April 13 2019...
Observation Tower in the Hot Springs NP
That's Hot Springs down below
It was really windy up there. and it was Really high!
view from the top of the Observation tower
Found a neat bar/grill. Oldest running bar in Hot Springs. Hosted many old mafia folks along with famous musicans.
Beautiful buildings!
Downtown Hot Springs Ar.
Inside of the Ohio Club bar
One of the Bathhouses. Only one remains an operating bathhouse at this time.
A stained glass window on the ceiling of the mens bathouse in the Fordyce building
Checking off another NP!
Our beautiful campsite at Stephens Park campground. A COE campground. $15 with our NP senior card.
Look who we ran into at an Arkansas rest stop. Our Canadian besties John and Laurie!
John and Tom with our buddy Marlon.
Oldest operating dance hall in Tx.
Downtown Gruene.
Gruene dance hall bar.
The dance hall is huge with old wood floors.
April 13th 2019
Its been a busy two weeks. We left Palmdale on April 3rd. So sad to say goodbye to our good friends Beth and Todd and John, Laurie and their dog Marlon. I am going to miss our daily contact and laughs. Till November in Gulf Shores my friends. Enjoy your summer. We headed to San Antonio to Braunigs Rv resort. We had site #F17 for $27 a night. Very tight spot. Fortunately, the folks that pulled in next door were very nice and we spent some enjoyable evenings chatting.Spent 4 nights there. While in SA we visited the Alamo, River Walk and the village of Gruene. (pronounced Green). We left there and stopped in Bryan tx for the night at the Galloping Snail $22 pull thru. Old campground with large spots. We had just missed a bad storm that had passed thru the area so things were quite damp. From there we headed towards Texarkana and spent the night at Texarkana RV resort. site #A3 $24 for the night. While setting up we had trouble with the auto level jack d/t the unlevel site and spent 2 hours on the phone with a tech support guy who helped us finally get things fixed. Whew! Ok campground, just off of hwy 59. All of these campgrounds were with Passport America. From Texarkana tx. we headed to Hot Springs Arkansas. While driving down the hwy who should pass us but John and Laurie!!! I was so excited and hoped that a rest stop would appear so that they would stop and we could visit a bit. The rest stop appeared they stopped and I was so happy to see them!!! They had started traveling back to Canada 3 days after us but hadn't stopped anywhere for more than an overnight. I was shocked at how much their dog Marlon had declined in just 6 days...our poor buddy. John and Laurie are just hoping he makes it all the way back home. Old age sucks for people and our fur babies!
Upon arriving in Hot Springs NP at 12:20 pm we found out that we couldn't get into their campsites at Gulfa Gorge because they were full...Dang really wanted to stay there too. They are a first come first serve campground. So the nice park host sent us to a COE campground called Stephens Park a nine site campground, first come first served. She did fail to mention that it was on a twisty/narrow road. But it was paved... We finally got there without damage to the camper but I was an anxious wreck driving it there. Well, I wasn't driving but still anxious! We got a spot that was amazing!! Water on 2 sides, and level with full hookups. But no tv, wifi, cable, radio and we found out our dvd player didn't work! I could manage but Tom. Mister I can't live without tv....well, the beauty of the site convinced him to stay the night and we ended up staying 3! We met the nicest couples while there and spent the evenings around a fire talking as if we had been friends for years. We burned up all the wood we had left in the truck so we will be finishing up the trip a lot lighter! We loved Arkansas. Lots of hills, trees, good roads and lots of friendly folks.
From there we headed to Branson MO. Staying at the Ozark Country Rv park site #A5 $44 for fri/sat nights and then $22 for the next 2. We stayed here 2 yrs ago and PA was valid all week long but new owners have come in and changed things. Campground is mostly park models now. We have both been feeling lazy since arriving and haven't even researched on what to do while here.
They received a bunch more snow in Chippewa Falls in the last few days so there is no rush to get home. We are hoping to get to Kevins on April 19th which is Good Friday. It will be fun to spend Easter with the grandgirls.
Ozark Country campground. A5
Our campsite from the other side of the river at Stephens Park. Just below Blakely Dam
Spring has sprung everywhere
Braunigs Rv resort. Verry close sites
River walk San Antonio. Even the homeless need a place to sleep. Sad...
We took the River boat cruise on the River Walk. Fun and informative.
Stopped at the Bier Garten. Super fun. Big beers and a free appetizer of Kraut Balls.
Tom and his new best friend Lexi
Dam those kraut balls were good!
I think this is our favorite place. We were there twice!
Walls around the Alamo
medical equipment used during the Alamo time. Surprisingly, many things are still in use today with just an updated version.
Outside of the Alamo
Inside the Alamo walls. Beautiful park setting
Alamo is much smaller than one would think.
Payton, Kendall and friend Emsly coloring eggs.
Cheeky Monkey. Branson. fun place
Branson city waterfall trail. Beautiful, but rocky!
Tom making his wish with Zoltar. Is he wishing for youth or old age????
