I am the anti-Snow White. Just like Snow White, woodland creatures come streaming from their forest homes to greet me. But instead of cheerfully offering their assistance in my daily chores, they come at me with a vengeance.
Maybe Snow White wasn’t waited on by pairs of nesting loons, but had she been lakeside I am certain the loons would have dove into the cool depths of the crystal clear waters to bring her lake reeds to dry and bundle into brooms. No such luck with my loon friends. While I admit I do love the loons, I wonder if they ever sleep. Instead of plying me with lake reeds to dry and fresh fish for dinner, my local loons start off my day with an alarm-clock awakening. Yes, even the ‘hauntingly beautiful’ call of the loon sounds more like a fire alarm when it’s piercing cry hits a high note at 4:30 am waking me from well, at least not Snow White-like sleep. And so my day of reckoning with the innocent-looking woodland creatures begins.
My first morning stop is my garden to see which dainty buds have been torn off my plants by the night’s marauding bunnies and deer. How do they know exactly which day the buds will bloom and rip them (only Snow White would refer to deer and rabbit’s incessant foraging as nibbling) from their stalks just before they open their colorful display? And it’s not just night visits any longer—my two little Bambis wait surreptitiously under cover of brush until I depart before raiding my garden in the middle of the day. Just yesterday I returned to spot the two fleet of foot thieves fleeing down my driveway and scattering into the woods across the street.
All of my woodland sparring partners are bold. I used to keep a tomato plant on my deck. But even with constant vigilance, my adversarial neighborhood chipmunk would scurry right up to the plant and pluck off a cherry tomato just before it was ready to ripen, or simply chomp into the sweet flesh and dart away.
Instead of sweetly singing with me and offering a helping paw or wing as I sweep up, I swear the chipmunks and birds are intentionally dropping their refuse just after my broom has passed. I keep my garbage can lid tightly affixed to repel the raccoons intent on flinging my garbage rather than offering their paws to shine apples, poisonous or not, for my fruit bowl.
No birds flit through my windows to turn back my sheets before I climb into bed. No bunnies snuggle on my covers to warm my feet. And the squirrels, rather than keep a lookout for a wicked witch, have chosen to take up residence in my crawl space and chew through all manner of important conduits in my walls. And so I settle down to sleep, one pillow over my head to keep out the sound of creatures chomping through my garden, and wait for the cry of the loon to startle me awake to another day.
IPhones Used For Everything But a Phone
Music, check. GPS navigation, check. Restaurant finder, check. GPS for geocaching, check. Postcards, check. Baseball game audio, check. All that just by plugging my iPhone into the car power adapter. How did we travel around the country three years ago without our iPhones? 
Seriously though, on our drive through the plains states this July, we found our iPhones indispensable, and we rarely used them to make phone calls. We used them continuously while driving for a multitude of other needs, well ‘nice-to-haves’, but they certainly made traveling more efficient.
We got into the car in Topeka and first things first, plugged in both iPhones to the power adapter (real-time GPS drains the battery quickly). Then we entered our destination— in this case a coffee house in Nebraska City. I think I even heard my iPhone mutter, ‘Really, I can find you coffee closer than a 2 ½ hours drive’ Next, audio of choice—in the morning, the iPod, so also plug in the line-in cable. And we set out on our drive north.
Of course, although I use the camera on the iPhone, I still kept my camera close at hand and as I love maps, I kept the AAA state map open on my lap. AAA maps are far superior to any state maps. Honestly I don’t know why all states don’t start with the AAA map for readability and then add their state ads to the reverse side of the map.
As we started thinking about lunch, we’d use google maps on the iPhone to search for a good sandwich spot. Turns out that ‘sandwich’ isn’t a very good search term to find the type of places we were looking for—a place with homemade bread, or hummus and cucumber or a specialty pita pocket with goat cheese. To find those types of places the keywords ‘café’ and ‘bakery’ proved optimal for us. Even though we were in the heart of cattle country we found fabulous vegetarian sandwiches every day for lunch—like the great veggie sandwich at Amanda’s Bakery and Café in Emporia, Kansas—all by using the iPhone.
Mid-day we might take a break for some geocaching. Again, we’d turn to our iPhone and the geocaching app to locate a nearby cache and set us on our way. Then late in the day, being Red Sox fans, it was time for the ballgame. This was the only disappointment in using the iPhone, primarily because AT&T’s data service is outstandingly poor through the northern plain states. We used the audio on MLB when AT&T was able to keep it streaming to our iPhones (rarely). When AT&T failed (most of the time), I provided my own audio version following the play-by-play. I will certainly never be considered for a spot in the WRKO booth for Red Sox games.
Of course somewhere along the way we’d snap a few ridiculous photos with our iPhones and turn them into postcards to send to our kids at camp using Hazel Mail—an easy and fun way to keep them updated on our whereabouts. We felt a special connection to our iPhone as we were uploading one postcard and were directed to ‘wait patiently.’ Sometimes, we had to be really patient. We uploaded a post card in Hot Springs where AT&T’s data service was very slow. We waited while we sat enjoying sandwiches at the Poet’s Loft. We waited while we strolled down the street. And then we continued to wait for the postcard to upload while we put our wallets and phones in lock boxes before our thermal bath. The last words on the iPhone screen as my husband placed it in the lock box were, “continue waiting patiently.” Then the metal lock box was shut, the box was slid into a metal slot in the middle of a bank of lock boxes, inside an office, inside a stone bathhouse in the middle of Hot Springs, Arkansas which rests in a valley surrounded by hills. I wonder how long the phone tried in vain to reach a signal before muttering to itself, ‘where in the world am I?’
Seriously though, on our drive through the plains states this July, we found our iPhones indispensable, and we rarely used them to make phone calls. We used them continuously while driving for a multitude of other needs, well ‘nice-to-haves’, but they certainly made traveling more efficient.
We got into the car in Topeka and first things first, plugged in both iPhones to the power adapter (real-time GPS drains the battery quickly). Then we entered our destination— in this case a coffee house in Nebraska City. I think I even heard my iPhone mutter, ‘Really, I can find you coffee closer than a 2 ½ hours drive’ Next, audio of choice—in the morning, the iPod, so also plug in the line-in cable. And we set out on our drive north.
Of course, although I use the camera on the iPhone, I still kept my camera close at hand and as I love maps, I kept the AAA state map open on my lap. AAA maps are far superior to any state maps. Honestly I don’t know why all states don’t start with the AAA map for readability and then add their state ads to the reverse side of the map.
As we started thinking about lunch, we’d use google maps on the iPhone to search for a good sandwich spot. Turns out that ‘sandwich’ isn’t a very good search term to find the type of places we were looking for—a place with homemade bread, or hummus and cucumber or a specialty pita pocket with goat cheese. To find those types of places the keywords ‘café’ and ‘bakery’ proved optimal for us. Even though we were in the heart of cattle country we found fabulous vegetarian sandwiches every day for lunch—like the great veggie sandwich at Amanda’s Bakery and Café in Emporia, Kansas—all by using the iPhone.
Mid-day we might take a break for some geocaching. Again, we’d turn to our iPhone and the geocaching app to locate a nearby cache and set us on our way. Then late in the day, being Red Sox fans, it was time for the ballgame. This was the only disappointment in using the iPhone, primarily because AT&T’s data service is outstandingly poor through the northern plain states. We used the audio on MLB when AT&T was able to keep it streaming to our iPhones (rarely). When AT&T failed (most of the time), I provided my own audio version following the play-by-play. I will certainly never be considered for a spot in the WRKO booth for Red Sox games.
Of course somewhere along the way we’d snap a few ridiculous photos with our iPhones and turn them into postcards to send to our kids at camp using Hazel Mail—an easy and fun way to keep them updated on our whereabouts. We felt a special connection to our iPhone as we were uploading one postcard and were directed to ‘wait patiently.’ Sometimes, we had to be really patient. We uploaded a post card in Hot Springs where AT&T’s data service was very slow. We waited while we sat enjoying sandwiches at the Poet’s Loft. We waited while we strolled down the street. And then we continued to wait for the postcard to upload while we put our wallets and phones in lock boxes before our thermal bath. The last words on the iPhone screen as my husband placed it in the lock box were, “continue waiting patiently.” Then the metal lock box was shut, the box was slid into a metal slot in the middle of a bank of lock boxes, inside an office, inside a stone bathhouse in the middle of Hot Springs, Arkansas which rests in a valley surrounded by hills. I wonder how long the phone tried in vain to reach a signal before muttering to itself, ‘where in the world am I?’
Photos of Prairie Grass
“Take pictures of the grass, mom.” That was my daughter’s suggestion upon hearing I was heading to the plains states. So when I arrived at the Tallgrass Prairie National Reserve, I was thrilled with the expanse of grasses and flowers in all directions to photograph.
The Tallgrass Prairie is a great stop if you are within 100 miles of southeastern Kansas. Call ahead and reserve a tour on the blue bus- a 1 ½ hour interpretative drive with plenty of stops for walking and viewing the prairie up close.
Just a taste of the prairie life we saw:
Prairie Coneflower
The Tallgrass Prairie is a great stop if you are within 100 miles of southeastern Kansas. Call ahead and reserve a tour on the blue bus- a 1 ½ hour interpretative drive with plenty of stops for walking and viewing the prairie up close.
Just a taste of the prairie life we saw:
Prairie Coneflower
Banded Lizard
Dickcissel on False Indigo
Yarrow 
The soil here has limestone just below the surface, so with the shallow topsoil this area wasn’t suited to farming. Consequently, grazing continued here and the Nature Conservancy has been able to purchase this land. Through careful management the Nature Conservancy is restoring the land to how it may have appeared before ranchers settled the area. That includes the introduction of Buffalo, which is planned in the coming year.
And if you’re looking for a fabulous homemade sandwich on your way to or from the Prairie, stop in Amanda’s Bakery and Café in Emporia Kansas.
Tollbooth dollar bill changer
Having underestimated our driving time from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Catoosa, Oklahoma to see the big blue whale on Route 66, we were racing the sun to get to the whale before dusk. Actually, there is no true dusk here on the plains, just sunset. In any case, a quick dinner was in order so we decided to try a Sonic drive-in as we’d being seeing Sonics in every town we drove through. With temperatures near 100-degrees, we were feeling like we knew what a Sonic was all about as we drove to the far side to park in the shade. But then we looked like neophytes when the condiment attendant came up to the car and we went to take her entire tray from her thinking it was our dinner. Some dinner that would have been—a 100 mini packets of ketchup, mustard and mayo! So from bath attendants in Hot Springs to condiment attendants at a Sonic somewhere near Oklahoma, we were feeling very well attended on our trip along the girth of the country. That is, until we got to the tollbooths in Oklahoma. We are no strangers to toll booths, being from back east, but one particular tollbooth was like none we had ever encountered. Sure we understand that PikePass holders should receive preferential treatment, get the fast lanes without any encumbrance even if that means that toll payers are sent to a single lane off to the right of the highway. And certainly many toll plazas have an exact change lane, coin only. But this was the first plaza we’d ever seen that not only required exact change, but also had no attendant to make change. Instead there was a dollar bill changer at the toll booth!
With the sun sinking close to the horizon, we attempted to quickly feed a worn bill into the changer machine. No luck; not accepted. I doubled checked for quarters in my purse. Having just put in $3 worth of quarters into parking meters in Hot Springs, I was down to only 3 quarters. One option: drop in the 3 we had and drive on through. Like good citizens wanting to avoid a huge rental car fine, we continued scouring for quarters, the sun sinking lower like a second hand ticking onward. Being in a rush never helps a search. Fortunately no one came up behind us as we frenetically continued searching for one more quarter. Finally a fourth quarter materialized at the bottom of our day bag and we were on our way.
We pulled up the big blue whale just as the soon tipped the horizon—enough light to appreciate what water playground this must have been in its heyday. The whale sports a gaping walk-in mouth, two slides out either side, lots of room for running through and even an upper observatory. To be a kid here when the water was clear would have been a treat on a hot summer day like today. Admiring the ingenuity of the whale playground creator at sunset was a great treat today.
Laughing in a Thermal Water Bathhouse
I started laughing uncontrollably while bathing in a porcelain tub filled with thermal mineral waters of the hot springs; the whirlpool bubbles, meant to be relaxing, only increased my laughter. Enjoyable? Quite. What was particularly humorous was that while I bathed in the ladies bath, my husband, who dislikes whirlpools and doesn’t really have a hankering for spas, had taken his loofa mitt and headed off to the men’s traditional bath. Plus here we were on a 100-degree day in Hot Springs Arkansas, sitting in HOT water! My laughter bubbled forth with even more gusto, as I sat in the vapor cabinet.
Literally a metal cabinet with just my neck sticking out, hot steam encasing my entire body. Rivulets of sweat poured down my back and arms. I was even hotter now than I had been walking along the promenade above bathhouse row in the noonday sun.Between each bathing element (tub bath, sitz bath, vapor cabinet, hot packs and needle shower), my bathing attendant BJ would tell me to “stand with your back to me, arms up,” and I was swathed in a full-length sheet wrapped around me like a toga. At $30 including the loofa mitt for an hour traditional thermal bathing experience, the Buckstaff Experience is a good value. Hey, and if you can’t picture your husband at a spa, bring him along too and you’ll get in a healthy dose of laughter.
All laughter and thoughts left my mind as I lay with thermal water hot packs on my back and limbs, a cool clothe on my forehead. Here I could fall asleep. And my last thought before I drifted into a semi-doze was that perhaps my husband too would get in a short nap before we headed out of Arkansas and on to points west.
Little Rock, Arkansas-- full of nice surprises
We started our totally excellent adventure to see a few more states we haven’t visited by flying to Arkansas via Memphis, home of Elvis, the recently deposed king of dead pop stars. There we noted that the restrooms in the airport were marked as Severe Weather Shelters—our first reminder that we were in tornado alley. A second short flight and we arrived in Little Rock—our first visit to Arkansas.
Little Rock surprised us—we didn’t expect to find so much to do or find the city so appealing. However, the highlight was the Robinwood Bed and Breakfast. We have stayed at many bed and breakfasts and this one was outstanding in every measure! The hosts, Karen and Miriam, are fabulously welcoming while still providing us with ample privacy.
Another surprise—the accents we heard were quite mild and in some cases non-existent —no strong southern drawls here. In addition Little Rock hasn’t been hit hard by the recession. Their housing market was never driven up to unsupportable rates, so there hasn’t been a huge downturn. With beautiful, architecturally mixed neighborhoods minutes from downtown, Little Rock is a very pleasant place to live. Our hosts told us about their neighborhood progressive dinners. It turns out that the governor’s mansion is right in the neighborhood, so the current governor is invited and attends the dinners! Apparently he is well-liked, as was Clinton. Huckabee turns out wasn’t much of a neighbor and few, if any, compliments were made of his administration by our hosts.
From the free parking lots to the proximity of the residential area to the small main street, Little Rock is more like a small town than a capital city.
After getting nourishment (we are three meal a day travelers regardless of where we are visiting), we toured the Clinton Presidential Library. Okay, not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a really cool building architecturally and perhaps my photo of the replica of the Oval Office can pass as the real thing. The letters to and from the Clinton’s were particularly cool—inspired me to start writing to the White House occupants and who knows, maybe my letters will show up in a future presidential library.
One great way to get to know a city is through geocaches. So we set off in search of our first (and as it turned out, only) geocache in Arkansas. Having arrived from the rain-drenched northeast we were eager to dry out walking in 100 degree sunshine. Apparently, the locals didn’t see the appeal in walking in the heat and we had the route to ourselves.
Once we had replaced rain moisture with sweat moisture, we made our first daily stop for a milkshake and headed to visit the Little Rock Nine National Historic Site. This NHS is across from Central High School where the nine black students attended in 1957 in an effort to initiate desegregation in Little Rock.
I was particularly moved by the comments of one of the parents of the black students, sending their children into a hateful environment on a daily basis. One student recalled how her parents had told her to keep her emotions in check and not to take the taunts personally; it wasn’t about her, it was about race. How hard for the parents to take such stand in order to better the education of all of the children who would follow in the footsteps of these brave first few.
Tomorrow on to Hot Springs to continue our tour of this very appealing state.
Little Rock surprised us—we didn’t expect to find so much to do or find the city so appealing. However, the highlight was the Robinwood Bed and Breakfast. We have stayed at many bed and breakfasts and this one was outstanding in every measure! The hosts, Karen and Miriam, are fabulously welcoming while still providing us with ample privacy.
Another surprise—the accents we heard were quite mild and in some cases non-existent —no strong southern drawls here. In addition Little Rock hasn’t been hit hard by the recession. Their housing market was never driven up to unsupportable rates, so there hasn’t been a huge downturn. With beautiful, architecturally mixed neighborhoods minutes from downtown, Little Rock is a very pleasant place to live. Our hosts told us about their neighborhood progressive dinners. It turns out that the governor’s mansion is right in the neighborhood, so the current governor is invited and attends the dinners! Apparently he is well-liked, as was Clinton. Huckabee turns out wasn’t much of a neighbor and few, if any, compliments were made of his administration by our hosts.
From the free parking lots to the proximity of the residential area to the small main street, Little Rock is more like a small town than a capital city.
After getting nourishment (we are three meal a day travelers regardless of where we are visiting), we toured the Clinton Presidential Library. Okay, not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a really cool building architecturally and perhaps my photo of the replica of the Oval Office can pass as the real thing. The letters to and from the Clinton’s were particularly cool—inspired me to start writing to the White House occupants and who knows, maybe my letters will show up in a future presidential library.One great way to get to know a city is through geocaches. So we set off in search of our first (and as it turned out, only) geocache in Arkansas. Having arrived from the rain-drenched northeast we were eager to dry out walking in 100 degree sunshine. Apparently, the locals didn’t see the appeal in walking in the heat and we had the route to ourselves.
Once we had replaced rain moisture with sweat moisture, we made our first daily stop for a milkshake and headed to visit the Little Rock Nine National Historic Site. This NHS is across from Central High School where the nine black students attended in 1957 in an effort to initiate desegregation in Little Rock.
I was particularly moved by the comments of one of the parents of the black students, sending their children into a hateful environment on a daily basis. One student recalled how her parents had told her to keep her emotions in check and not to take the taunts personally; it wasn’t about her, it was about race. How hard for the parents to take such stand in order to better the education of all of the children who would follow in the footsteps of these brave first few.Tomorrow on to Hot Springs to continue our tour of this very appealing state.
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