Our Anniversary

It was our tenth anniversary, and we booked a four-day weekend at a little room overlooking Beaver Lake in Eureka Springs. They had separate cabins, but those were booked. So I booked a small suite in the main building. When we arrived, there were several deer out front, and they didn’t seem too concerned that we were there. They watched us carefully, but didn’t run away, even when we stared at them. What a perfect place! Our room faced the East, and had a spectacular view of the lake. This was going to be a stress-free, relaxing weekend away from the busyness of life.

So we got to the room, and after quite a bit of information from the owner, we began to relax from the long drive. I laid down on the bed, playing with…I mean, adjusting the bed. It was a Sleep Number bed, and I needed to know what my comfort level was. After ten minutes or so, I got up, and went and sat in the chair.

Dawn looks over at the bed from the other chair where she’s sitting, and notices there is a creature on the bed.

It went something like:

“That’s a weird kind of bug. OH MY GOSH, IT’S A SCORPION!!”

It’s a shame I can’t convey the shivers in her voice, or the mild convulsions on display.

I thought at first, she was mistaken. What would a scorpion be doing on our bed in Eureka Springs? Looking closer, I could see it was a scorpion, alright. About an inch and a half long, it was happily wandering down the edge of the bed, no doubt wondering why I had left the bed for the chair.

I wish I would have thought quickly enough to get its picture to share. But I was still trying to figure out what he was doing there. And, if I didn’t kill it quickly enough, my wife would decide to leave right then for the Holiday Inn. So I knocked it to the floor, and killed it with my hiking boot. It was only after I returned from the bathroom with a wad of toilet paper sufficient to keep me from accidentally sticking myself with the stinger, that I really noticed the color of the carpet.

It was green, and I had noticed that. But it also had plenty of flecks of brown and grey. So it took me a moment to find the dead creature. I say dead because I started to worry that it hadn’t really been dead, but had somehow scampered off under the bed. If that were the case, I would have been joining my wife at the Holiday Inn. I soon found it, a foot or more from where I remember it being, but it was dead.

“I can’t believe it was just crawling around on the bed,” Dawn said. “You were just laying there.”

“Yes, dear,” I thought, “that occurred to me, too.”

Of course, she was pretty unnerved. I played the part of the valiant husband/scorpion killer, and showed her how unworried I was by telling her that there couldn’t be another scorpion in the room. She herself said she had never seen one, so it was unlikely there would be two in the same room. In the back of my mind, however, one word kept rolling through my head.

Infestation.

Great. So now, I would only walk through the room in my shoes, looking with the brightest flashlight I have ever had, checking every square inch of the floor for any more intruders. I would be more than happy to step on any that might be there, but not barefooted.

I’ve been stung by fire ants, a yellow jacket, a red wasp, and even a hornet. I’ve never been stung by a scorpion thankfully.

After a thorough search of the room, including behind the headboard, in the chair cushions, behind the television, heater, chairs, chest, plant and magazine rack, I felt pretty sure we were safe.

The owner had told us about a nature trail that ran down to the lake, and around the property. So we sprayed our feet with Off to keep the chiggers at bay, and headed down. Partway down the trail, there was a small bench. The view of the lake was obscured from there, but it was still pretty. Feeling something crawling on my leg, my mind immediately remembered that word again, but I knew it was likely a fly or mosquito.

So I reached down, and realized it didn’t feel like either. Too small to be a scorpion, I looked down and found the creature crawling up on the finger I had used to brush it off.

“Good,” I thought. “Only a tick.”

“Uhhh…” I said, being the calm leader of our two person group. “That was a tick.”

We continued down the trail, not exactly thrilled with the last two encounters with nature. As we began to walk along a rock bluff, I caught a strange odor. With the first breath, it smelled like some kind of musty algae or fungus. With the second breath, I knew it wasn’t algae or mold. It was something dead. Still undaunted, we continued, where less than a minute later, I spotted what was causing the delightful scent.

It had been a deer at one point it its cycle. I won’t go any further with that.

So back on the porch outside our room, we removed our shoes, finding another large tick. Showers were definitely in order. Two more large ticks and two small ticks later, we felt safe for the moment. Picking my blue jean shorts off the floor to check them more, another one crawled out onto my hand. So the shorts and my shirt went into the bathtub, where they were soaked in all hot water. That killed another large and small one.

We chose to go into town for the rest of that evening.

The next night was our celebration dinner out.  It was at the Crystal Dining Room in the Crescent Hotel downtown.  Dinner was excellent. The meals come with soup, salad, appetizer, and dessert. I had the Chicken Cordon Bleu, and Dawn had the Alaskan Salmon. Expensive, but very good.

The next day was two hours of fairly strenous hiking on trails that were being used for the Xterra Triathalon. We had soaked ourselves in Off, but must have sweated most of it off. After the hike, we paddled a canoe around Lake Leatherwood. Sunburned and exhausted, we headed back to the cabin to clean up.  There was a nice nap, and later, we went for dinner.  We went to a Mexican restaurant on Main Street on the way to downtown.  There was an hour wait, so we chose a Tex-Mex place that wasn't neaerly as crowded.  Maybe not as good, either.

Sunday was the long drive back home, and back to reality. 

As wonderful as vacations are, it's always good to get back home.  I'm ready for a good night's sleep.

After I double check for scorpions.