Today was Allen's birthday, and the last day of our vacation. We finished breakfast and started packing up the car. We were on the way out of Hot Springs at 9:00 and planned a mid-trip lunch stop at Historic Washington State Park.
This little town was NEAT!! We stopped at the park headquarters (the courthouse) and decided not to do the three hour tour of all the open buildings. We didn't think the little kids would have the attention span to look at antiques and listen about the history of the town for that long. Instead, we opted for the drive by tour of all the buildings -- mostly because I thought the kids would enjoy riding a horse-drawn surrey over the dirt roads.
We all enjoyed the ride and it finished the tour right in front of the tavern at lunchtime. It couldn't have worked out better! We had a leisurely lunch and headed for a mini tour of a home and the blacksmith shop. Our tour guide, surrey-driver highly recommended both.
It was quite interesting how easily I was taken back to another time in this town. They have protected, maintained, and refurbished homes, stores, barns, courthouse, and much more to be as close as possible to what it would have been like in the nineteenth century. Many of the same buildings were there about the time that Arkansas was the wild frontier and Texas was Mexico. The home we visited had an old man acting the part of the Jewish immigrant who actually built the house. He did his best to keep the kids' attention, but they were more fascinated by his white gloves and cane than the story of why his family settled here and how well the walls were insulated. Then we crossed the street to the blacksmith shop where a blade smith was working. He showed us a bit about what all the blacksmiths did, how they used their tools, and some of the things they would have created. Then he talked about his specialty -- the knives. The blacksmith shop is actually where Jim Bowie's famous knife was made on his way to Texas. They had a replica of it there -- he had it specially made because his hands were huge...likewise, the knife. It is the biggest hand-knife I've ever seen.
We had a great trip and we are already planning the next one. It was a great confidence-booster that Allen and I didn't go crazy trying to keep up with the kids. It was quite different than at home when we all have activities that give us a bit more space than we had this week. But, all six of us enjoyed the places, things to do, and each other.
We finished the day with Allen's favorite enchilada meal with a birthday candle wedged into the tortillas. The pecan pie will follow tomorrow after I can get to the store ... now on to conquer enormous laundry pile.
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