Road Trippin'

This past week, we took a little two day road trip with our besties, Tom and Judy.

Judy in middle, me on right and my adorable little sister on left

Judy and I were childhood friends who found each other again as adults in 2002.  Our husbands became good friends as we rebuilt our friendship as a foursome.  It has been God's gift to us all.

This was kind of a spur of the moment trip.  We are alike in that respect.  We think it, we say "why not", and go with it.

We went to Eureka Springs in Northwest Arkansas on Monday and returned on Wednesday.  We managed to make the seven hour trip up in nine, but taking side trips is the fun of traveling with friends.

One of those side roads took us into the Talimena National Scenic Byway in the Ouachita  (Pronounced:  Wash-a-taw) National Forest where the Ozark Mountains begin.

Arkansas is known as the "Natural State" and it truly does have some beautiful scenic areas.

Queen Wilhelmina Lodge

One is the Wilhelmina State Park and the "Castle in the Clouds" Lodge with its expansive scenic over-look.

In order to capture our trip in pictures, I thought it would be fun to try to duplicate some cute "old woman friend" pictures I had come across. But in our own way.

I will be inserting the results as we go along.

As it was late afternoon when we arrived, we decided to eat then ride around a bit.

We knew we would be seeing The Great Passion Play the next night after a busy day of sight-seeing, so wanted to find the theater and also see the "Christ of the Ozarks" statue before dark.

At a height of 7 stories, it is one of the tallest statues in both the United States and the world.

Built in 1966 and sculpted by Emmet Sullivan, the same artist who did the Presidential carvings at Mount Rushmore.

This massive stature is 67 feet tall with an arm span of 65 feet and can be seen from miles away.

It was interesting to see the Passion Play theater empty.  It seats 4,100 so is quite a large place.  The staging is amazing with so much detail.  I will share some of that with you on another post.

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we made the Thorncrown Chapel our first stop.

"Nestled in a woodland setting, 

Thorncrown Chapel rises forty-eight feet into the Ozark sky. This magnificent wooden structure contains 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass. It sits atop over 100 tons of native stone and colored flagstone, making it blend perfectly with its setting. The chapel's simple design and majestic beauty combine to make it what critics have called "one of the finest religious spaces of modern times."
Direct Quote

This is a beautiful, peaceful place of worship and reflection.

 We could have stayed here for a much longer time and there was a constant flow of people while we were there, each seeking their own time of quiet and beauty in God's presence.

We were so happy to see Ann, the niece of dear friends now deceased.  Ann's husband is the Chapel Pastor and she has been the greeter here for four years.  It was great to catch up after many years.

And not to be outdone.

Tomorrow, we will visit more sites in Eureka Springs.

Links to continued posts on this trip:
Road Trippin' to the Crescent
Road Trippin/ with Zoom Views