LIVE FROM EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS

What a fun little town we are in tonight and tomorrow night.  We arrived in Eureka Springs and had lunch before we took a ride on the tour bus with a narrator telling us the history of this unique little place.  There is only one industry here....tourism.  The town is built in several hollows or valleys and up the steep mountain sides and connected by narrow streets that curve around and climb up the mountain and plunge down the mountain.  Fun in September......I don't know about January or February after an ice storm!

Eureka Springs wasn't established as a town until after the Civil War.  The homes are all in either the cottage style or the painted lady style.  And I took a few (few?) pictures of them to share with you.

There are narrow, curving streets,  filled with little unique shops all along the lower level of the town.  Tomorrow we plan to do some walking and check out those little shops.

 A very nice mural on the wall of one of the old buildings.

 A very large home, owned by one of the original town's richest citizens.  Railroad, I believe.

A lovely hotel, which at one time was a ladies college.  The gardens were beautiful.

 Below that hotel, on this street, is the roofline of a church which is below this street yet. 

 And when you get down to the church, you can look back up at the beautiful hotel on the top of the mountain.

 The church is modeled after a church in Europe.  A very nice little chapel.

I thought this corner between the priest's quarters and the church looked very inviting.

Almost looks like it was decorated by HGTV!

Across the hollow, on the top of the mountain on the other side, is The Christ of the Ozarks, reminiscent of The Christ of the Andes in South America.

A painted lady in shades of pink and rose and red.

One of the oldest homes in the town.

Another pink home.  Actually we saw about 5 pink houses on this tour.

The mayor ordered this house from the Sears and Roebuck catalog and put it together from a kit!

A large lovely lady which was moved here to Eureka Springs from Branson.

I love old houses, so today was a lot of fun for me.  I also love churches, so a little trip we took this afternoon was also fun.  We drove just a few miles west of here to Thorn Crown Chapel.

The road to the chapel was a pretty drive.

See the chapel there just ahead?  You don't?  Really?  Look closer.

See, it's there!  Fits right into the forest, doesn't it?

The windows looking off to the right.  Imagine a service at night, during the winter, with the lights from the chapel shining on the pretty white snow outside.  Wouldn't that be lovely?

Lots and lots of glass in this chapel!  A company from New York comes to wash the windows once a year!

There was soft music playing and people would come and sit awhile, some in prayer, some in wonder, and some in pain.  It was a moving time in a lovely place.  And where does one feel closer to God than when  surrounded by nature?  It was beautiful.