Today I made Bud play tourist. I told him I needed to get away for the day and suggested Hot Springs, Arkansas or anywhere of his choice. He didn't have any other ideas so we went to Hot Springs. It's about a 2 hour drive from here, northeast.

The little city lies at the edge of more hilly (almost mountainous) land. There is now a huge reservoir called Lake Hamilton that stretches along the southern part of the city and most of the new development is there. Hot Springs National Park (the oldest National Park) is right in the old downtown area. There's a valley between two ridges. That's where the hot springs are and where they started to build bathhouses as early as 1840. There is no development on the ridges, they are part of the National Park and have been protected to protect the source of the water. The valley is a single street with a number of the old bathhouses on the east side and shops on the west side. This picture is looking north along bathhouse row.

Since the major attraction is so concentrated, so are the visitors, and Bud was immediately put off by the density of cars and people. We drove through looking for a place to park and decided to drive on up the park road that goes up Hot Springs Mountain, the peak of the ridge on the northeast side of bathhouse row. We parked and at Bud's suggestion took a 1.7-mile hike around the circumference of the peak. Well, Bud and I hiked. Fuzzy walked downhill in the shade for a while, and then I carried him in his front pack. We decided not to go up the Peak Tower as Fuzzy was not allowed and it was $7 each.

We came back down the hill and stopped at the Happy Hollow Spring, where you can fill bottles from a cold mineral spring. We had one water bottle, so I filled it. It tasted like spring water that you buy in the grocery store, I expected more minerals.

We went back through town and found a place to park on a side street that had two hour parking and no meter, great luck. We were just one short block from the Fordyce Bath House, which is the National Park Visitor Center. Bud and Fuzzy sat out on their shaded porch while I toured the bathhouse. It was very interesting. This one was built in 1915 and operated through the forties. I took pictures of the bathtubs, the complicated and intimidating showers and some of the other areas, including a gymnasium. They also had massage rooms and treatment rooms and a room with some of the first electrical exercise equipment ever made. I realized as I walked through how many people must have made the journey here to treat chronic conditions. After I was done, Bud took a turn through the building while I waited with Fuzzy. I took a couple of photos from the wide front porch.

We then went in search of food. The café we'd been told about in the Quapaw Bath House that had outdoor seating and might accommodate Fuzzy was closing, as it closes early on Sunday. So we ended up just strolling down bathhouse row. The Quapaw looks traditional on the outside, but inside has been renovated and offers huge hot tubs of spring water for folks to soak in. Buckstaff Baths was built in 1912 and has been offering services continuously for 100 years. They still use the traditional bathtubs. We didn't go in either, but I took pictures from the street. The pictures from today are all in the gallery.

We found the "Grand Promenade", a raised, paved, walkway that runs behind the bathhouses and took that back just past the Fordyce where there was a small courtyard with 3 very small open hot springs. Those have been left to show visitors. All the others were long ago piped and capped and run into the bathhouses. We also noticed that the small fountain at the front of the Fordyce was hot. I reached over towards it, but decided that the water was probably close to hot enough to burn me.

By then it was after 3 and we still hadn't found a place to eat so we headed out. We drove home the back way (not on Interstate 30 which runs right from Texarkana to about 15 miles southeast of Hot Springs) and got home at about 5:30 in the afternoon. It was a fun day and a nice break.