathhouses were Victorian style, stately looking buildings.  They have been maintained well and are now owned by the Federal Government as part of the Hot Springs National Park.  It's great they are being preserved.

 

Here is a picture of some of the bathhouses.  There are only two still in operation -

the Buckstaff and the Quapaw.  

South of here lies Lake Hamilton.  What a gorgeous sight to see.  Beautiful homes and marinas along the lake remind me of our dear favorite - Grand Lake! 

We also took the drive up Mountain Road and the paid to take the ride up in the observation tower.  What a view!  I had hopes we would be able to see the campsite but we could not!  I did take several pictures of the downtown area though, but I'm not that happy with them.  The trees and foliage are just not very pretty and it takes away from the buildings.  Also, the buildings are mostly from the back rather than the street side and therefore are not as grand.

Dinner - Well what do you do when you want to find a great place to eat in a town you have never visited before - ask the locals, which we did.  But we could not find the BBQ place the lady at the lot where we parked told us about; so Trip Advisor it was and we chose - Jose's which was a fantastic Mexican Restaurant.  I ordered the enchilada plate - beef with chili; chicken with sour cream sauce and cheese with cheese sauce - all very, very good.  But the real prize was the two salsas they brought with the chips.  They must have used roasted tomatoes in the basic salsa - it was the best tomato based salsa I've ever had.  The second salsa which was made with jalapenos, avocados, and cilantro was equally good but much different!  Oh my goodness.  I hope I can find a recipe like this somewhere.  The reviews on TA were all great for Jose's and I definitely agree. 

On the way back the phone rang in the truck - we love that Bluetooth! - it was Dean's brother Larry and wife Sandi.  We had a great visit with them from discussing our attempt to back into a spot without hook-ups - whoops!, camping in Garnett, and possibly meeting up with them in September at Winfield.  I've always wanted to experience the music at Winfield Walnut Valley Festival.  We're going to see about making it a reality this year. 

Now watching "Dancing With the Stars" switch-up.  Kind of a neat change to the show.

We have another full day in Hot Springs tomorrow.  Not sure what we will do.  Stay tuned! 

Sunday, April 6, 2014 - Traveling to Hot Springs National Park, Gulpha Gorge Campground

Well the day got started shortly after coffee, breakfast and packing the trailer up enough to pull in the slides.  It rained in the night and more was forecast for later today.  Since the roof was clear and dry we went ahead and pulled the slides in before going to do laundry.  WOW!  Why anyone does not have a washer and dryer I do not understand.  It cost a fortune to do laundry at the Laundromat today.  I lost track on how many quarters I put in the dryer.  $.25 for 6 minutes.  I had 5 loads of laundry.  The washing itself cost $1.75 per load or $8.75.  I'm sure I spent at least another $4.00 on the dryers; and the towels and jeans never did get dry!  So those were hung up around the trailer later in the day and we are still waiting for the jeans to dry.  WOW!  Next time wet clothes will be hung in the bathroom with a small electric heater running to dry them more quickly!  You live and learn.

As soon as we got back, we finished loading up, unhooking, etc. to leave.  Everything went well and we were on the road by 10:15 or so.  We only had about 87 miles to go.  We barely left Russellville and it began to rain and it rained all the way to Hot Springs.  Fortunately it was just a nice consistent rain - never hard so it wasn't too bad.  Thank goodness as we had lots of curves and up and down hill driving.  We arrived in Hot Springs about 1:30 or so.  I think it rained the hardest when we arrived - of course, while we are trying to park.   My job is to direct Dean into the campsite.  He calls me on the cellphone which uses Bluetooth in the truck - very nice so he can just talk to me while backing.  He started backing into the first site and a ranger came out and talked to Dean.  Come to find out we didn't check it too closely - no hookups of any kind (water, electric or sewer) so he suggested we try #30.  So we drove around the loop and made it in on our second attempt.  The first one I had him cut it to sharp, but the second time went well.  All in all, I think it went pretty good since we were naturally trying to hurry due to the rain.  We are in a pretty spot, there is a nice brook behind us and with the rains it is running quite well and I think we will enjoy the sound of the water when we get out later today.  It's pretty cool so we probably will not venture out until after lunch. 

You must pay cash and have exact change since you pay through a kiosk at the registration station.  This allows folks to come in at any time of day or night.  We did not expect there to be many spots taken, but there were very few campsites left when we arrived.  Thank you God for letting us have one of them.  We don't mind getting by with little water and not having sewer, but since we are not prepared for going without electricity (no solar panels or a generator) we would miss that a lot!

We did not have the right cash so we had to run into town.  While there we grabbed $5 foot long sandwiches at Subway!  What a deal.  We ate half yesterday for lunch and will have the other half today.  Pretty cheap meal.  Before we left I put on some crock pot pork chops for dinner.

While we were talking to the ranger he was telling us about some of the drivers of trailers/ motorhomes.  It was so sad I almost cried hearing some of the stories - the worst being a guy who had just retired, bought a motor home or trailer and took out to travel the country.  Within just a few days he had sideswiped something and creased the entire side; and tried going through an underpass, but it was too low.  It took off his air conditioner.  The ranger told us the man was so upset he could not even back it out.  Whoever was behind him in traffic had to back it out for him he was in such anguish!  Can you imagine?  I know anything is possible at any time but I am thankful for Dean having had experience driving vehicles pulling trailers, our boat, etc. which has helped immensely.  I really felt this guy's pain and have no idea who he was.  I do wonder if he sold that motor home or if he took some lessons and is still traveling?

After lunch we watched a little TV - and I mean a little since there were only a couple of channels available by antenna.  Fortunately for Dean one was the golf tournament he wanted to watch so I entertained myself by checking email and messing around on the Internet.

We decided we'd run into Hot Springs (National Park Area) and check out the sites and see if we could find any flea markets.  We did find one, but nothing we could not live without.  It was a neat building though; sometimes those are almost as fun to check out as the merchandise.

There are a number of bathhouses so people can make use of the "hot springs" that the town is famous for.  Not sure if we will try this out or not - we are going to visit the Visitor Center tomorrow and find out the details of how that all works.  Some of the downtown area looks really neat especially the old bathhouses that have been maintained, but there are a lot of old buildings that are sitting empty and are very deteriorated. 

We came back and had dinner.  Pork chops were so tender and the gravy of hidden valley dressing packet and cream of chicken soup is really tasty.  I made some "cheat" mashed potatoes and heated a can of green beans.  Pretty good hot meal on a cool, damp day.

I wanted to watch the Country Music Awards last night but we never could get them to come in so we pulled out one of the movies we brought for times like this and watched "Fool's Gold" with Kate Hutson and Matthew McConahay-hay-hay as Cindy refers to him!  Cute movie with some really good laughs.  Dean hurriedly put out the "Tailgator" Dish antenna last night in the rain so we will spend a bit more time with it today and see if we can't manage to pick up some better reception.  As we were watching the weather this morning, we at least know we will be able to watch "Dancing With the Stars" tonight so I'm happy about that!  :)

Well, I hope each of you have a wonderful week!  Stay tuned for more Travels with Bentley!  (Note:  I may cut back on the pictures since it seems that is really using up our bandwidth.  We just started a new month and we've already used over 2mg of our 4 available, so I am going to have to slow down.



 

Saturday, April 5, 2014 - Lake Dardanelle State Park, Russellville, AR

We slept in a bit this morning.  I woke up shortly after 6 and got the coffee started.  It was a bit cool this morning so I turned the fireplace on and grabbed an afghan to wrap up in.  Dean told me last night that we would be going out for breakfast this morning.  He usually does that on Friday mornings and he is missing Tina's!  But with moving yesterday we didn't have time to find somewhere to eat breakfast.

I did a search yesterday for places that served breakfast on Trip Advisor.  We seen a place rated pretty high called Scoby's so I think we'll try it.  It wasn't too far from the park.  When we pulled up I recognized it from yesterday.  It is an old dining car they have added on to and it sits right next to a beautifully restored depot.  I intended to get pictures of the depot but forgot to do that.  If we go back in to town tonight I will try and get one.  Here are a few of the restaurant and the train that runs around the top of the room inside.  Similar to Fritz's in KC.  The train is passing from one room to the next in this picture.

I did take several pictures at Stoby's including one of my breakfast which was DELICIOUS!!!  One of the things I love most about traveling is trying to find the best places to eat and trying different things.  Russellville has not disappointed!

As you go up the steps, there is a sign that says you can pull a rope to sound a real train whistle.  I was tempted but passed it up.  We were seated in the middle room, adjacent to the actual dining car.  I ordered the Amazing Benedict - which was Eggs Benedict with a Chipolte Hollandisse sauce with hash browns and Dean had Ham and Eggs with hash browns. 

 

 

After breakfast we went in search of a Laundromat.  It's been quite a while since I've done this but being on the road it is a must if you want clean clothes!  :)   It opens at 7am and we are hoping there will not be a crowd at that hour on a Sunday morning.  Who knows?  Might be a bit expensive at $1.25 or $1.75 a load - and you think water is high in Oswego.  Let's see - 5 loads max would almost buy me 1,000 gallons of water at home.  Dryer is .25 for 6 minutes of use.  This might be interesting. 

 

We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a few things.   

 

From there we decided to try and take the back roads to the state park and followed what was called "Skyline Drive".  It was a beautiful drive that allowed you to oversee the downtown area.  As a side trip we discovered that Russellville also has a lock for boats to travel through.  There were none there but it was interesting to see it all.  Immediately adjacent was another beautiful park with a campground.  Lake Dardanelle is the site of a nuclear plant.   By the way the redbuds are in full bloom here as well as the forsythia, and dogwood.  Very pretty.

 

We cleaned up around the trailer and checked emails, looked at the route for tomorrow, checked out the campground, etc.  I printed a map of trails in the Hot Springs area that shows we can walk from the camp ground we will stay in to the downtown area if we choose.  Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy most of the day so we'll see.  We have decided to spend 3 days in Hot Springs rather than 2 as originally planned, and make a little longer trip to Durant from Hot Springs rather than a two day trip. 

 

The campground we are in at Lake Dardanelle has full hookups so today we got to take regular showers not those where you just get wet, turn water off, soap up, turn water on and then rinse type showers.  They get you clean but you just can't beat that water being on the entire shower time.  The camp in Hot Springs is full hook-ups too.  We might get spoiled because Durant is that way too!  Fortunately Hot Springs is a national park so we get a 50% discount on our daily rate there - thanks to my former co-workers at City Hall in Oswego.  Thank you very much!!  Another reason we decided to stay for 3 days!!! 

 

After lunch of ham/cheese sandwiches we took a walk around the campground.  It was a nice leisurely walk, with a few little hills to climb to give us some exercise.  They were having a boat tournament.  Just as we reached the tournament area most of the boats were coming in.  Unfortunately we missed the weigh-in because yours truly had to visit the Welcome Center and the bathroom.  It was about a mile from our campsite to the Visitor Center!  So all in all we walked about two miles in two hours.  Not sure we burned any calories but it was fairly warm even though it was cloudy.  Here are some pictures of the park that I took on our walk.

 



Our campsite.



This is the area where they announce the winners of fishing tournaments.

 

 This is a shot of the park area where people can picnic or just sit at view the water.

 

 

 



 

Friday, April 4, 2014 - Lake Dardanelle State Park, Russellville, AR

It really cooled off last night after the storms and neither of us wanted to get out of bed much this morning but finally the coffee called us.  Unfortunately something went awry with the coffee making.  The filter somehow got folded over and it required making a second pot since we did not care to drink the grounds. 

Finally, we got our coffee, about 30 minutes later.  Sure missed my Keurig this morning. 

We got busy right after breakfast and got everything secured and slides in so we could move on to our next stop.  We left Beaver Lake at 10:15.  We had about 3.5-4 hour drive ahead of us.  We decided not to take Highway 7 on this leg of the trip.  Instead we went back to Rogers and then took 540 south to I-40 that lead into Russellville.

We stopped along the way on an off ramp to make a pit stop and have those sandwiches I made up.  They were really good. 

We arrived in Russellville about 2:30.  The park here is very, very nice.  I’ll get some pictures tomorrow of our site and some of the amenities.  The parking spots are very nice.  There are some great hiking trails up the road along the lake.  We thought we’d check those out tomorrow. 

Tonight we ordered pizza from Brick Oven Pizza.  It was highly recommended on Trip Advisor.  We had a medium pork sausage with extra cheese.  I thought it was a bit small but we were both full after eating 4 small pieces.  Dean did not care for the spice they had in it.  I’m not sure what it was but I LOVED it.  The crust was crispy and they put lots of extra cheese on it!  Good choice in my books.  We might have to visit DQ tonight though! 

Here’s a picture of the view out our back window.  It’s gorgeous!

 

 

Wednesday, April 3, 2014 - Beaver Dam Site Park Campground

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. this morning as usual.  We had opened the windows last night.  I guess the fresh air made me tired because I just rolled over and went back to sleep.  At approximately 6:00 a loud siren went off – I set straight up in bed.  What in the world was that?  Surely they were not releasing water from the dam at this hour!  In a few minutes it sounded again.

 Dean got up and made the coffee and soon I followed.  After our coffee, we decided to take a walk.  First thing we checked out was the river to see what the water level was.  Sure enough they had released water.  Look at these pictures compared to those from yesterday.  I don’t mind the siren – but not when I’m sound asleep – with a window open at my ear!!

 

 

We had a nice walk through the adjacent pine tree campground.  Here’s a picture of the trees. 

 

On the way back I snapped this picture of the “Hidden Lake”.  Yesterday there was a young couple fishing at this spot.

 

After we got back from our walk (about a half mile), we got around and headed into town, but not before we had the first rain of the day, with some heavy lightening and a little hail.  We drove into the historic downtown area of Eureka Springs but we did not find any flea markets.  Since we did not really need or want anything except a small table we passed on walking through the shops downtown this trip.  We found three different flea markets but unfortunately none of them had a table that fit our needs.  We stopped at Bubba’s BBQ for lunch.  We both had pulled pork sandwiches and shared some French fries.  The pork was very tender and moist and the fries were quite good as well.  I would recommend this spot to anyone visiting ES!

Before leaving town, we stopped to fill up the truck.  Dean wants to get fuel the night before we leave for our next location so we do not have to make a stop while pulling the trailer.  Then we pulled into the local grocery store (Hart’s) for some lunch meat, cheese and more lettuce.  We’ll have another grilled chicken salad for our dinner tonight.  Tomorrow I’ll make sandwiches we can eat on our way to Russellville.  Hopefully we’ll find a place we can pull off the road for a break about half way.  This is the longest travel day we have planned.  It is 167 miles and will take us about 4 hours.  We prefer to keep the travel time to 2-3 hours a day if we can. 

We are under a tornado watch until about 9 this evening.  4 hours to go!

Well, we made it through the storms in the area.  We had some pretty heavy rain and some more light hail but that was the extent of it.  I had a head cold last week and this week a nasty cough continues to hang on.  This happens every time I get a head cold.  I wish I knew the secret to getting rid of it without having to wait several weeks for this part to go away.  UGH! 

Stay tuned for our next stop.

 

April 2, 2014 - Beaver Dam Site RV Park

After I posted the April 2 newly written article, I found the previous one!  Again this is a new thing for me so bear with me as I figure it all out!

Here is my original post.

We left Indigo Sky about 10:00 a.m.  We took our time getting around - coffee, breakfast, then packing up the trailer.  Last stop the "Dump Station".  As you can imagine it's not our favorite part of camping.  Only a couple of the campgrounds we plan to stay in have sewer hookups - much cheaper.  Fortunately it went very well considering the task, and we were soon on our way.  It was approximately 90 miles from Indigo Sky to Beaver Dam Site Park and took us about 2 hours.  About 20-30 minutes out, I told Dean we were going to have to stop.  I could not make it all the way without a bathroom break.  You know the best thing about pulling a trailer?  You have your own bathroom with you!  What a deal! 

There are two parks located below the dam.  One was a small area with about 12 camp sites, and almost every site was reserved starting Wed or Thurs.  When I called Monday they told me the park was opening for the season on Tuesday, April 1 and since it was a Wednesday when we planned to arrive they did not think we would need a reservation.  Lesson learned - if you can make a reservation - do so!  Evidently a group called and reserved most of these spots after I called.  So we moved on down the road to the second camp ground.  It was really pretty with beautiful tall pines.  Dean backed into the site and then I realized - there are no water hookups in this campground!  Whoops! 

I called the Corps of Engineers office and learned that the reserved spots must be available anytime after midnight for the person who has reserved the spot.  So that left two After some discussion decided we should go back and take one of the open spaces at the first campground.  One of only two unreserved sites was not too bad, except the step out of the trailer might mean I have to climb off of the last step!  Fortunately we brought a step stool and I didn't have to embarrass myself.  :)

Here's a picture of our trailer and camping spot. 

Our campsite is right on the White River below Beaver Dam.  Just a short walk from our camper we can be at the water.

Here's a picture of the view!

We noticed this sign on our way to the water.  We shouldn't have to worry about water releases while we are here. 

We decided to get out and do a little sight seeing of the area and drove across the dam.  There is a great site to view from above the dam, but when we went by the entrance it was closed.  Not sure if it will be open while we are here or not.  We drove on some of the side roads around Beaver Lake.  It is really beautiful.  The dogwood are already blooming and it is very pretty.  I tried to get some pictures, but with the water in the background they get a bit lost.

Weather is calling for severe storms tomorrow.  We checked with the park ranger and the bathrooms right across the road from us are the storm shelters for the parks and rangers; so at least we are close to a shelter if one is needed.  Hope we do not have to visit it!

Once we crossed the dam we found another campsite and we would have preferred to stay here if it wasn't for the forecast of storms with possible tornados.  The campsite is situated on an island a short distance out in the lake.  It was beautiful and would be a great place to camp with the boat as you could easily pull it right up behind your campsite.  Maybe someday we'll come back.

We had leftover burgers for lunch - pretty good and the last of the peach crisp and ice cream for Dean.  I had to have one more piece of that chocolate cake.  Yummy.  The last two pieces went in the freezer for a later date.

Last night I made salads with grilled chicken, avocado, pecans, Parmesan cheese and some tortilla strips.  Pretty good stuff.  About 7 we turned on American Idol.  Caleb is my pick for this year.  Dean is rooting for Sam.  It will be a tough year - there are some great singers.  I really like Gena too! 

We're going to go into Eureka Springs tomorrow and check out the flea markets - still looking for a table!