Table Rock Lake

Historic District - Eureka Springs

We ended up not eating Italian - 1 hour wait changed our appetite.  We went to the Bavarian Village and had German food.  Real homemade dumplings!  They were yummy but not exactly on the weight-watchers plan! It just happened to be what would have been my dad's 81st birthday so in his honor we treated ourselves to homemade German Chocolate cake.  OMG!  Delicious.  We may have to head back for another piece - no sharing this time.  We went for a window-shopping stroll after dinner.  The town is so quaint, all built into the rolling hills.  The entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places.  We did see this weird Humpty Dumpty - have no idea what that's all about - kinda creepy!

Thronecrown Chapel

 
The girls and Jeff humored me and we went to see the Thorncrown Chapel - also known as the Crystal Chapel.  It was build in 1980, designed in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright.  It is a beautiful little chapel tucked away in the woods.  It has 254 panes of glass - over 6000 sq. ft of glass walls. I could have spent hours there. 

Yesterday we made it to the one place we had reservations. We were hoping the place was "as advertised" especially after the skinny road we drove down.  This whole area (NW Arkansas is "Tyson" and "Butterball" country.  Chicken and Turkey farms - stinky!  But after making our way through all of that, we have arrived in Paradise.  Table Rock Lake, located in the middle of the Ozarks, has 745 miles of shoreline (43,100 acres of surface area).  It's green and wooded and warm. Just today I've seen Bald Eagles, Great Herons, Red-winged blackbirds, fireflies, a family of gophers, tiny lizards, and robins galore.  There is a par-3 golf course, tennis courts, pickle ball courts (we had Google it - we are going to try playing tomorrow, 2 pools, 2 jacuzzis, a sauna, and sunshine! Today I went out for a kayak ride, swam in the lake, ran/walked two miles with Jade, and then cooled off in the lake - all before noon.  It's fabulous.  

Waterfall from one of the pools down toward the lake.
No water shortage here.

The girls were thrilled when one of the owners here gave them a golf-cart driving lesson.  What a hoot!  But as with all things, there is a down-side.  We are so far in the sticks that the wi-fi stinks.  So Jeff signed up to make his phone a wi-fi hotspot.  So no matter where we go, we have wi-fi.  We are now calling Dada a "hotty" and the girls want to go wherever he is so they can get wi-fi!!!  We are here until Sunday and then we have to figure out where we are going. We have heard Mammoth Cave National Park is well worth the visit so we may head due east to Kentucky.  We'll see.