Brett and I decided that if we were going to be driving US 44 through Missouri within such close proximity to Arkansas that we should take a detour South and go visit.

We made it into Arkansas on Day #10 of our trip. We enjoyed the drive quite a bit. We had decided upon visiting the town of Eureka Springs for several reasons. First, its location proved to be ideal – tucked up in the far Northwestern corner of Arkansas. Second, it is the location of the infamous Brenton Vacation From Hell from back in the late ’90s when the fuel pump went out in the car the day we arrived, the heat was record setting, the town was packed for Labor Day weekend, the auto shops were closed for Labor Day weekend, and we wanted to leave. Dad looked into renting a car, buying a car, chartering a flight, etc but nothing quite panned out. It was a memorable vacation even if it wasn’t exactly what Mom had planned. And the third reason why I chose Eureka Springs as our Arkansas destination – because Brett just loves touristy towns.

It was mid-morning on Friday when Brett and I arrived in Eureka Springs. We drove around town, then around downtown. You would have loved the look on Brett’s face when we entered downtown’s shopping area. He was pretty horrified at the amount of little shops just waiting for us to pop in and out of. We found a parking spot and set off to explore. It seems that every building, sidewalk and street has a National Historic Spot sign on it.

I found the hotel that the family stayed at as well as some of the shops and eateries. Brett and I enjoyed popping in a few stores and eating a very yummy funnel cake from the Funnel Cake Factory at the split at the bottom of the road.

We were very pleased to have made it out alive and with the car in perfect working order. I don’t know if we will ever return – but it was fun to revisit the site of the late 1990′s origin of all things vacation-hell related.

More pictures of Eureka Springs, Arkansas available here:

On our way out of Eureka Springs heading towards Missouri, we came across this great overlook. I tried to capture it on video – however, it was a bit windy and such, the video is wobbly. My apologies.
Video here: