Arkansas Civil War 150- Gaze and Graze 17

These pictures were taken at the Confederate Cemetery in Fayetteville.  It was well cared for.

 After a quick lunch, Andrew and I made our way to Pea Ridge.  In all the reading that Andrew and I have done about the Civil War, all the books recommend a trip to Pea Ridge National Park and I agree. Everything is well marked and laid out in a very understandable way.  They have a movie that explains the battle so that when you drive around you have a basic understanding.  They also have a CD you can buy and listen to as you drive around the park that tells you about the battle.

They have fabulous light boards in the visitor center! The lights show how certain troops moved.

Here is the beautiful view of part of the battlefield from the visitor center

zoom in on this picture, please notice the horns on top of this building.  This is the Elk Horn Tavern.   Major fighting took place all around here.

I took this picture for my brother, John, and my children.  This path looks like a path we would walk with my mother at Kennesaw National Park, in GA.

there were some beautiful trees!

by now, we have taken several of our trip shots so we got a little silly and are now saluting!

The trip after we left Pea Ridge was beautiful.  We set the coordinates for our supper destination and off we went.  We went on some interesting roads.  One road looked like the base trail at Pinnacle Mountain.  I was outside of my comfort zone to the max and then...

We came to a sign that said 'One lane bridge'. I thought it would be a short bridge that is just part of the highway.  Oh, my!  If I was in my happy place when we were on the road that looked like the base trail , when I saw the bridge I really had to go to my happy place!!  IT MOVED!!!!  IT WAS ABOUT 150 FEET LONG!!  We made it, whew!

Then we ate supper at Gaskins Cabin.  Can you say yum. Andrew and I both had steak. It was wonderful.  The atmosphere was fun plus the clientele was most interesting.  There were some newlyweds, bikers, real dressed up fancy folks and then some average joes, like us. 

We stayed the night at a cabin on the Buffalo River.  We stayed in cabins that were built in the 1930's under the New Deal plan by Roosevelt.  They are the only cabins in the National Park.  They were nice but I am not an outdoorsey girl AT ALL.  So when I saw a couple of things flying around inside, I was a little uneasy.  There were two beds in the cabin.  One in a small bedroom and one out in the main living area.  I took the bed in the main living area because I wake up so early and then I wouldn't disturb Andrew.  

A few weeks earlier, Kaitlin bought glow-in-the-dark fingernail polish.  She tried it out on my toenails.  It didn't glow.  We were disappointed.  WELL, come to find out we just didn't have it dark enough.  Ask me how I know????  It is dark enough, in a cabin, on the Buffalo, for your toes to glow-in-the-dark.  I almost had a heart attack. I got up to go to the bath room in the middle of the night. When I came back and looked at my feet for some reason.  I just knew some of those things that were flying around, had landed on my feet, maybe even a glow-in-the-dark luna moth and they were moving too.  Just before I screamed for Andrew, it dawned on me what it was.  I calmly got back under the covers and went back to sleep.  I was worn out.

Arkansas Civil War 150/ Gaze and Graze

Andrew brought his little tripod to use to take our picture at every spot we got a stamp or the battle field that was nearby.  Andrew sometimes set the camera far enough away to get us plus lots of the nearby scenery.  In doing that sometimes the camera was a fer piece from where he put me to stand.  As soon as he hit the button and I saw the light flashing signaling that the timer was engaged I had this innate urge to scream The Light is Flashing, The Light is Flashing! Andrew made it in every picture, he even got turned around in each one.  I felt sure we would get him in a fall or his back.

This picture cracks me up because Andrew is using for this picture my cane that I use when I need to give my back a rest.  Whatever it takes!?!

Arkansas Civil War 150/ Gaze and Graze IV

We left our motel about 6:30 to head to breakfast.

I almost didn't go in because although there are windows there were no cars in the parking lot.  Andrew encouraged me to give it a try so we did.  I am so glad.  If you are in Fort Smith, I highly recommend Calico Country.

They give you sweet rolls and yum yum!!





Here is Andrew with his great breakfast!!

Our first stop for the day was Prairie Grove State Park.  This was our fifth stamping spot.  The weather was beautiful- chilly, brisk, clear, amazing! The museum was very informative.  Andrew and I bought the battlefield CD.  It was well worth it.  This battlefield is amazing because so much of it can be seen.

This house has been rebuilt on the spot that it originally stood.  The Union troops burned it to the ground the day after the battle.  The battle took place all around several houses.  The families that lived in these houses hide in the cellar of one house.  When they didn't hear any more shots being fired they came up and saw the destruction.  One house became a hospital. 

 This battle was the last major engagement in northwest Arkansas.  The southern army didn't use this area as an avenue of invasion into Missouri again.

The battle took place across this field.

Andrew took several pictures of us at this stop.  Here is one of them.

This is the first stamping place that we saw a sign for the passport program.

SuzanneP told me what these pods were but I have forgotten.

it was chilly enough for Andrew to put his jacket on!

the driving tour took us outside the park so that we could see all parts of the battle.

can you see us??  This monument was dedicated to all who fought here!

The visitor center is name for Major General Thomas Hindman.  He is buried in a confederate cemetery in Helena/ West Helena.  We saw his grave.  A very neat aspect of our trip was that we saw many of the same names as they made their way across our state.

As we left the park we got to enjoy the beauty of the fall.  We noticed that we saw no pine trees.  

Arkansas Civil War 150- Gaze and GrazeIII

We began our Saturday with Carl's wonderful pancakes and bacon breakfast.  Carl was able to go with us on our first stop of the day.  Andrew and I were sad that Carl and Kaitlin could not join us for the whole trip, but alas, the real world of jobs and working got in their way.

We took our third picture at the beginning of our tour.  We are at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock.  The State House used to have a statue on top but it mysteriously disappeared one night!  The buildings that you see, did house the three branches of the government, here in LR, in three separate buildings that were soon joined together with walkways and then they were enclosed

Andrew loves canon and we saw lots of them.

Here is our wonderful guide at the State House.  She is a retired history teacher.  I don't remember her name but she was great.  Lots of information but the best thing she did was handle a jerk of a guy who joined our tour.  Jerkface man taunted her about the way we pronounce the name of our state.  JF was from Kansas and they know how to say it there.  He also made a few comments about the backward ways of the South.  Really, Really!!  Our wonderful tour guide handled JF with grace and never was flustered, me on the other not so much, Andrew jumped between me and JF because Andrew was afraid of what I would do to JF.  I took some deep breaths and moved to the other side of the group.

Our wonderful tour guide is standing in the room that housed the legislative branch of our government. This is the room that they voted to secede.  Tennessee was the Confederate state with the most Union soldiers and Arkansas had the second most.  Arkansas had just been a state for 30 years before the Civil War so there were not a lot of slaves in our state. There were more slaves in the Delta and Coastal Plain areas of our state than in the mountains of northwest Arkansas.  Arkansas didn't want to secede but Abraham Lincoln, the President of the US, ordered each state to send troops to fight for the Union after the shots were fired at Fort Sumter.  Arkansas voted to secede in May.  

The battle colors of Arkansas are at the State House until February.  Very Cool!!!  These are the flags that certain companies of soldiers carried into battle during the Civil War. Notice that the flags are hung at an angle.  It was explained to us that gravity is a danger to this flags.  

Another exhibit that I enjoyed was the Arkansas's First Ladies' Gowns.

If you go to The State House, ask for a tour. Then after the tour, you can wander around on your own and see things at your own pace.  

We dropped of Carl at home and Andrew and I hit the road.  First stop, Feltner's Watta-Burger.  Can we all just have a collective 'yum!'  Thank you.  We got burgers and shakes and fries and onion rings.  My mouth is watering.  Drive to Russellville and eat there soon!

Next destination was Fort Smith.  The National Park was our first stop.  Lots of info about the west and Hanging Judge Parker.  Here is a replicate of his court room.  There is a neat interactive display that provides lots of background and gives you the feeling of how thing were.

Here is Andrew in one of the jail cells

Here is my artistic shot for Kaitlin.  The skies were very angry looking but we didn't get caught in any rain.

 Here are the gallows used by Judge Parker.

right down the street from the National Park.  A fun museum.

The chair that Judge Parker sat in is behind the big desk.

I do not like loud noises.  Or rather I should say I do not like loud noises. Sorry if you felt like I was yelling at you, I wasn't.  Just needed to get my point across.  So we are making our way to the Museum of History and I see several gun slingers and then some law men and I saw guns and I did what every red-blooded chicken would do.  I ran.  Or rather, I ran.  After Andrew caught me and quit laughing so hard and quit saying 'Mother, you should be on an Olympic track team with moves like that', he ushered me into the museum so we could watch the gun fight from inside, much better.  The gun fight was in honor of Judge Parker's birthday celebration.  I personally can think of about a zillion ways to celebrate a birthday and having a gun fight would not be one of them but that is just me.

for Kaitlin- she did a class on Mayan art, before her class I never saw Mayan things anywhere and now they are everywhere!

 The is a National Cemetery in Fort Smith.  These are always a moving place to be.  All those headstones lined up like soldiers in perfect order.  So peaceful.

This battlefield is in a neighborhood and I soon learned that if Andrew ever said, "Mama, do you mind if I see if I can find another battle field?"  I never knew if that trip would entail a drive through a neighborhood, a dirt road or even another state- we went into Missouri twice!  For the most part I was fine with the side trips but the 3 hours down those dirt roads near Piggott, well, maybe it was 30 minutes but the back of my minivan looks like I've been out mudding with the best of them!!!   This was a beautiful park.  A very cool feature that most of these parks had is an audio program that you dial up on your phone.  Each park has a certain two digit exchange that they have listed.  We could jump out see the sites and then listen to what had happened at the site we were at.

We stayed the night in Fort Smith.  The next morning we almost didn't eat at a restaurant because it didn't meet my 7 car rule but I decided to try it and I am glad I did!!!  More tomorrow!