Ozark travels
I spent last weekend in the Ozarks. My brother received his doctorate degree from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Mo., so the family made a weekend of it.
We spent a lot of time in the Ozarks when I was kid — even took my honeymoon there in 1980 — but I haven’t been back much. We had a great time.
Springfield is an interesting place and has a beautiful downtown ballpark for its Texas League franchise. John Q. Hammons, the hotel magnate, is Mr. Springfield and helped fund the ballpark, which is named for him. Hammons’ field is not the Brick, but it’s still very nice.
The Texas League is an interesting configuration. When I was a kid, before the Rangers came to Arlington, the Texas League had teams in Dallas and Fort Worth and even Houston (before the Astros). Teams were in Amarillo and Beaumont and El Paso and Austin. Even Oklahoma City.
Now, some cities have moved up to the majors and some up to Triple A, and the old Southern cities — Jackson, Miss., and Shreveport, La. — have been replaced. The Texas League now has a South Division, which is really the Texas Division (Frisco, San Antonio, Midland and Corpus Christi) and the Ozark Division (Springfield; Tulsa; Little Rock, Ark.; and Springdale, Ark.). We drove the first day to Eureka Springs, Ark., then up to Springfield the next day, so we went the turnpike to Tulsa, then the Cherokee Turnpike to Siloam Springs and through Springdale to Eureka. Think about that. I hit three Texas League cities all within probably 150 miles.
Springfield is most known for the original Bass Pro Shop. And it remains the only Bass Pro I’ve ever entered. Sorry Bricktown. I went to the Bass Pro in Springfield in 1991 and returned last weekend. I’m told the Springfield version is the best, that it’s much bigger. I didn’t really shop, but I certainly took my granddaughter around to see all the live animals and exhibits.
We had dinner at Hemingway’s, which is on the fourth floor of Bass Pro, and is one of the best meat buffets I’ve sat down to. It was almost like a Brazilian steakhouse, where they walk around with these big slabs of meat for you to eat. We had snapper, Santa Fe chicken, carved roast beef and ham, crablegs and probably some stuff I’m forgetting. I’m no big fan of crablegs; the meat is wonderful but it’s too hard to pull out.
We drove up from Eureka Springs, Ark., on Friday afternoon, which means you go past Branson, and I hadn’t been to Branson in at least 10 years. I went to Branson quite a bit as a kid, so I still picture the only winding main highway through town that was a major traffic jam. Dozens of music theaters lining the streets but no side streets that could take you anywhere. Now, of course, there are highways and hospitals and strip shopping malls and no telling what else. An amazing transformation. Not that I really desire to ever do more than drive past.
Eureka Springs, on the other hand, seems the same as 30 years ago. Eclectic downtown, dozens and dozens of bed & breakfasts, the highway at the top of the hill that has some tradition commerce. We stayed at a B&B minus the second B; no breakfast included, which is fine with me. My brother booked us a house for our party of 10, and it worked well, although I’m not really fond of B&B’s. I like comfort more than quaint. I like modern amenities, like cable television and ice machines, more than antique furniture.
We had dinner Thursday night at a place called Ermilio’s, an Italian joint in an old house, and it was very good. But the most memorable dining experience came Friday at lunch, when my brother found us a place called Oasis, supposed to be the best Mexican in town. We walk in — six adults and two babies — and the place had like six little tables. But the woman said we could have the big room in the back. We park the stroller outside and walk to the back, only to find a room that was probably 18 feet long and 41/2 feet wide. Three little tables sat separately against the wall, so we split up and went about our business. At the end of the room, where my brother sat, was a door that we thought led back to the kitchen. My granddaughter tried to open it but we said no. A few minutes later, here came a woman who walked in, stopped sort of suddenly, then regrouped and made some pleasant comment and went to the door. It was the bathroom. Worse yet, the commode sat right in the front corner of the tiny bathroom, so my brother could have reached out and touched the toilet if the wall wasn’t in the way and could easily open the door without getting out of his chair. For the next 30 minutes, a stream of people used the facility — Oasis was a local hotspot — and my brother, who has a little George Costanza in him with some neurosis about public bathrooms, got to sit there with a ringside seat. I told him to enjoy his enchiladas.
A few travel tips:
1. Don’t take the Creek Turnpike in Tulsa unless you know rush-hour traffic has I-44 backed up. The Creek is not a time-saver.
2. The drive on the Will Rogers Turnpike — Tulsa to Joplin, or vice versa — is underrated for its landscape. Much of it looks like it still could be the scene for “Oklahoma!”
3. If you’re in Eureka, use the trolley. Trolleys go all over town, with convenient stops, and it saves parking hassles.
4. Don’t give money to beggars. You meet some true down-and-out people in big cities. But not in Eureka Springs. Shops and diners always are looking to hire, and they’re not all that choosy. So when a kid, probably 19 years old, on a skateboard hit me up for loose change in the city park, I was glad to tell him to get lost. I gave away some money in Chicago; I wasn’t about to do it in Eureka Springs.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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The “enjoy your enchiladas” comment made me laugh. Don’t let the big city fool you, there are plenty of opportunities for “beggars” to turn their life around but most choose not to. In my opinion, you’re better off not giving money regardless of whether you are in Eureka Springs or Chicago.
Richard White
NYC