Hi ...

Hi Everybody,

Nothing is wrong, but I am not going to continue on the A-Z Challenge this time around.

I will still work my way through our trip pictures, but at a slower pace.

Thanks for all of your comments, and I will be sure to visit those of you who have so nicely left them.

Hugs!

Kathy M.

A-Z Challenge Day #8 - The Letter "H" is for Hot Springs, Arkansas

Click here to go to the A-Z Blogging Challenge Website.

Welcome!  From February 28 - March 16, my best friend husband Cary and I went on a trip.  From Eugene, we traveled to parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.  I haven't blogged about it yet, and thought that highlighting our vacation would be the perfect way to participate in this year's Blogging from A-Z Challenge.  My blog isn't always about travel, but for the next month it will mainly feature travel photos and memories of our experience.

This is my fourth time participating in A-Z.  For those of you unfamiliar with the challenge, participants post daily during the month of April, except for on Sundays.  That gives us 26 posts for the month.  It is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We visit the blogs of others who are taking the challenge, connecting with old friends and making new friends.

"H" is for Hot Springs, Arkansas 

My first post of the A-Z Challenge this year was about the Arlington Hotel, where we stayed the second night of our stay in Hot Springs.  You can read that post by clicking here:  The Arlington Hotel.

Across the street from the Arlington is a little park in Hot Springs National Park.  Hot Springs was the very first national park in the United States.  It has been a destination point for many for nearly 150 years.

 

The stairs behind the gazebo lead to the Tufa Terrace Trail.  Hiking the trail, along with a series of daily baths, massage and great food are great ways to improve one's health.

Mountain Valley Spring Water is located next to the park.  This building was built in 1910.  I brought our water bottles home with us as a keepsake.

There are beautiful buildings along this street.  I didn't get back to Bathhouse Row, with all of the old bath houses that have been restored.  Two are operating now plus the the one at the Arlington.  Another is now a museum about Hot Springs.  

There were also some abandoned buildings in this part of town.  The Majestic Hotel burned down in 2010, and still has not been dealt with.  When you drive in from the freeway, you drive right past it and several vacant buildings and think, what the heck?  We never did make it into the city itself.

Here is a link to a great article about The Majestic, from Abandoned Arkansas.  Interior photos are included.

This abandoned medical building is right across the street from the park and the Arlington:

We just didn't get everything done ... I think that you need at least 4 or 5 days to dedicate to this town to experience it properly.  We didn't even drive through the rest of the park.  But, we made it there, sick or not, and enjoyed ourselves very much.

I plan on doing a history post or two on Hot Springs someday, but I am going to wrap this up for now.  If you get the chance to go here, I'd take it if I were you.

Thanks so much for your visit.  Please check out the links below for more information.

Please click here to check out others posting in the A-Z Blogging Challenge Participant List. A-Z Blogging Challenge Participant List.  I do have comment moderation on, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry. If a word verification shows up, just ignore it. I didn't put it on, Google did, and your comment will still go through even if you don't fill it out.

Have a super day! 

 ~ Kathy M.

Links

Hot Springs, Arkansas - Wikipedia
Google Photos of Hot Springs, Arkansas Photos

Hot Springs National Park

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

A-Z Challenge, Day #7 - The Letter "G" is for Greenville, Mississippi

Click here to go to the A-Z Blogging Challenge Website.

Welcome!  From February 28 - March 16, my best friend husband Cary and I went on a trip.  From Eugene, we traveled to parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.  I haven't blogged about it yet, and thought that highlighting our vacation would be the perfect way to participate in this year's Blogging from A-Z Challenge.  My blog isn't always about travel, but for the next month it will mainly feature travel photos and memories of our experience.

This is my fourth time participating in A-Z.  For those of you unfamiliar with the challenge, participants post daily during the month of April, except for on Sundays.  That gives us 26 posts for the month.  It is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We visit the blogs of others who are taking the challenge, connecting with old friends and making new friends.

The Letter "G" is for Greenville, Mississippi

For over 25 years, Cary has wanted to return to Mississippi, and that was one of the main reasons for this trip, along with getting to know our Arkansas cousins.

On Sunday, March 8th, we left Hot Springs, Arkansas, and drove east and south for four or five hours.  We said goodbye to beautiful Arkansas (which is so much like Oregon, minus the ocean and tall mountains), and crossed the mighty Mississippi, heading toward Greenville.
 

I had only planned on driving through this city, wanting to stay in Natchez, so I hadn't done any research about it.  I think that we really missed the boat on Greenville, because there was a whole part of the city, the cool part, that we never did see.  It looks like The Hampton Inn is in a nicer part of town.
 

 

We made it!

We stopped at the visitor's center, got our pamphlets, asked the nice lady questions, and checked out their little museum.

Inside, the museum was upstairs, so that is where I headed:

The Mississippi River is also known as The Great River Road, running from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Greenville is where Kermit-the-Frog was born.

There was a lot of Native American stuff.

 

Greenville had a huge flood in 1927, and there is a Flood Museum that would have been interesting to go to.

Cotton farming is a big deal in Mississippi.

The Blues are huge!  Highway 61 is known as The Blues Highway.  Mississippi calls itself the birthplace of America's music.  There is a Blues Museum in the area.  Here is the link to a Google search of Greenville museums:  "Click Here".


  

This little museum held a few mementos of famous musicians.

 

 

 Some famous authors came out of Mississippi too.  Here is a link of  Famous Musicians and Writers of Mississippi.

  
We had learned that there were casinos in Greenville, and wanted to spend the night in one.  We had passed one, The Harlow, on the way into town.  I had looked on the internet and found another one, on the waterfront in historic old town.  We enjoy historic old towns, so we thought that we would check that one out first.

Oh, boy.  As we drove toward the river, it became a little scary.  Homes were boarded up and businesses were vacant.  I didn't even take any pictures, which I now regret since we didn't drive through there the next day.  

The casino had changed its name and ended up not having lodging on site.  You had to use a little old hotel a block or so away and I really didn't feel safe, so we turned around and went back the way that we came.

The Harlow was nice, and so were the people.  The room was only $89.00 a night, and there was a buffet.  Cary had fun playing blackjack, and I liked that I could come and go back to the room and that we didn't have to drive anywhere.

Here are few of the buildings that we saw as we drove through the main drag on the way out of town, heading towards Vicksburg:

There are churches on every corner all throughout the south.  Even little towns and tiny farming communities have several.

We missed the fancy parts of this city all together, and I left thinking that they didn't have any!  Here is a link to other people's pictures of Greenville, "Click Here" ,  "and Here".

Thanks so much for your visit.

Please click here to check out others posting in the A-Z Blogging Challenge Participant List. A-Z Blogging Challenge Participant List.  I do have comment moderation on, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry. If a word verification shows up, just ignore it. I didn't put it on, Google did, and your comment will still go through even if you don't fill it out.

Have a super day! 

 ~ Kathy M. 

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.