Friday, Sept. 27

Up at 8 a.m. on this cool morning. Well, actually I awoke at 4:30 for a bathroom visit. Couldn't go back to sleep, because Hubbie was snoring, and Daughter talked in her sleep.

After we dressed and had a breakfast of fruit and muffins, with orange juice and coffee, we took a trolley to the historic downtown district, where the colorful shops offered all sorts of wares at out-of-sight prices. We looked, but didn't buy.

We enjoyed window shopping though. At a candy store, a machine in the window pulled taffy. In another window there was a display of skimpy underthings, like a thong for a man fashioned after a tuxedo, and a thong for a woman that featured googly eyes.

We went into one shop that offered various serving items. One was a pitcher shaped like a fish that gurgled when fluid was poured from it. We were tempted by this novelty item, but passed on it, since we didn't think we'd find enough uses for it. Besides, it was pricey.

Toward noon, we caught the yellow line trolley, which delivered us back to the campground for lunch. After lunch, we caught the trolley again, which delivered us this time to the trolley station. There we bought tickets to ride on the tram.

But since it would be another hour before the tram departed, we drove our truck (we parked it at the station earlier) to the Amish shop, where I hoped to find spices. But the shop only offered furniture, and some jars of jams and jellies.

So we visited a winery, thinking we could sample wines. But there was a $5 person charge to sample, so we decided to just ask for their sweet wines. They only had one, and it was semi-sweet. We were allowed to taste it at no charge. We didn't like it. So the clerk directed us to a package store, where we found a bottle of moscato wine to enjoy later with cheese and crackers.

We arrived back at the tram station about fifteen minutes prior to it leaving. We were asked not to board the tram until five minutes before it left. Naturally, one old guy ignored that and got on anyway. There's always somebody that flouts the rules.

The tram tour was both fun and educational. The city was founded in 1879, based on its "miraculous healing spring waters." People flocked to the town seeking cures. In 1882, the railroad came, and within a couple of years business and home were built along and into the hills. Construction was so rigorous that they still exist today so that the whole town is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Around the loop of the district, colorful Victorian homes and businesses abound. We were told that home owners must adhere to a strict color code when painting their homes. We passed by one huge Queen Anne house on a hill that was not built there. It was moved from another state, which required that every board, every stone, be meticulously numbered, then loaded on flat bed trucks for transport. Reconstructing the house must have been a nightmare.

Many of the business are built of native stone, after major fires in 1883 and 1888 destroyed stores built of wood. It is said that there are also fifty-six miles of stone walls, and 230 winding, twisting streets, none of which cross each other.

The tram made a stop at the Crescent Hotel, where we were allowed to tour the lobby and the fourth floor. The balcony on the fourth floor was an ideal spot for photographing St. Elizabeth's Church across the road.

This hotel, built in 1886, was once renowned as a place where a Norman Baker claimed cancer was supposedly cured. Later, he was convicted of perpetrating a hoax and was sent to Leavenworth Prison on mail fraud.

A history of Baker says, "Having been run out of his home state, Norman moved to Arkansas...to the Ozarks and the town of Eureka Springs. There he bought a majestic Victorian hotel that had fallen on hard times. The Crescent hotel sat on a hill 2,000 feet above sea level overlooking the town nestled below. He called it a “Castle in the Air” and made it the new location of the Baker Hospital.

Norman picked up where he had left off in Iowa. Running the same medical scams in the Ozarks that had made him hundreds of thousands of dollars in Iowa. According to one US Postal Inspector Norman was pulling in $500,000 a year in Eureka Springs.

For two years, He thrived in there, but the clock was ticking on Norman. He was now a marked man by federal authorities. They quietly investigated him and in 1939 they closed in."

Hundreds of people died because they put their trust in this man, instead of getting legitimate treatment from real doctors.

Now, it is said that ghosts haunt the hotel, including one of the cancer patients, as well as an Irish stone mason who fell to his death. For about $149 a night, guests can stay in a haunted room.

Back at camp after the tour, we had potato soup and pimento cheese sandwiches for supper. Afterward, we went to The Great Passion Play.

The campground is only minutes away from the theater site, so Hubbie had gone right after supper to buy tickets.

We arrived around 6 p.m., and attended free presentations of the story of David the Shepherd, and Parables of the Potter before the Passion Play performance.

The Passion Play itself was well done in an outdoor theater with staging built on three levels along a hillside. A herd of sheep, a camel, donkeys, horses, and doves were featured in the production, which creatively used special lighting and sound to create remarkable effects.

Prior to the performance, Daughter was a bit concerned about the bats flying overhead, but I was glad they were there, because I knew they were dining on mosquitoes that might otherwise have found us a delicious dinner treat.

It was a cool evening, so we were glad for long-sleeve shirts and jackets.

The play venue was supposed to be handicap accessible, but it wasn't ideal. The ramp incline was too steep. And the steps were hard for older folks, many with walkers and canes, to go up and down, even with a rail to hang onto. Frequently, we saw folks pulling themselves up the rail to go to the restroom.

At the end of the play, a boy of about fourteen strained to push his grandmother up the incline. Another older large woman with a cane was being helped by her husband, and it was obvious she was struggling. I grabbed her hand to help her steady herself for the trip up.

By 9:15, we were back at camp and ready to head to bed. We'd had a busy, but happy day.