A Quinceanera in El-Dorado, the city of great riches.

Friday found us in El-Dorado, Ar. We were in the city of great riches to celebrate with this young lady her Quinceanera. Our carriage was followed through the main streets and around the courthouse square by the biggest white Cadillac Limousine. It contained her hilariously rowdy escorts. ( well sort of they we all hanging out the windows, and sitting on the limo's doors) What great fun we all had, and the young beauty even got her photo taken by the local newspaper!

A trip to El-Dorado

El-Dorado, spanish for "The Gilded One" A legendary city or historical region of the New World, often thought to be in South America, that was fabled for its great wealth of gold and precious jewels and eagerly sought by 16th- and 17th-century explorers, including Sir Walter Raleigh.

Well....in this case its in South Arkansas, but the experience certainly yielded a great wealth of good times! Being nearly a four hour drive south of us we decided to leave the morning before and overnight at the Bar J Ranch of El Dorado where both we and our horse could stay together fresh and ready for the next days carriage service for the young ladies Quinceanera in town. For those of unfamiliar with what a Quinceanera is you can read about it here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinceanera

At the Bar J we could literally open the door of our very nice hotel room in the horse barn and look right at Duke happily munching away at his hay. Just how cool is that!

The staff at the Bar J are dedicated to personal service and let me tell you they know how to do it. Everything from where to park, help with unhooking the trailer (even in a down pour), where to put our horse, to home cooked meals in the mess hall we had someone there within seconds to help. We started out being happy to just find a place to stay for a job the next day and ended up with an experience that leaves us hungry to return another day for a fabulous western style vacation. I really cant say enough good things about the Bar J experience but I can give you a pictorial glance of it from the pictures I took on our brief visit

http://picasaweb.google.com/hrslady59/BarJElDorado?authkey=Gv1sRgCPuAzNCgvaeh1AE#

You can learn more about all they offer on their website here: http://www.barjranch.biz/

This is a place that I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone who enjoys outdoor activities, horses, and the western lifestyle. Family oriented and kid friendly too!