Its early on Friday morning. How early, 4am. We get the whole family up and put all of us in the car and head straight to the airport. Once parked, we all walk inside and to the kids delight, there are many of their friends just hanging out waiting for them. This is the first day of spring break. Corvin and Sonora are headed out on a flight to Costa Rica on a school trip. The energy is in the air and we check the kids in with the teacher. We stayed for a bit till we knew that there was no more that we could accomplish.
With a little bit of rain in the air, we head out from the airport. Danelle and I are taking a trip for a few days down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We booked a cheap hotel with an indoor pool and just planned to take it super easy.
We drove slow taking our time and taking in the scenery. We made it the outlet mall in Branson, MO and did some shopping as they opened up for the day. Later, we stopped at a local establishment for lunch which is unusual for us as we always seem to be in a hurry!
One of the first stops once we arrived in Eureka Springs was the music park, We got out and walked around a bit.
In a shout out to a previous visit to this area with my brother Hiatt, we ate a meal at the Rowdy Beaver restaurant. Normally a selfie at this type of establishment isn’t allowed, but since its a throw back. And really only the name has innuendo, the inside is just a normal place.
We enjoy hiking together. Its a wonderful time to be in nature and just talk about whatever is on our minds. Danelle may look like I said something bad to her, but its just commentary about the damn walk…
We really did enjoy our time at this secluded lake just north of the city was a wonderful place to hike. They have camping here, but in the early morning when we visited, it was virtually empty. So we did what any semi-famous Internet celebrity would do and took a selfie or two.
Danelle was kind enough to model this creek feeding the lake. Rumor has it, visits from wildlife are up 3% since this photo was taken!
The walkway for the damn was closed, so we tried to see if there was a way around.
We walked back the way we came, but on a different trail to get more perspective of the place and even managed to hike through a tunnel.
I’m guessing the ducks at this lake were so offended by Danelle trying to take their photo, that they timed it perfectly, all showing their butts at the same time.
We spent a day playing tourist walking around downtown Eureka Springs. There are lots of really cool stone structures built to keep the city from falling into the street!
We stopped in Mud Street Annex for a meal. The food was great and there was a window in the floor looking down 30ish feet to the ground showing another spring that the city was named for.
After eating, we took the trolley back to the hotel because they city was lining up for their St. Patrick’s Day parade. This was our chance to hang out in the hotel pool without a huge number of kids.
We made it to Eureka Springs Brewery. It was a double visit for us. Specifically, we got to drink some good beer and play a 9 hole of disc golf that was at the brewery. 
The best part of this trip is that I got to spend a crazy amount of time with Danelle. We’ve been married 21 years at this point and I still enjoy spending lots of time with her. I never questioned this, but it was a wonderful confirmation!
Hogan Haake