Girls Weekend, Thirteen_Monday, November 8

Woo Hoo!!  Today is ziplining day!!  I went ziplining with my family while up in Whistler, Canada this past summer and had an absolute BLAST!!!  It was so much fun that I actually have given thought to becoming a zipline tour guide when I decide to retire from pharmacy. All of this is to say that when I found a brochure for ziplining in nearby Branson while we were at Cosmic Caverns, I told Kathi that we MUST go do this.  She, of course and as always, was game.  So Monday morning had us getting up early to make the hour drive up to Branson, Missouri to do some ziplining.  Since ziplining had not been on my mind when I packed for this trip, I realized that I did not have the appropriate shoes.  None of my shoes tied on, they were all slip ons, and I didn't trust that they would stay one my feet while flying through the air so we had to stop at, where else....we are in Arkansas, after all, Walmart so that I could get a pair of tie-on tennis shoes.  About 20 minutes past our Walmart stop, Kathi's phone rang and IT WAS RIDLEY!!!!!  We pulled over so that Kathi could talk to her.  Ridley, honey, I don't know if you are reading this or will ever read this, but if you do, I want you to know that your Mom's face absolutely lit up like the stadium lights at a Cathedral High School football game when she heard your voice.  There was even some "sass" in your voice this time and it was like music to your mother's ears.

After the phone call, we were back on the road.  Once again, God blessed us with an absolutely, magnificent, beautiful day.  Clear blue skies, warm weather.......we couldn't have asked for a better day.  We even spotted a pair of bald eagles flying overhead while driving.  Don't see that everyday!!

We actually arrived a little bit early at the zipline place, even though we passed the entrance to the place  (somehow the GIANT signs on the highway weren't enough for us), and we could SEE the zipline towers from the highway.  We wandered around outside a bit and took pictures and watched some other folks zipping through the trees before it was our turn to get geared up.

 And off we went!!  First we hopped into a Humvee and they drove us up the side of the mountain(?) , then dropped us off  at the foot of one of the towers along with our two zipline guides.  We walked across a few suspension bridges to the first tower where the guides gave us a few pointers about ziplining.  It was a bit windy so we were warned that on a couple of the lines we could possibly be zipping into a head wind and might not make it all the way across.  No worries, we were told, they were ways that we could be retrieved if we didn't quite make it all the way to the other side.  As our darling guide Mady said, if we didn't make it all the way across, they would let us dangle on the line for a while "to think about what we had done" :-), then we would be "rescued".  Funny girl!!!

Once done ziplining, we made our way back to Eureka Springs.  Because it was such a beautiful day, we thought we would see if we could take a hike somewhere.  We had seen signs for Pivot Rock very close to our lodging  (Pivot Rock!!  Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!!) and thought we would go check it out.  After driving a couple of miles on a narrow, winding road we came to a parking lot and the Pivot Rock gift store.  There was a sign in front of the gift store saying that it would cost us $4.50 to go take a look at Pivot Rock.  Hmmmmmm, we wondered, was it worth it??  We went into the gift store, took a look around, checked out a few postcard shots of the rock and decided that it wasn't worth it to pay $4.50 to take a 2 minute walk to a rock.  So back to the room we went.

Now, one thing that I have left out is that the place we are staying, Oak Crest Cottages, has a variety of lodging choices.  There are 3 cute little rock cottages, several small suites like the one we are staying in, a "chalet" that looks like a barn and 3 treehouses.  I really wanted to stay in one of the treehouses when I  was browsing the internet for places to stay in Eureka Springs, but the suites were much more attractive economically and how could I resist staying in a suite that was used in a Billy Bob Thornton movie??  But Kathi and I were very curious about the other types of lodging, so upon returning for our morning adventure, we went and asked our host, Don, for a tour of the other places.  He showed us the Rock cottages today and promised to show us the treehouses tomorrow after everyone had checked out.  Each cottage had a "theme". One Italian, one New York and one Southwest.  All were quite charming and I would definitely recommend any or all of them to someone looking for a place to stay here.  Turns out that Don also officiates at weddings right there on the property.  There is both an indoor and an outdoor chapel and both are delightful.  Remember Eureka Springs is second only to Las Vegas in the number of weddings performed in the United States and this place definitely caters to those that are coming here looking for romance.  Although, this, obviously is not what Kathi and I came here for, we can certainly understand why people do.  After our tour of the property, back to the room we went to settle in for the evening.  Kathi decided to make a snack run, while I stayed in the room to catch up on e-mails and Facebook.  When Kathi returned we watched Pelham 123 and ate leftovers and snacks.  Did a little bit of packing since tomorrow is our last day here  (always over way too fast!!), then the final tossing of the states for this trip.  Where will we be going next year???  Wyoming!!!!  Yellowstone?  Jackson Hole?  I will do a bit of research and see what looks interesting.

Off to bed!