When I started planning my winter journey, I knew that I had to stop in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. In 1974, a month into my senior year, I quit high school after a fight with the school administrator and went to live in Eureka Springs. My sister, uncle and aunt all lived in this enchanted town set in the heart of the Ozarks. The day before I arrived, the town was covered with several inches of snow. It looked like a little Switzerland, a name from its past.

I always say I grew up here, but I should say this is where my adulthood began. Eureka Springs was like nothing else I’d very experienced. The town was filled with retirees, artists, business owners, gays, ‘hippies’, ‘rednecks’, all living in peace side by side. Maybe it was something in the water. After all, it was believed that the springs in this historic Victorian town had magical powers. Today, the same diversity and acceptance still exists.

There have been two other visits to this place in the past 20 years, but this time was different. In my previous visits I was with others people and was showing them the sights as a tourist. This time I was alone and able to revisit the places that were special to me. I found the tiny cabin where I had lived. It is still standing in the same spot, but that parcel of land has been sold and there is a wooden fence that butts up to the front door. The front porch light was still on as though it was waiting for my turn. That tiny cabin consisted of a very small kitchen and bathroom and one room with a bed and dresser. When I hear JoniMitchell, Carole King and Linda Ronstadt, it transports me back to that tiny place.

As I wandered the streets of historic downtown, some things were the same. The courthouse still stands and the Basin Park Hotel is still operating, but the shops and bars of my past have changed. The building where my sister had a boutique now houses a toy store and the art gallery next door is gone. The High Hat bar where men hitched their horses to the light post is now a shop. But the spirit of this place lives on.

I had a wonderful visit with an old friend, Butch Berry. We hadn’t seen each other since 1977. To reconnect with someone who played a big part of my life in Eureka was very special.

This was the perfect place to start my journey. All the memories and the realization of how important my time there was allowed me to fully reclaim that part of my life. I left with great affection and appreciation of this magical place.