Eureka Springs AR | The Beauty Around Us

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VROC Reunion Rally 2015: Downtown Eureka Springs

Today is Day 6 of our 13-day vacation. We are in Eureka Springs, AR attending the annual Vulcan Riders and Owners Club (VROC) Reunion motorcycle rally.

Bob and I rode to downtown Eureka Springs this morning. Downtown Eureka Springs is an enchanting place. I love the architecture and the overall quaint feeling of the downtown area.

We parked in a privately-owned lot, along S. Main Street, near the Cathouse.

Neither Bob nor I were familiar with this type of parking meter. I learned that this parking meter is known as an “honor box”. Owners monitor honor boxes to make sure that for each space in which a vehicle is located a payment has been made. Nonpayment at one of the private lots may result in your vehicle being towed.

The Cathouse

The Cathouse is a popular Eureka Springs bar. It is where the second half of Susan’s bachelorette party was held last night.

I liked this metal motorcycle, located in front of the Cathouse.

Please join Bob and me, as we walk along S. Main and Spring Streets.

S. Main Street
Walking toward the Carroll County Courthouse

Downtown Eureka Springs is a shopper’s mecca, a shopping community. Whether you like to shop for clothes, jewelry, fine art, gourmet food, kitchen supplies or home decor, Eureka Springs has it all. We explored many stores during our walk along S. Main and Spring Streets. It took willpower, but we made only one purchase. I purchased a Route 66 shoulder bag.

Carroll County Courthouse

Carroll County actually has two county seats (Eureka Springs and Berryville) due to the seasonal swelling of the Kings River, which divides the county in a nearly vertical line. Historically, this made the river non-navigable and severed the county in two. Modern bridges solved this problem long ago, but the twin county seat solution remained.

Continuing our walk along S. Main Street, we discovered a mural.

This historic mural (12 feet high by 55 feet wide) dramatizes the early days of Eureka Springs; from the Indians who first camped here and discovered the curative properties of the many springs to the tourism of the early 20th Century. This painting was done by members of the Eureka Springs Guild of Artist and Crafts people. It was designed and supervised by well known artist and muralist Louis Freund, longtime resident.

Located on Spring Street near its intersection with Main Street, Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall.

The Humpty Dumpty sculpture weighs 500+ pounds.
I hope he doesn’t have a great fall!

Continuing our walk along Spring Street, we approach the Basin Spring Park.

Approaching the Basin Spring Park (on the left)

Basin Spring is a legendary Indian healing spring known to Native Americans and early pioneer settlers. It is now the heart of Eureka Springs.

Basin Spring Park

Basin Spring Park
looking toward Spring Street

Basin Spring Park

Basin Spring Park offers a picture-perfect resting place for busy shoppers. There is often live music performed in the bandshell.

the Doughboy statue at Basin Spring Park

At the intersection of Spring and Center Streets,
we discovered a building that reminded us of a similar building found in our hometown of Warren, PA.

I read that the Flatiron Building is one of the most photographed buildings in Eureka Springs. The original building was built in 1880 and was destroyed by fire in 1890. Shortly after, a new building was erected and also was destroyed by fire. The current building was built in 1987, constructed entirely of concrete. Can you see why this Eureka Springs building reminded me of the flatiron building found in my hometown?

Standing on the corner of Spring and Center Streets

This is the Basin Park Hotel.

Last night’s bachelorette party began here, with dinner at The Balcony Bar & Restaurant. We ate outside, under the green awning.

What follows are six more photographs that I took, while walking up Spring Street.

Looking back to the Spring and Center Streets intersection
You can see a small piece of The Balcony Restaurant’s green awning.

New Orleans Hotel

I hope that you enjoyed walking with Bob and me in downtown Eureka Springs. Bob and I certainly enjoyed our walk and hope to return to downtown Eureka Springs sometime again!

VROC Reunion Rally 2015: Susan’s Bachelorette Party

This blog post continues Day 5 of our 13-day vacation. We are in Eureka Springs, AR attending the annual Vulcan Riders and Owners Club (VROC) Reunion motorcycle rally.

We had just unpacked the car, when Vicki H. stopped by. Bob and I met Vicki and her husband Scott in June 2009 at another VROC rally — the Wandering Wolfman’s Rally held in Richmond, KY. We hadn’t seen each other since that rally, although we had some contact since then via Facebook and email. Vicki asked if I wanted to come to Susan’s bachelorette party. I grabbed my purse and off we went.

Our mode of transportation was a trolley that stopped in front of our hotel, Motel 62.

Boarding the trolley
(Photograph provided by Shannon Mackey)

Fifteen of us accompanied Susan to her bachelorette party.

Riding the trolley to downtown Eureka Springs
We had the entire trolley to ourselves.

The trolley ride cost $6.00. I believe the pass is good tomorrow as well, given the late hour that the ticket was purchased. The trolley driver left us off very near to where the bachelorette party festivities would begin.

From the trolley drop-off location we walked to the Balcony Bar & Restaurant,
where we began the evening’s festivities with dinner.
(Photograph provided by Shannon Mackey)

This is the Basin Park Hotel.
The Balcony Bar & Restaurant is located on the second floor.
We ate dinner outside, on the balcony, located under the green awning.

Susan, the bride-to-be

Susan was showered with a few gifts.

There was lots of laughter during dinner.

After dinner we walked to the Cathouse, where we enjoyed more fun and laughter. I had only my mobile phone with me, with very little charge remaining by the time we arrived at the Pied Piper Pub. I am happy that I had sufficient battery power remaining to capture a photograph of everyone who attended Susan’s bachelorette party.

?, Vicki, and Evelyn

Sheila, Katie and Sandy

Susan and I

Carolyn and Melanie

Susan and her bridesmaids, Melanie and Margo

Shannon, Kay, Vickie, Debbie and Traci

There was some discussion as to how we would get back to our hotel from downtown Eureka Springs. The trolley stopped running at 6:00 pm, I believe. It was mentioned that we could telephone a couple of the guys back at the hotel to come pick us up. We decided, though, to find the way back on our own. We rode back to the hotel in style, via limousine service!

Susan and the pink limousine

What a surprise when we discovered our mode of transportation back to the hotel would be in a pink limousine! Pink is Susan’s favorite color. Well, not really. You would think so, though, based on the amount of comments and shared pictures Susan receives on Facebook. I don’t know when or why Susan gets teased about pink. I thought how appropriate, though, that we would be riding back to the hotel in a pink limousine.

The limousine cost $6.25+tip each and made two trips back to our hotel. Ten of us, including the bride-to-be, went on the first trip to the hotel. When we pulled into the parking lot, we were greeted by camera flashes. I think everyone thought it cool that we returned to the hotel by limousine. Bob was nowhere to be found. I called him on the phone. He was in our hotel room. Someone told me that he had “turned in” a while ago. Given the location of our room in the back of the hotel, we can’t look out the window or open the door to see what is going on. After I telephoned Bob, he come out front and did see the pink limousine when it returned to the hotel for the second time. The bachelorette party was a good time, full of fun and laughter. I am happy that I attended the party.

Shannon, who gave me permission to use a couple of her photographs, also uploaded a blog post about Susan’s bachelorette party. You may read Shannon’s account of the party by clicking here.