NOTE: There are lots of pictures on this page and it may take a bit to load! Also, for your convience, the links in the paragraphs below will open in a new window. Enjoy!

This is a summary of our vacation trip to the Eureka Springs area of northwestern Arkansas (the Ozarks) in late June, 2004. We decided we would drive and we took our dog Briscoe along also. The total distance to get there was about 690 miles and took just under 12 hours of relatively easy driving. We did lose some time going through St. Louis at rush hour and lost a bit of time in another part of Missouri due to road construction, but like I said, pretty easy driving.

We stayed at the Roadrunner Inn in Eureka Springs. This motel, which has only 12 rooms, is very dog friendly. The owner, Bob Williams, has three dogs of his own. I was a bit worried about dogs barking all night, but much to my surprise, it was very quiet. The rooms here overlook Beaver Lake, which is a lake that was created by damming up the White River. The lake is beautiful, calm, and extremely clear. Deepest part is 250 feet. Briscoe went swimming for the first time in Beaver Lake, near the edge!

When we go on vacation, Mary likes to try and run a race. She chose to run the Cancer Challenge Run in Bella Vista, Arkansas. She ran the 10K race and did pretty well considering she was still recovering from an injury and lack of sleep from the night before. We got to Eureka Springs at around 11:00pm and had to be up around 5:00am the next day to get to the race on time. It was a bit of a drive that morning to get to the race. The race was very well organized, great goodie bag of stuff, and awesome after race treats and refreshments.

We rented a canoe at Charlie's Canoes rental and went canoeing on the White River. Charlie drives you upstream and drops you off at the base of the dam, and then you canoe back to his property. The total canoe trip is about 7.25 miles and took us almost 4 hours, which included a few stops along the way to skip rocks and rest a bit. The river is very calm (read this as: we had to paddle the whole way!). Very scenic and a fair number of fisherman along the river.

We took a 12 mile cruise on Beaver Lake on a boat called Belle of the Ozarks. It was a nice one hour and 15 minute tour around part of the lake. The tour is run by a husband and wife team. She drove the boat, while he told us very interesting facts and tidbits about the lake and surrounding area. We also drove through downtown Historic Eureka Springs. And yes there were apparently lots of springs back in the day! We also drove out to the grounds of the Great Passion Play to see the Christ of the Ozarks statue. We also did lots of driving throughout the surrounding area, well outside of Eureka Springs.

Okay, now on to some pictures...