November 28, 2007 part 2

Hi everyone!

We left Nashville - even though there are at
least a million things to do there, because we
had to visit lots of people and places before
Thanksgiving!

Nov 8 - we drove as far as West Memphis,
Arkansas, and stayed overnight at the Tom
Sawyer Campground on the Mississippi River. What
a big, wide river that is! All night long
there were huge barges (reminiscent of China)
carrying cargo up and down the river. They were
blowing their horns to get anyone else out of the
way - there were also trains running right by the
campground all night long...have you ever heard
the train whistles blowing as the trains get
close to the roads? The barges and the trains
travel all night long, I wonder if the captains,
crews and engineers get lonely? Does anyone else
remember when Zach was so certain he would be an
engineer? Does anyone remember the trains running
down the middle of Main St Keene? Sarah wanted to
jump on the caboose!

Nov 9 - We drove to Hot Springs Village,
Arkansas, which is where Kens dad, Gordon, and
step-mom, Hazel, live. We stayed there until
Nov 13. Hot Springs National Park is in the next
town. It was a fun place to visit. It was famous
in the 1800's and 1900's for their bubbling hot
mineral waters, and bath houses that were most
specifically for WWI vets, WWII vets and people
with "ailments". Entrepreneurs built these crazy
bathhouses surrounding the waters, complete with
electical shocking devices set in the water, and
many, many people went there to get "better" free
of charge in some cases. They took baths
in the mineral waters, and got massages. The
National Park has restored one of the bath
houses, Forsythe House, and you can take a tour
of it, and see the old giant bathtubs, and the
old medical equipment they used. It was really
interesting!

Ken and his Dad went golfing one day. They had
a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures of Ken, Gordon, Hazel
and me....and one of what Allie did while we were
playing tourist!

More soon!

Love, Mindy, Ken and Allie