Getting around town with kids

Everyone who knows our family is aware that we hand-picked the town of Eureka Springs after several years of very extensive research and logging thousands of highway miles. We had very specific criteria to match and ES just came the closest. There are only a couple of small problems we have encountered.

First off is the tourism, which I have to admit has been less of a problem than we had anticipated before we moved. Although, October is supposed to be the busiest month so we'll see how that goes. October (Halloween!) is our favorite time of year, so we were pleased to learn of all the happenings around here for that season. I think we will enjoy lots of "spooks" around town here to celebrate!

My only other complaint, and I know it has been brought up before, is how difficult it is to get around town walking with a child in a stroller. Since we are in the mountains, of course there are some very steep streets. Those are tough, but I can manage. On some of the main streets, however, there are steps on one side of the street while the other side will have ramps. I'm glad at least there are ramps, but they are on different sides of the street depending where you are. So I end up having to cross the same street several times to take the ramps rather than the stairs. I have seen people just waking in the street with strollers, but those streets (Main, Spring, Center) are too busy for that in my opinion. Also, some of the surrounding residential neighborhoods do not have sidewalks at all, so you have to walk in the street. When a car comes, I pull my stroller over into the grass on someone's front yard.

The public trolley system here is simply wonderful. The monthly pass for residents is a mere $5! When you consider that a daily pass for tourists runs $4, we residents get quite a deal! But again, it is a bit difficult with a toddler. Sometimes we take the stroller, but when we see the trolley approaching we have to quickly remove the child and fold the stroller before we board. A couple of times I have worn the baby backpack and just sat on the seat with baby on my back. That worked OK, but was rather painful and hot after a couple of hours around town...

Let's just say I am looking forward to when my little one can walk with us (without running into the street) and not get too tired after two blocks.

Other than those few things, our experience here so far has been wonderful. Our neighbors are great and everyone we've met has been super-nice and welcoming. It seems Eureka Springs is a "melting pot" of sorts, as I have yet to meet a native Eurekan. We've met people who moved here from Oklahoma, Florida, California, Nevada, Tennessee, Colorado, Michigan, New York, Missouri, Texas, and so on. So there is this feeling that everyone who lives here has chosen to live here and works really hard to stay here. That's a good feeling.