Road Trip USA: Arkansas

PLEASE PLAY THE SONG :) It is a happy song!

After hours and hours of driving, we decided to spice up our trip by staying in a haunted hotel. We googled haunted hotels in Oklahoma, and we found a pretty famous one, but it honestly looked boring. I also asked some friends on facebook and they said skip it. The crazy world of cyber space led us to Eureka Springs, AK. One and a half hours north of where we were we decided to take a detour and visit the little town on the border of Missouri. We made the reservation at around 11pm for that night and told them we wanted the most haunted room they had, they weren't enthused. The 1886 Crescent Hotel  was orginally a cancer hospital. This con artists/doctor Norman Baker, told people he had a cure for cancer. He would have all these people come and stay at the 'treatment spa' and they would just die because he didn't really have a cure. So all these people lost their lives, this man took all their money, as well as hopes and dreams. It was feature on Ghost Hunters! and the back story was pretty interesting. So I read all the ghost stories to Monique as she drove, and then we switched off when we realized we were in the middle of nowhere.  Norman Baker's story was very interesting, you can find it here if you are interested in the details, Pure Hoax.

By the time we got there, it was pitch black and the ride was probably the creepiest/funnest we had thus far (Virgina got sketchy too). It felt like we were going to go off a cliff, the roads were so curvy and dark. When we finally rolled into the town, it was like a blast from the past, except for the fact that every small cottage had a driveway with a corvette or two. We couldn't help but think it was a small town, and someone struck it rich and brought everyone corvettes (like mr. deeds!). We got to the hotel and were amazed at how beautiful it was. It was a lot more than I imagined.

this is the entrance to the Crescent Hotel

check in.

 

Room Keys!

our room!!

the haunted hallways, supposedly ghosts haunt them and the stairs

the hotel lobby!

these are the people that haunt the hotel

all of our shopping at 4am.

too much luggage to bring down for a couple hours of sleep

me enjoying Arkansas!!!

Going through the town during the day was a complete shock, because we imagined it so differently. We had some trouble leaving, but it worked out because we ended up at this festvial in the town. People from all over (mostly the midwest) come for that corvette weekend.  So we found ourselves walking around this great town, antiquing and shopping. I really did enjoy it, it was a great discovery!

my dream home :/

at this point of the trip, my camera broke

we did a lot of shopping in this town, but didn't eat. i ate a terrible piece of quiche from a woman's tent. eek. not good.

back on the road to drive to find a walmart, another 2 hours from where we were.

the drive was beautiful. we passed a town that had a population of 92. I wish I got a picture of it, but I was too busy laughing at it. Because we had to go to the walmart, we took a route that was instate, so it wasn't on a highway, more of a state road for hours. We passed a sonic and stopped in for some food. I had to use the restroom so when I went in all the people looked at me like i had a million heads. The girl that was serving us was as sweet as pie, but she had no teeth!!!!!!!  She was so intrigued that we were passing through from California! And she kept going on and on about how she loved my shoes and my outfit blah blah. Super nice girl, so we gave her a 20 dollar tip, and she was so appreciative about it. Looking around where we were, it didn't look like a town with a lot going on, so I am sure she was glad that we passed through......we also blasted Edward Sharpe the entire time.


NEXT STOP: Memphis, Tennessee. Graceland