Stop Making Me Laugh Or I'll Pee My Pants! Go Back! I Lost My Shoe! Trip Report!

[aaaateamsgrandma]

The Stone Castle Hotel 3050 Green Mtn. Road. (it's the road behind 76) $60 per nite per room, free breakfast. 2 queens per room (800) 677-6906

 

[mickeystoontown]

The Stone Castle Hotel 3050 Green Mtn. Road. (it's the road behind 76) $60 per nite per room, free breakfast. 2 queens per room (800) 677-6906

Thanks! I need to check it out!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hello! Lisa
the room looked nice and quaint...don't think I would have cared for the door, though ...I just act just as snooty to people like that who cares what they think! Danny's clothing of choice is jeans and a polo shirt (all the time--he finally started to wear t-shirts when we went to WDW this past May--told him he would be too hot to wear a polo during the day and would not dry if he was wet...and boy were we wet! )

can't wait to see and hear more...when you can

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Lisa, your thread has had more than 101,000 views!

WOW!!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Now that we had "rested" a bit, we were ready to take a walk down historic bathhouse row.

Hot Springs is famous for their "healing" water baths. Hundreds of years ago, people starting visiting the bathhouses. From what I understand, Hot Springs was one of Al Capone's favorite places to visit.

Several years ago, a flood came through downtown Hot Springs and almost everything was destroyed. They have been working on restoring all of the bathhouses and most are still closed. You can, however, still get the mineral water treatments at a few of them and at several of the nicer hotels.

On to the pictures.

This suite was about four or five rooms down from us:

John waiting in the hallway:

The sitting area outside the elevators:

The floor teller thingie above the elevator. What the heck are those things called anyway? Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

John outside the entrance of the Arlington:

Me outside the entrance of the Arlington:

The entrance:

Looking down the left side of the hotel:

We crossed the street and walked down several blocks just window shopping. It wasn't too busy but the further down the street we got, the more crowded it got. There are several eateries and bars down that way. We crossed the street and walked down in front of the bathhouses just strolling along and taking our time since we didn't have anything planned. The city was already putting up Christmas lights in the park beside the bathhouses and we wished that they'd have them on but they didn't.

Along bathhouse row, there are several fountains with the hot mineral water. Of course, we had to stop and feel the water even though we knew it was hot as heck. Since it was dark, we didn't feel comfortable taking the walkway up to the promenade that overlooks the city. It's quite dark up there so we decided to do that on Saturday.

We continued walking until we reached the Arlington again. I took this picture before we crossed the street.

Before we left home, I had gone to Mapquest and printed out directions to the Convention Center where the diamond dash was to be held. I had brought them with us when we came downstairs so we didn't go back in. We continued walking down the block until we reached the absolutely crummy parking building.

****Gotta stop. Client is on their way to sign papers. Be back this afternoon, hopefully.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Loved the mini update. How beautiful is that hotel!?!?

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

That would be called the "floor teller thingie"

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

That would be called the "floor teller thingie"

I second that - it's a floor teller thingy!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I second that - it's a floor teller thingy!

Aren't we so smart? I had forgotten that name till Lisa said it.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

That would be called the "floor teller thingie"

I second that - it's a floor teller thingy!

I always called it a floor counter; but, I like your name better!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I always called it a floor counter; but, I like your name better!

We will so give Lisa credit. I know it has a real name but real names are meant to be forgotten.

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

Sorry, I had to do it... I goggle'd it. Elevator Floor Indicator.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Sorry, I had to do it... I goggle'd it. Elevator Floor Indicator.

I'll forgive you but I bet I stick to floor teller thingie cause it sounds so hip. Anybody can say Elevator Floor Indicator

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Sorry, I had to do it... I goggle'd it. Elevator Floor Indicator.

I did too!

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

I'll forgive you but I bet I stick to floor teller thingie cause it sounds so hip. Anybody can say Elevator Floor Indicator

 

[mickeystoontown]

Once we made our way out of the crummy, nasty, totally stupid parking building, we took out the map and went in search of the convention center. It looked to be fairly close to historic downtown and we thought that we knew about where it was. It took us less than 10 minutes to find it.

The convention center building was huge. The email that I received said to meet in Wheeler Plaza. We didn't see a Wheeler Plaza. We saw the auditorium, ticket sales, something-or-other section but no Wheeler Plaza. We weren't too worried though because we figured we'd see a lot of folks milling around when we came the next day. We drove down the street a bit and turned around in a parking lot.

Both of us were getting hungry but everything we saw was packed. It was Friday night after all. We ended up driving around for about 20 minutes before we got frustrated and turned into the first fast food place we could find......Wendy's. Not the most wonderful of meals but it was fast and it filled us up.

On the way into Hot Springs, I had seen a Hobby Lobby and I knew I would have to go there before we left town. I absolutely love Hobby Lobby. I go there all the time and get their clearance items and resell them on Ebay. Hobby Lobby and Ebay are my friends. My Ebay sells have paid for our last three Disney vacations. Since we didn't have anything else to do, we decided now was as good a time as any to do a little shopping.

We walked around in Hobby Lobby for a little while and I was megadisappointed. They didn't have a darned thing that I thought I could resell and make a profit. Their clearance prices were high. We left the store without buying a thing.

As we were walking out, we stopped on the sidewalk because there was a car coming from the left. The car stopped and waved to walk on by by which we were doing when a car from behind him zipped past him and almost hit us! He screeched to a stop and we jogged on across. John yells "watch your head!". Dumb bunny me was trying to keep from getting run over and I wasn't even looking at a truck parked in the handicapped parking spot that had a pole sticking out of the back of it. In less than 2 minutes time, I had almost gotten run over and decapitated!

Still shaken, I am walking to the car and am about to hit the unlock button on my remote, when I look down. Umm....I'm always looking down it seems. It's a running joke in the family that I can spot a coin on the ground from a mile away. I don't care if they laugh, I just pick it up and throw it in my purse. Don't see them complaining when they ask for change and I have it rolling around in the bottom of my purse, now do I.

Anyway, I am looking down and I happen to look at the back passenger tire. What's that on our tire? I asked. We squat down and look at the tire together. There's a staple sticking out of the side of the tire. Not a little "let me staple my papers together" staple. It's one of those big "let me keep my prize winning cows from getting out of the pasture" fence staple staples. A big ole' staple. Snot booger fart nugget!

Why us? Why now? Why? Why? Why? Because we were having a good time, not worrying about a thing AND it was Friday.......Friday the 13th!

We're out of town and it's getting late so what's a good ole Southern couple to do? Go to Walmart and buy a tire, that's what!

We work our way through traffic and turn into Walmart which is way down a hill. As we're going down the hill, I notice the front of the building says nothing about Tire & Lube Center. I see Groceries. I see Lawn and Garden. I don't see Tire & Lube! Crap it times ten! We drive down the right side of the building back where there's little to no lighting...you know....the side where the smashed recycled boxes are stored. I'm all but convinced that we are totally and royally screwed when I turned the corner and saw one of the best sights Hot Springs has to offer. Walmart Supercenter Tire & Lube Center. (insert some sort of aaaahhhh, aaahhhh, Hallelujah music here)

There were only three of the doors open and one of the workers was closing up the third. I dropped John off and yelled "run for it before they close the place down!" While he was in the store, I was digging around in the glovebox for the receipt from where we bought the two back tires. It hadn't been very long and we had purchased road hazard on them. I found the receipt and called John to see if he needed it.

Let me stop before I go any further. Used to, we would never have bought tires from anywhere other than a tire dealer. But, when the price of tires kept going higher and higher and they tacked on more and more little charges, we decided to give the Walmart Tire Center a try. The tires lasted just as long as the ones that came from the tire dealer and they were cheaper. Thus, the advent of us starting to buy our tires from Walmart.

*****Darn it! Gotta take this call. Be back in a little while.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I did too!

You know I have to march to the tune of a different drummer cause that's just how I roll.

I didn't use to be so non-conformist. We will blame getting old. My brother says once you turn 60 you can say and do what you want and people will just consider the source and go on.

 

[mickeystoontown]

John said to go ahead and bring the receipt in. The Walmart guy said they are going to see if they can fix the tire. I locked up the car and walked in the store. The guy was on the phone with somebody and I could tell they were talking about us. He was saying "but they don't get off until 8 o'clock." He hung up the phone and said, "we're going to see if we can fix it." (insert more aaaahhhh, aaahhh, Hallelujah music).

John showed the guy our paperwork and he said "you don't have road hazard". We couldn't believe it. When we bought the tires (on May 29, 2009.....count it up....just less than 6 months ago), we thought we had purchased road hazard but the person who rang us up at our local store forgot to add it. Now, we were going to have to buy a new tire if they couldn't fix it. Fruity dootie! Donkey's bootie!

Had we had road hazard, we wouldn't have had to pay for a thing. He gave us a slip of paper and said they'd call us and let us know if they were able to fix it or not.

We wandered the store for about 10 minutes before John couldn't stand it anymore and went back to the tire center. They couldn't fix it. I could hear my wallet whimpering as John told them to replace the tire. Thank goodness, I always always put back an extra $100 whenever we go anywhere. You never know when you might need it. My Mama and Daddy didn't raise no fool.

We go back to wandering the store and I found some really cute boots in the shoe department that I thought Lacey might like. They looked just like some that I had seen at Dillard's a couple of weeks ago and these were only $35.00. We called Lacey and I tried to describe them to her. I must have done a crappy job because we eventually decided not to get them.

I found some really cute Disney t-shirts (the designs) but they looked like they had been washed and worn ten million times. You could see ragged spots in them and the necks were big. They were supposed to look like that too. No thank you. I folded them and put them back. I also found Disney pajama sets. It's a tradition that you get pajamas every year on Christmas Eve. You've got to be wearing new pajamas when you see what Santa brought you. They didn't have smalls so I had to pass.

John was getting antsy and I knew he wouldn't be happy unless we were sitting in the dirty rubber smelling tire and lube center. We walked back and the guy behind the counter asked if we wanted to keep the old tire. He said we could probably take it to a "real tire center" and see if they could fix it. All they could do at Walmart was put a little patch on it and it probably would wear off pretty quickly. John told him we did want the tire and to leave the staple in it.

Finally, they told us the car was ready and I was giving the man my $100 plus $21 more. Whimper, whimper, whimper (picture me with my bottom lip stuck out). Our car was parked out in the dark parking lot and John had me pull under the parking lot light so he could look at it. Like he could see anything in the dark by a measly parking lot light. After walking all around the car, looking at the tire and looking at the tire in the trunk, he was somewhat satisfied and we were back on the road.....an hour later and $121 poorer.

***Up next! Let's do the diamond dash!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

You don't deserve these troubles. Bad Hot Springs, Bad.

 

[Cameo818]

Awww crum bum. I hate getting a new tire. It always amazes me how expensive those suckers are.

I'm enjoying this side trip (although how frustrating you're having all these difficulties!) as well as your WDW trip!