Spring Break 2022

When we talked about what to do for Spring Break, Carter said he'd like to ride a trolley. I immediately thought of Eureka Springs because I remembered riding a trolley there as a kid. We planned out a trip to Eureka Springs for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We were also finally able to plan a trip to Topeka to celebrate Christmas with Ty's family. It was rescheduled because I had the flu, then I had Covid, then Ty's dad got Covid, then we had a couple winter storms, etc. We planned to leave Friday right after picking the kids up from school and it snowed Friday quite a bit that morning. The roads were a bit dicey getting the kids to school but they were totally fine by lunchtime!

We got home Sunday evening, did laundry, and packed back up. We left Monday morning for War Eagle Cavern and Mill on the way to Eureka Springs. Ty and I ran War Eagle Trail Running Festival this past summer and I was really excited to check the area out. We ate at the restaurant at War Eagle Mill first. We were seated right next to the window. Our view of the river was awesome and we were right above the water wheel so we could feel the mill working under us. After lunch we took a tour at the cave. Carter was thrilled that we saw 10 bats. My favorite part of the tour was when our guide took us into a small room and the woman behind me said, "I really thought the cave was going to be bigger than this." I'm not sure why but it had me laughing any time I thought about it for the rest of the day. We got the multi-pass so we also did a maze and walked through a wonky house. After the cave tour the kids panned for gems. 

We rushed out a bit because we had tickets for a tour of Eureka Springs at 4pm. We ended up arriving late for the tour. Then Carter had to go to the bathroom. It was called Downtown and Underground so I thought we were going to get to go underground. Toward the end of the tour when Elise was wanting to be carried and it was clear there was going to be no going underground, we pulled the plug and headed to the hotel. Ty took the kids swimming while I went for a run. I ran at Black Bass Lake on trails and scoped it out for a family hike the following day.

The next morning we headed to Pivot Rock and Natural Bridge to check it out, but they weren't open yet. Instead we hiked at Black Bass Lake Trail.

After our hike we went rode a trolley downtown to go shopping. The kids really enjoyed the trolley ride, but waiting for the trolley to get back to the hotel was a shit show. One of the trolleys broke down so the trolley we were waiting on picked them up and was super late to our stop. When we got back Ty took the kids swimming again and I headed for a run at Lake Leatherwood park. I ran the Miner's Trail and it was beautiful!

Waiting on the trolley.

I woke up early on our last day. I got ready to run and took off early for a loop at Lake Leatherwood. I was disappointed the dam was closed so I didn't get to do a loop. After all the hills on the past couple days, it was nice to only have 800 feet of elevation gain during my 8 mile run, haha! Toward the end of my run, I headed out a different way to see if I could find a trail that went to the other side of the lake from that direction. As I did so I ran past some tents and these little boys came running out chasing me, yelling, "Mommy!" They wouldn't stop so I had to run them back to their tent. Their dad confirmed that they in fact thought I was there mom. I had crossed paths with a woman out running with a dog earlier in my run so I knew who they were looking for. It was so cute and funny!

We checked out of the hotel and went to Pivot Rock and Natural Bridge to try again. When we got there we found out their internet was down so we had to pay in cash. Luckily I happened to have some in my purse. It was so worth it! Elise didn't really want to hike, but the kids both had a blast stacking rocks. I was really excited to get pictures to show my students because the science unit we started after spring break discussed erosion.

We stopped off at Onyx Cave on our way home. The kids were really pumped about it because we got to wear headphones and not have a guide for the tour. I was bummed because my headphones weren't working so they had to get me a different pair and my audio was about 5 minutes behind Ty and the kids. I wanted to stay with them so my audio was constantly lagging behind where I was in the cave. The kids wanted to pan for gems again so we went ahead and bought a bag so they could do it again without being rushed.