What's After Work?

 Day 11, Heading to Bentonville to see the People of Walmart .  Yea I know this is a little late. Life gets in the way.   October 18th we arrived in Bentonville AR. After checking into the Home 2 Suites in Bentonville we decided to visit the Walmart Museum . This is located in the original Walton 5&10 and has the story of Sam Walton's humble beginnings and the rise of Walmart to what it is now. It was interesting to see all the history of the store. We even got to see the Medal of Honor given to Sam Walton by George H.W. Bush. The museum was set up like a time-line of the growth of Walmart through the years. This was interesting to see and remember what I was doing at diffident dates.  Sam Walton's office was recreated in the museum as he left it the day he died. It was a time capsule from the 1990s.  His pickup truck was also there also preserved as he left it.  For dinner we decided to try out a restaurant recommended by a  New York Times food cr...

 Day 6 , October 15, Hot Springs. Here we stayed at an AirBnB on Lake Hamilton. It was very nice but before we got to our new residence (If you are keeping track this is the 5th place we've stayed so far on this trip) we stopped by downtown Hot Springs for a tour.  We started at the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center. This is the park headquarters and has been beautifully restored. We were able to tour the bathhouse and see how it looked in its prime.  The sculpture of the Spanish Conquistador  and the Tiffany stained glass ceiling were in the men's tub and steam room. The ladies section was not quite as well appointed.  Here is the women's dressing room . While nice and functional it was not quite up to the standards of the men's room. Down the hall from this room was the third floor sun deck where the ladies could catch some sun without any prying eyes. I'm not sure how much sun they got because the outfits displayed there were long sleeved, ankle length dresses...

Update on Day 1 , Jacksonville I'm pleased to announce that on October 28th Elizabeth and Cody Sims had a 5lb 2oz baby girl. They are all healthy and happy. I look forward to meeting my new grand niece. Day 4 , Memphis, TN. Today we traveled from Huntsville to Memphis, home of Elvis.  We checked into our lovely AirBnB on Adams street within blocks of Beale Street "Home of the Blues"  That evening we drove over to Beale Street to have dinner, explore and go on a Ghost tour . After dropping my charges off at the Blues City Cafe I found parking in a nearby parking garage. While in the garage I took a picture of where I left the car so I could find it later. I texted this picture to my son Austin, who visited Memphis during a college bowl game, and commented on the aroma and patina of the parking garage. Austin responded "That's how Beale street does!"  After taking a look at Beale Street I found my group already seated at the Blues City Cafe. The cafe was bus...

  One of the many ideas for retirement I had was to visit as many of the National Parks as I can. I have visited to date 6 parks, Several I visited before I retired but I'm counting them. The most recent park visited is the reason for this trip. Hot Springs, a National Park where I can soak in a hot tub and get a massage. What's not to like! As you can see from the map the route went to more places than just Hot Springs. This was an adventure planned by a committee. Jan and I asked our friends Mark and Jenny Cashen and Jan's sister Patty Whitehouse to come along with us on this adventure. This was the committee.  I thought we could drive about 500 miles a day and make it there in two days. But when this plan was presented to the committee suggestions were made that we include a stop here and a visit to there and before you know it a simple one week trip to hot springs turned onto an eighteen day jaunt from Tampa to Bentonville Arkansas and back. Day One , Jacksonville, F...