Arkansas Adventure

 Because the St. Louis temple is closed for four months (August through November), Steve and I are taking short trips to nearby temples. Last month, it was to Kansas City and last Friday and Saturday we visited the Bentonville, Arkansas temple. We set out early Friday and drove first to visit Bennett Springs State Park. I've seen photos of the place in the Missouri Conservationist magazine, particularly on opening day of trout season, and I've always wanted to see it for myself.  The water comes up out of the ground cold enough to sustain trout so there were many folks out there fishing. 

A butterfly liked Steve's hat....

We didn't stay too long because it was close to lunch time and we had decided on going to the Golden Corral in Springfield which was an hour's drive away. But, we HAD to stop at Buccees along the way. It is quite the gas station!!!! Truly a destination...

We hit the Golden Corral at about 1:45, well past lunch time, and the parking lot was packed! We discovered that was because it was full of senior citizens taking advantage of the senior lunch special from 1:00 - 3:00. SO many old people clogging up the lines. 😂But, you can't beat the price and the variety. Plus, each food item lists allergy and calorie information, which was very helpful. 

Then, we drove the final two hours down to Bentonville, arriving around 5:00. We had to quickly check in and change for our 6:00 temple session. Thankfully, the temple was only a ten minute drive from our Hampton Inn. It is a gorgeous temple and we had a nice evening. 

Saturday morning, after our complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and drove about ten minutes to the Crystal Bridges Art Museum. It specializes in American art, it is free, and it was so lovely! We could only give ourselves an hour to visit so we just went to two galleries and the gift shop (of course) but it was a very enjoyable time.  

Then, into the car we climbed and off we went through the Ozarks of southern Missouri. We drove (and drove and drove) through through beautiful woods, through a rain storm, through small towns and, four hours later, we arrived at Big Springs. Yes, another spring. The Ozarks are full of them and this one pumps out almost 286 million gallons of water per day! It is one of the largest springs in the world. It was so "cool".

This is where it emerges out of the ground

 

Notice how the water is turquoise as it comes out of the ground...

Back in the car we went and we drove another two hours to Rolla where we met Noah who is a freshman at Missouri S & T and we took him to dinner at a local pizza place. It was so great to visit with him and to learn ALL the things he is already involved in at school. 

And, then, we drove the hour and forty minutes back to St. Louis pulling into our driveway at about 10:20. Whew! Steve and I were exhausted. Sally (who was cared for by Beckie) was glad to see us. 

The rest of the week went pretty well. The ward had a Labor Day picnic on Monday and we took Jair and Tabitha with us. Neither one of them can drive. The weather had finally cooled down a bit and it was a well attended event. 

The Afghan women's group resumed Tuesday morning (which used to be on Mondays) after a three week hiatus and civic orchestra had their first rehearsal that evening. I drove to Ballwin early so I could rehearse a musical number with Emily, Lucy and Quinn which we will be performing this coming Sunday, the 20th. Emily and Lucy will sing and Quinn in playing cello with me. Julina Hokensen is playing the piano for us. 

Steve had two doctor appointments Tuesday. One was with the pain doctor who gave him his second set of shots and declared him a good candidate for the ablation scheduled for the 23rd. His other doctor was a gastroenterologist and he now has a colonoscopy scheduled for the 30th. Lucky guy!

I spent much of my time preparing and distributing 65 tea towels for select Afghan women to embroider. The History Museum liked the first 24 we did for them and ordered 60 more!

Steve and I caught an episode of Strange New Worlds but didn't watch anything else during the week. and, we finally got some rain Wednesday into Thursday. That is our news for the week....