Page 27 - Sun Rays March 2013

MARCH 2013 SUNRAYS | 27
ONLINE: SCTXCA.ORG
Folk Center State Park. “AWonderful Way to Enjoy Yesterday”
is an adventure in yesterday’s Ozark Mountain way of life that
you can see, touch and enjoy today. This is America’s only facility
that works at preserving the Ozark heritage and presenting it in
such an entertaining way. See blacksmithing, pottery-making
and numerous other pioneer skills and crafts. Learn to play the
dulcimer or autoharp, to jig dance or to grow an organic herb
garden. Browse the gift shop.
Dinner tonight will be at the Folk Center. All meals today are
included in your ticket cost.
End today tapping your toes to mountainmusic at our very own
private concert in the beautiful Ozarks.
Wednesday – Following another hearty breakfast at the Skil-
let Restaurant, we will board our motor coach for a three hour
drive to the Victorian mountain village, Eureka Springs. Our
visit begins with a city-operated open-air tram tour of the city,
featuring an experienced local guide. Spend the rest of the day
exploring this lovely village’s shops and historical museum. You
will select lunch and dinner spots on our own.
Hotel accommodations for the night will be BestWesternEureka
Inn in Eureka Springs. Wednesday evening we will attend the
famous Great Passion Play – the last few days of Christ’s mortal
life on earth portrayedwith a dramatic cast of hundreds and live
animals, donkeys, camel, sheep and more. Presented for forty
years, this is the #1 attended outdoor drama in theUnited States.
Thursday – After another hot breakfast buffet, we will make
a one hour drive to Bentonville for another amazing stop. Ben-
tonville, famous as the home of the Waltons of Wal-Mart fame,
is now equally famous as the home of Crystal Bridges. Crystal
Bridges Museum of American Art explores the unfolding story
of America and celebrates the American spirit in a setting that
unites the power of art with the beauty of landscape. Surrounded
by 120 acres of forests, garden sculpture and walking trails,
Crystal Bridges is named for Crystal Creek which feeds the
ponds nestling themuseumdesigned byworld-renowned architect
Moshe Safdie. It is said to be the new museum of this century.
We will have all day at the museumwith an option of spending
part of the day at theWal-Mart Museum. Lunch and dinner are
on your own today. For our last night on the road, we will stay
at Simmons Suites in Bentonville.
Friday – Breakfast at our hotel followed by plenty of time to
reflect on our new treasured memories as we head back home.
Ticket cost includes transportation; 4 nights overnight accommo-
dations; 4 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 1 dinner; and all venue entry fees.
Volunteer Trip Leader: Judy Schlobohm
salad with basil and onions. Enjoy all of the entrees – blackened
tilapia with lemon-caper butter, chicken with Jarlsburg cheese
andDijonmustard, and bow tie pastawith veggies. Themeal also
includes creamed cabbage (to die for!), green beans, and brown
sugar carrots. Enjoy the scrumptious buffet, but save room for
their specialty dessert, bread pudding with Jack Daniel’s sauce.
Lunch comes with coffee, soda or iced tea, and youmay purchase
additional beverages before our feast. After lunch feel free to
roam the grounds.
Note: The bus is not able to enter the grounds, so youmust
be able towalk about a block fromthe street to the house.
Deadline for ticket purchase is Monday, May 6.
Ticket cost includes transportation and lunch.
Volunteer Trip Leader: Ellen Mire
The Ozarks - A Natural State - NEW!
Monday, May 13 – Friday, May 17
$525 pp double occupancy; $590 pp single occupancy
Depart The Oaks Monday, 7:30 a.m.; Return Friday, 9 p.m.
If you enjoyed last
year’s Branson trip or think youmight love the
Ozarks, here is another trip for your “must see”
list. Visit three unique parts of Arkansas – the
Natural State.
Monday – Be prepared for a long drive! We will stop along the way
(all meals today are on your own), but it will take approximately
ten hours to arrive in Mountain View, AR. We will spend our
first two nights in the comfortable Ozark Cabins at Dry Creek
and enjoy breakfasts at the Skillet Restaurant.
Tuesday – After a hot breakfast buffet we will visit Blanchard
Springs Caverns. Entering theworld of the underground is always
a thrilling experience! You must visit these caverns to truly un-
derstand and appreciate their beauty. Wewill travel theDripstone
Trail, led by a knowledgeable Forest ServiceGuide. The tourwinds
through water-carved passages including an underground river
and the world’s largest flowstone. You will experience a constant
58 degrees F, so bring a sweater or light jacket; the humidity is
close to 100 percent. The tour covers 4/10 of a mile in an hour; it
is an easy walk with two rest-stop seating areas along the trail
if needed. There are fifty stair steps to negotiate, but for those
who cannot manage them, there are alternate trails bypassing
some formations. Bats are rare so don’t worry about running
into them! There are tiny cave creatures such as salamanders
and crickets for you to see as well as nearly every type of calcite
formation found in limestone caves. This includes delicate, hol-
low soda straws to massive flowstones and stalagmites. You will
be touring the two major rooms in the upper level of the cavern
system. The Cathedral Room is long enough to hold three football
fields and still have space left over.
After a picnic lunch at Blanchard Springs, it is on to the Ozark
OUTINGS
Purchase your tickets for CA Sponsored Outings atwww.sctxca.orgor at the Member Services Office.
Tickets for outings listed for the first time will be available Friday, March 1, at 8 a.m.