AR Day 5 - Worship, Wine, and Wildcats
Today I bid farewell to Fayetteville and set sail for Eureka Springs, which turned out to be one of my new favorite towns. The town consists of a series of winding streets up a mountain and is a stunning mix of natural beauty, interesting history, and quirky arts. It is a haven for both Christian fundamentalists and the LGBTQ community which makes for a wonderful mashup of aesthetics.
My first stop was the Mud Street cafe for some brunch and coffee. The cafe was cool spot tucked away in a basement off the main street, but it was very popular. For breakfast, I ordered a spinach and mushroom omelet, which was a nice infusion of real nutrients. It also came with some toast and cheesy garlic grits which were out of this world. I'm still not totally sure I understand the texture of grits, but the taste was fantastic. My favorite part about the cafe though was that they had a policy that if you bought a to-go cup of their coffee you could come back at any point in the day and get unlimited free refills. The coffee was also good enough that it was worth coming back for so I intended to exploit, I mean, utilize this sysem.
Properly fueled up for the day, I just spent the next little while walking up and down the streets which were a treasure trove of weird and wonderful art and shops. Not even the staircases were exempt from being turned into incredible works of art.
Probably the most immediately striking building in the downtown area is the enormous and supposedly quite haunted Basin Park Hotel which towers over the rest of the city. The lower floors of the hotel also contain a number of fun shops and restaurants. I particularly enjoyed poking around in a spot called Iris at the Basin Park, a gift shop of local arts and crafts. I was especially impressed by the works of local artist/writer/free spirit Valerie Hubbard Damon, but unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside so you'll just have to take my word for it (or do a quick google search either/or).
The next spot that suckered me in with a ridiculous name and promise of being "probably the most useful souvenir shop" was called Tummy Ticklers. They specialized in a mix offbeat and/or beautifully handmade cooking and household supplies. I particularly enjoyed this bottle opener straight from your nightmares, an incredible musical clock, and the Angriest microwave cleaner I've ever seen.
All that looking at cooking supplies made me pretty hungry, so I stopped in to a local candy shop with another irresistible name, Two Dumb Dames. Every piece of homemade chocolate was a beautiful work of art , and the woman behind the counter was incredibly helpful and friendly, but I knew I couldn't stay long or I would spend all of my fellowship money on sweets. I did buy an almond joy which was a dark chocolate shell filled with whipped milk chocolate, coconut, and almonds, and sweet jesus was it good.
After satisfying my sweet tooth, I took some interesting local history. Across from the Basin Park Hotel is a very unassuming little Victorian house that was once home to Dr. Alvah Jackson, the first white person to espouse the healing properties of the nearby waters (though the local Sioux tribes had used the springs for years). Dr. Jackson helped really put Eureka Springs on the map as a place where wounded soldiers from both sides of the Civil War could go and recuperate in the healing, and politically neutral, waters. I have no idea if the waters truly have healing properties above and beyond any other natural springs, but I really loved that it was a spot where healing was prioritized over fighting.
From Dr. Jackson's house, it was only a small hike up to actually see the famous Basin Springs. Most of the water is fenced off or piped elsewhere through the city, but you can still see some impressive natural rock formations, caves, and tunnels, and at the bottom of the stairs is a really pleasant city park to sit and rest a while.
Across the street from Basin Spring Park, I went to another small art gallery (buckle up there's gonna be a lot of those today) called the Wilson and Wilson Folk Art Company. The gallery showcased the art of mother -daughter pair Blakeley and Sylvia Wilson. Both women were self-taught, but their works were really vibrant with lots of warmth and humor.
After the folk art gallery, it was on to the fine art gallery of Zark's. They had some really wild sculptures and paintings including blown glass jellyfish, sword swallowing wooden orphans, art deco koalas, elephant banjos, and steam-punk pirahnas to name just a small sample of what they had in store.
Having gotten a solid taste of the quirky artsy side of Eureka Springs, it was only fair to give the weird religious side its due (look it's all gonna be a little weird, but I love that about the place). So I drove further up the mountain to see the Holy Land. The Holy Land was unfortunately closed to touring for the season, but when they're open they have something called the Great Passion Play which is an epic recreation complete with model biblical towns of the last days of Jesus. There's also a Bible Museum, and a creationist-bent world history museum on the property both of which were also closed. In hindsight, maybe Sunday wasn't the best day to visit, but even if it wasn't all active it was still cool to just look at all the biblical themed architecture.
Fortunately the biggest draw to the Holy Land was open and that's the famous Christ of the Ozarks, a 67 foot tall concrete Jesus tucked into the mountain side watching over Eureka Springs with 65-foot arms outstretched. Even if there's no religious significance attached to the statue for you, it's monumental size is enough to leave any viewer in awe, even if the shape may be slightly boxier than the average Christ. Some of the more irreverent locals have affectionately nicknamed the statue Our Milk Carton with Arms.
All that religious imagery gave me a hankering for some communion, so my next stop was the nearby Keel's Creek Winery. Because this is Eureka Springs though, you'd better believe the winery is also a free art gallery. Did I mention that I love this town?
Keel's Creek turned out to be an exceptional find. For just 5 bucks, you get a tasting of six wines, but if you get the server chatting he's gonna end up giving you some more just to show you what they're working with. They grow all they're own grapes, and everything I tasted was really delicious, even the reds which I'm not usually crazy about. In fact as much as I liked their dry whites (especially one called the Vignoles) I think my favorite of the traditional wines was a semi-sweet red called Embarrassed. The real stars of the show though were the dessert wines including an incredible port and a very tastefully sweet Blackberry wine, made from locally grown blackberries (the blackberry was the bonus one the woman next to me and I got him chatting about, and it was definitely worth it). The tasting also comes with a bonus souvenir wine glass, and again the whole place is covered with incredible local art for you to peruse while you sober up a bit.
After the winery, I ended up going back to church. This time I visited a local sanctuary called Thorncrown Chapel, a simple and elegant church made of wood, glass, and stone tucked into the Ozark forrest. The Chapel is very understated, but that really adds to the beauty and the use of glass gives you a real sense of the natural beauty around the man-made splendor. I'm not the only person to have been blown away by Thorncrown Chapel either, as it has won numerous architectural awards. It was conceived by a retired businessman named Jim Reed, with the help of acclaimed architect E. Fay Jones, as a place where wayfarers could rest and reflect spiritually. Maybe it was still the last remaining wine in my system, but the incredible majesty of the setting combined with that sentiment and my own wayfaring nature made me start crying while I was sitting and thinking. It was just such a lovely place. Also that's the second time, in two days I've been brought to tears by inspiring pieces of beauty. So much for becoming a grizzled road-hardened drifter.
At this point, I drove back into the center of town to cash in on my free coffee refill at the Mud Street Cafe as all the wining and crying had taken a toll on my energy levels. It was still just as good as it had been this morning. While I was walking back to my car, I got enticed by yet another cool art gallery simply called eleven (stylistically uncapitalized). This was probably the strangest and coolest one yet, with everything carefully curated to give you a sense of both an old-timey curiosity cabinet and a futuristic sci-fi art gallery. Also there was a small shop in the corner selling organic skincare products, which didn't really go with the rest of the aesthetic which somehow made it fit in even more. I really liked it there, and the free samples of the lotion felt great on my gross cracked hands (I don't handle high altitudes well).
A highlight of this gallery was a wall showcasing the photography of a local artist and journalist name Mike Maple. My favorite photos were his portraits of Cheech and Chong, reconnaissance from a Trump Rally, and a very endearing self-portrait.
After dragging myself away from the siren calls of still more art galleries, I went to one of the more exotic attractions in Eureka Springs, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. Turpentine Creek is a 459 acre plot of land dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of neglected and abused large predators. They're specialty is the big cats such as lions, tigers, jaguars, and bobcats, but they also have a monkey and a grizzly bear (oh my!). I never would have assumed I'd see over a dozen tigers in the Ozark mountains but you know what they say about when you assume. The Rescue center is not a zoo or a farm, so they don't actively seek new animals or try to breed them. They only take in and provide care for animals that have already been brought into the states (frequently illegally). A lot of the rescues come from private owners, because apparently people all over the country think that they can handle having giant wild animals as pets and they're either very wrong or they're right up to a point but eventually can no longer care for the animals. That's when the Rescue Center Steps in as it is one of the only places that can really handle animals of this size and nature. Because a lot of the animals have had very difficult pasts, even very humane zoos would prove to be too stressful for them and they get their own private spaces here where they can live out their natural lives in peace. It's really amazing that a place like this exists.
While the sick, old, and more severely traumatized animals have their own campus elsewhere on the property, a number of the animals have open air habits on display that you can get a guided tour of, which helps fund the continuing operation of the center. If you really want to go the extra mile, they also have luxury campsites so you can stay on the property overnight and get a special private tour. I did the regular guided tour, and it was quite the experience. I've never seen so many lions and tigers before, and they all such distinct personalities. Some were very playful, some were very territorial (we were warned that one tiger in particular was a known "sprayer". He was), and some just wanted to do their own thing. One thing that might jump out at you from my pictures is that there is a lot of white tigers, which are very rare in nature. Because they are so rare however, they are frequently trafficked illegally into the country and bred for profit, and that's sadly how so many ended up here. It was very shocking to learn through the tour how not standardized laws about what animals can be kept as pets are across the country. Our tour guide explained in no uncertain terms, these animals should never be pets because they can never really be domesticated. They can be trained, but they are still predators by nature and instincts will kick in if they're ever given an opportunity to pounce. This became very obvious whenever you turned your back on one of the more curious tigers, and they would try to stalk you. This would have been kind of spooky if it wasn't so funny watching them try to act like they weren't up to anything when you turned around and caught them.
My favorite picture I got though was of this guy making a face like he just remembered something really funny. Our tour guide explained that making that face served some kind of purpose, but I'll be honest I was cracking up too much to remember what it was.
Sadly one of the most famous residents of the Rescue Center, a white tiger name Kenny, had passed away, but they had some nice displays commemorating him. Due to unscrupulous breeders forcing inbreeding in white tigers, Kenny was born with distinct facial abnormalities. Kenny didn't have a long life, but he helped raise a lot of awareness about the cruel practices among white tiger breeders. And while he may not have been winning any beauty pageants, he was super adorable in his own way.
The non-bigcat residents included a rhesus macaque named Goober. This fine ape made us the real goobers though, by refusing to leave his nice warm hut.
My absolute favorite animal though was a Grizzly bear named Bam Bam. I could have watched this big doofus for hours. He was such a playful numbskull, showing off for the one intern he clearly liked best almost getting his head stuck in log Pooh Bear style, and at one point accidentally rolling down a hill because he was trying to scratch his ear with his back paw. He absolutely stole my heart, and I could see how someone might get fooled into thinking he was too silly and cuddly to be a perfectly engineered killing machine.
The last thing I got to see was the animals getting fed by trainers, who were working on using treats to get them more comfortable with humans. It was a really cool process to get to see. Very Pavlovian, but if you've found a formula that works why mess with it?
I still had some more daylight left, so I went back to the downtown area to do some more walking around. I mixed it up a bit though by not just going inside another art gallery, but instead going to an outside art gallery called the Art Colony. The Colony is a workspace and shop for many talented local artists, and it's sort of like it's own little magic village complete with giant gnomes.
The next place that caught my attention was a little interior decorating store called Mountain Eclectic that also happened to be built over a grotto and a natural spring. The store was just about to close but the couple that ran it were very kind in letting me see their spring.
From their, it was a shockingly steep hike up to the famous Crescent Hotel, where I was told I would get the most incredible view over the city. I was not lead astray and it was absolutely worth finding out how out of shape I am to get there.
The view was made even better by the fact that it could be enjoyed from the hotel's sky bar, fully loaded with local craft beers. I ordered a flight to prepare myself for the hike down. I got the Soul Shine Kolsch, City Slicker Amber, and Naked Porter from Bentonville Brewing and an Imperial Grind Coffee Stout from Mother's Brewing Co. The stout was my favorite, but I really liked everything with the Amber being a stand out. I also ended p having a really nice conversation with an older couple who was staying at the hotel, and a musician who was actually playing at the bar but enjoying a brief meal in between sets. All three of them were incredibly friendly, and we had a real nice conversations about beer, traveling, youth, and comedy. The husband said he got to see George Carlin live years ago, and I was very jealous. For all the fun, I had exploring and running around today, these quieter moments of just connecting with random strangers always stand out.
The hotel also had a few galleries about its haunted history. It was originally started as a hotel and health resort to cater to wealthy patrons flocking to healing waters. During the construction of the hotel was the first death on the property as a stonemason accidentally fell off the roof. Because the stonemason was only Irish, building continued and soon the hotel opened to great success Eventually the healing waters craze died down, and the failing hotel was converted to a Woman's College and Conservatory. This lasted for about 16 years and (probably) only one girl fell to her death off a balcony, so it was largely a success. In the craziest twist yet though, the college was bought by a man named Norman Baker who turned it into a hospital where he claimed he cure cancer. Not only was that obviously a lie, but he absolutely no medical training and had already been convicted of medical fraud in Iowa. Unfortunately people were more trusting back then, and he was able to scam cancer patients out of nearly $4,000,000 before he was caught, which is one of the most insanely evil things I've ever heard. Once the "doctor" lost the property, it changed hands many times and went through many failed renovations until one finally stuck in 1997 and we got the hotel we have today complete with all those ghosts.
After working up an appetite walking down from the hotel, I got dinner at a place called the Rockin' Pig Saloon. It was a no frills sort of biker bar, but I'd read that they had really good food and I was not disappointed. I got BBQ Pulled Pork nachos, and they were insane. The pork was so tender and packed with flavor, and then they were smothered in queso so what could be better than that? After dinner, I bid Arkansas a fond farewell and set off for Oklahoma.
Favorite Random Sightings: Famous Ed's Fabulous Food Wagon; a bumper sticker saying "We need sin control, not gun control" (i don't see why they're mutually exclusive); Sugar and Spite; Bean Me Up; "Silly Rabbit Easter is for Jesus"
Regional Observations: I have no way of proving this but I feel like there are a disproportionately high number of blue pick up trucks in Arkansas.
Albums Listened To: The Pinstripes/ I by the Pinstripes; Pithecantrhopus Erectus by Charles Mingus; The Planet Smashers by the Planet Smashers; Plastic Surgery Disasters/In God We Trust EP by the Dead Kennedys (much jazzier than I remembered); Play Live by the Old Blind Dogs (Dead Kennedys into live Scottish folk was beyond jarring)
People's Favorite Jokes:
My wine server said his favorite joke is whenever someone asks what the blackberry wine is made of he says with a straight face "Bananas"
What does Salvador Dali eat for breakfast? Surreal
Arkansas Superlatives:
Favorite Coffee: Baba Bourdan's in Fayetteville
Favorite Bar: Sky Bar in Eureka Springs
Favorite Beer: Rebel Kettle Dirtbag Brown Ale from Little Rock
Favorite Restaurant: Tusk and Trotter in Bentonville
Favorite Burger: The Root Cafe in Little Rock
Favorite Attraction: Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville; though if an entire town can count as an attraction Eureka Springs is a must do
Favorite Open Mic: Nomad's Music Lounge in Fayetteville
General Impression of the Comedy Scene: Small but mighty, there may only be a few shows each week but they're going to be well attended and feature some of the funniest and most supportive comics around.
Songs of the Day:
The lead singer makes me suspect that Canada is just filled with Jim Carreys
the 80s were a strange time
It’s a good song, but wow I was not expecting the crowd to go NUTS for it
