Catch Up!

Wow, So much has happened since I posted last. Lets run down the list real fast and get caught up.

1. I got moved and started my new job here in Tulsa. It's outstanding. The people are great. The paper is great. The assignments.... well I mean it's a slow time of the year outside of basketball, but things will pick up soon.

2. Frances got a job at the food bank here, which is an amazing facility and it's a great opportunity for her to do good work and still be here with me.

3. And the big one is that Frances and I are engaged!

So, now that you are all caught up (give me a while and I will backfill the details) I am going to post a little something about our trip to Eureka Springs, where we plan to get married on Nov 8, 2008.
First of all, if you have read my blogs before, you know that the roads in this part of the country are simply amazing, so if you ride, bring your motorcycle! This is the highway into Eureka Springs. The surface is often pristine and there aren't many straights to speak of. It was very foggy on Saturday. And rainy. And cold.
The scenery on the way in and around the town is just unreal. It's truly a step way back in time.The town itself is cleverly built on the side of a mountain with the streets being an interlocking, tangled mess of switchbacks and steep climbs. Whoever built this place really wanted to live here.
The hotel we plan on having the reception in is on the left here. The Basin Park Hotel. More about that later.
This is a limestone structure built around one of the towns many springs. I forget the name of this one, but it's a steep climb from top to bottom. So much of this town seems to be built of local limestone... including the sidewalks.Here Frances tries on a pair of socks and shoes at one of the hundreds of small shops that line the streets of the historical part of town. The main feature of said socks and shoes? They were dry.After lunch me, Fran and most importantly "The File" made our entrance to meet with the people at the Basin Park Hotel. The hotel is outrageously cool. With art deco touches and turn of the century architecture, we fell in love with it pretty quickly.The Barefoot Ballroom was much cooler than the photos we had seen. With windows all the way around and hardwood floors it will be a great place to see the people that mean the most to us during the reception.There is also this cool little billiards bar on the same floor. All of this is on the top floor of the hotel (7th I think) and the windows overlook the city and the mountains. Hopefully in November there will still be come color in the trees by then.
On our way out of town we stopped by the Thorncrown Chapel to see if they might be open (they are usually closed in the off season) and there happened to be a wedding going on, so we snuck down and shot a few photos, but didn't get to go in. If you want to see more of the chapel there is a great 360 degree virtual tour HERE.
This is what it looks like from the outside. I can't wait to go back this summer and see the inside.

Anyhow, the trip was a blast and it really got me excited about spending time with my family and friends in this amazing little town on what should be a very memorable weekend in Nov.