Summer Vacation 2011: Day 1

For vacation this year, I was really wanting to take Ken back to Eureka Springs since Michelle and I had such a good time. I knew he would enjoy staying on the lake and the town is just so quaint. We weren't planning on taking our week-long trip until the fall, so we were definitely in need of a little get-away. This, to me, was a perfect place for us to go. (I have to throw in that this was really the first time I used tripadvisor for everything! It was such a handy tool...I encourage anyone who is traveling to check it out!!!).

We stopped in Tulsa to drop our "kids" off with my parents (Ruger and Lexis) and were on our way. Its really a pretty drive once you get into the mountains of Arkansas. Our first stop was lunch! We ate a late breakfast, but were ready for lunch by the time we got there. I had read some really great reviews of Caribe (they don't have a website, but you can see here for reveiws). They did not disappoint! We actually split two appetizers, the Jalapeno Pie and this salsa platter that comes with 7 salsas, homemade corn chips, and homemade flour tortilla strips. It was really good! I also had a margarita, which was probably the best I had the whole weekend. Definitely a place to return to. After lunch, we stopped at one of my favorite places, The Mud Street Cafe. Best coffee and desserts!!!!!!I wanted to show Ken around town like Michelle and I usually do. As we drove through downtown, he wasn't that impressed. Its small and overly crowded. He wasn't much for being out in the heat with all the people. Michelle and I went at the BEST time b/c school wasn't out and the lake crowd hadn't started coming yet. (My advice to anyone wanting to go is to plan your trip in May before school lets out or in September-November). I was a little disappointed by this b/c I love this little town. I tried to get us out of the crowds and took him up to The Cresent Hotel. We walked around a little bit to see everything and then ended up on the 4th floor at their balcony bar for a drink.

These pictures were taken at the chapel that sits right below the hotel. I love walking around this place b/c they have statues that play out the entire crucifixion of Christ.And, here is our view from the 4th floor balcony of the hotel. You can see the Christ of the Ozarks perfectly! After getting a feel for everything in town, we headed to Holiday Island where we would be staying. I never realized that it was its own little town...I just thought it was a neighborhood/golf community that was part of Eureka Springs. This was my 4th time to stay out here (for rental information click here and then click "accommodations" on the top right), but Ken's first. We rented a house that sat about 100 yards from Table Rock Lake. It was great! I think being out here was our favorite part of the trip!

This little guy was at the door to greet us when we got to the house. :) He was actually there every single time we came back to the house. Him and a little bunny. I named them George (the lizard) and Mertyl (the bunny). Once we got settled into the house, we walked around the property and then drove to the marina. We really wanted to rent a boat and talked to them about what they had to offer. We were excited to book one of their rental boats for Saturday afternoon!

One of our favorite things to do when we go somewhere is to drive around and get a feel for the place. We like to look at houses and the community. We spent quite a bit of the late afternoon wandering around Holiday Island.

For dinner, we went to another one of my favorites in Eureka Springs, The Garden Bistro (Again, no website, but here is the review page). This place has such great food...and I love that most of their ingredients are raised/grown right in Eureka Springs.After dinner, we were ready for some down-time. We headed back to the house, exhausted and ready for some TV and sleep!