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| On the hiking trail in Hot Springs National Park |
Did you know that this year marked the centennial of the
National Park Service? Do you know how
many national parks there are?[i] How about total elements in the Park Service?[ii] I do, and I am on a mission. If you have read any of my musings, you know
that I LOVE getting outside and enjoying these bits of natural treasure. I wanted to make sure I celebrated the Park’s
Birthday by visiting a few new places… I wanted to up my park number a
bit. At the same time, my boyfriend
wanted to join me on one of my park visits.
He was new to this type of trip-quest.
He wanted to see what I saw and enjoy the beauty and the history, yet he
is not a hiker. (Heck, I have not got
out enough the last few years). So
looking over the list of parks, I decided the perfect spot was Hot Springs National
Park in Arkansas.
I have been to Arkansas only one time before, and it was a
side trip off a trip in Texas. On that
Arkansas visit, I focused on the southwest quadrant of the state – visiting Hope
(Clinton’s birthplace) and the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. I wasn’t that far from Hot Springs the first
time, but I just ran out of time. That heat while in the park, in June, was
awful and wiped me out. But I also was
gobsmacked, Arkansas was beautiful. It
was nothing like I pictured in my head as a flat dead brown land– instead I saw
beautiful waterways, rolling hills and plenty of green. So a special trip to Hot Springs in late
autumn sounded like a good plan.
To get there, we flew to into Little Rock. For a three day trip, I planned to spend 1
full day in the capital city and a day and a half in the resort town. We had a plan, and we needed one if we were
going to fit all of it in. I fully admit
that I have in intense pace when I am power touring, and that is not for
everyone. I have gone easy on prior
trips with my partner, but he was warned that we had a mission. So, from the moment we stepped off the plane
until the moment we got back to the airport, we were cooking. It was funny (for me). I think he is still tired from the
experience!
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| Walls of plates at the Flying Saucer |
Our first stop, once we got off the plane, was the Flying
Saucer for a late meal and relaxation. This
place came highly recommended from some plane seat neighbors, who told me it was
an eclectic “must- see” locale that was casual, open late and in a great area
of the city that we could not miss. So,
we headed straight to the UFO pub for some grub. Immediately upon entering, you notice that
the walls are lined with plates – those cheesy decorative plates. And they are from all over the place. We were seated in front of a HUGE big screen
television showing the game, and I could not stop scanning the walls looking at
all the places the plates illustrated.
Mixed in, and on the ceiling, were color ringed plates with names – and this
was where their “wall of fame” was enshrined.
The Flying Saucer is known in Little Rock for its beer list - Over 200
kinds. And if you register, and finish
the list (NOT in one setting, but many), you are immortalized on a plate. So, as we chowed down on loaded tots and an arugula
and prosciutto pizza, I read crazy plate sayings. This place is a trip. And it has spunk – it was that perfect casual
meal in a place with character.
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| Junction Bridge |
After food and drinks, we headed to the waterfront to walk
over Junction Bridge, mosey down some pathways and settle our food. We were lucky it was a gorgeous evening. For
once (in a blue moon) the weather cooperated with me and the sky was
clear. So we were able to walk across
the river to take in our first real views on downtown Little Rock. Thanks
to historical preservationists and green space planners, efforts to keep bridges
over the River standing and make them pedestrian accessible, have been a huge
hit. This area was one spot everyone told us to visit when hearing about our
weekend adventure in Arkansas. The three
bridges over the Arkansas River are one of the most iconic views in the city. Postcards are littered with these views...Especially
at night when their colors play on the waters.
Wandering the pathways to look at the sculpture art by the river was
another story. We did not see much
outside of the pavilion and one of the main things I left on the table in
Little Rock was finding the “Little Rock” that the city was named for… it was
down that path somewhere.
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| Little Rock Skyline from the Clinton Library |
The next day began our power tour of Little Rock. We needed clockwork precision to make this
all work. I wanted to fit in 3 museums,
a park, a distillery and a damn bridge before we headed to Hot Springs that
evening. I am a bit ambitious, I admit.
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| Art Deco in abundance at Little Rock Central |
To meet our goals, we made sure we were at the Little Rock
Central High School National Historic Site the moment it opened. You can’t come to Little Rock without seeing
this bit of civil rights history. We
arrived before it opened and I was able to beg our way into the first tour of
the day. (Note for future visitors, make a reservation) The fantastic ranger walked us through the
history of the Little Rock Nine – beyond anything we learned in our few
paragraphs in a school text book.
Sitting in the visitor center, we spoke as a group discussing the doctrine of “separate but
equal” and what it meant here; uncovering nasty truths of
how city and state
leaders conspired to ensure that students would not integrate even after the
Brown vs Board of Education ruling (ruling that separate was not equal), and
then hearing the accounts of everything these children and their families
endured just so they could attend the best public high school in the city. Did you know that city leaders actually shut
school down for a year? No, neither did
I. They fail to mention that in the
textbooks. And just when you thought the
city had reached a low, we walked through the Little Rock 10 (yep, it started
as 10)’s walk to school. The experience
was enough to make you cry, feel disgusted and be fighting mad at the same time. You can’t visit this place without being
inspired by the bravery of these students.
I am in awe – pure awe. It touched
me deeply.
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| This HS remains state of the art |
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| Purses by the Decade at Esse Purse Museum |
After the high school, we needed a mental break. So, I dragged my boyfriend to the Esse Purse
Museum. Located in the South Main Street
District, this museum is the ONLY purse museum in the country and only 1 of 3 in
the world. Anyone that has ever dumped out a women’s purse, or tried to find something in
it will tell you that you can tell a lot about a person’s life from their purse
contents. Here you can track the evolution of the 20th-century American woman
through the bags she carried and their contents – it offers a glimpse at the life
of women. And while he begrudgingly came
along, the boyfriend actually ended up having fun.
He appreciated the small museum for its story
, and for the fun – he busied himself finding things that were familiar,
laughing at some of the bad fashion of his youth (and the 90’s – yuck),
pointing out stuff he thought I would like and taking my purse to the weight
station to compare bags! (In my defense, my purse was filled with a camera,
water bottles, and maps. ) Me? I loved this place for its story and
message. I loved the fashion review, but
more importantly, I loved how it clearly showed a link between fashion and
feminism. I wish this place wasn’t so
far away because I would love to bring my mom (my fashion icon and ex model)
who taught me everything I know about good fashion choices.
He appreciated the small museum for its story
, and for the fun – he busied himself finding things that were familiar,
laughing at some of the bad fashion of his youth (and the 90’s – yuck),
pointing out stuff he thought I would like and taking my purse to the weight
station to compare bags! (In my defense, my purse was filled with a camera,
water bottles, and maps. ) Me? I loved this place for its story and
message. I loved the fashion review, but
more importantly, I loved how it clearly showed a link between fashion and
feminism. I wish this place wasn’t so
far away because I would love to bring my mom (my fashion icon and ex model)
who taught me everything I know about good fashion choices. |
| Presidential Park Wetlands |
By this time, the boyfriend
was starving. We had skipped breakfast
to make it to the High School on time and it was now pushing 2pm...but sorry
hon, we have another appointment for the last tour of the day at the Clinton
Museum and Library at 3pm. We had just
enough time to walk some of Main Street and stop for the magical ice cream at
Loblolly Creamery. They have the craziest
flavors. After trying a few, he ended up
with Cornbread and I decided on S’mores with actual gram cracker. Good stuff needed to hold us over.
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| Clinton Library from the pedestrian bridge |
We made it to the Library in
time to sign up for the tour and watch the Clinton retrospective
mini-film. The tour walked us through a
model Presidential conference room, and into the archives and the hall of gifts;
the guide held no punches talking of the highs and lows and in-betweens of the
Clinton Presidency – balanced budget vs impeachment vs NAFTA. The main archives are separated into topical
sections and centered on the presidential timeline – it was a great way to
revisit his presidency . The guide thrilled us with the idea that at any moment
Clinton could pop by (if he was in town) since his office and apartment was in
the facility. The building is modeled
after President Clinton’s guiding principle, Building a Bridge to the 21st Century, as it sits right near the
edge of the river. Outside, you can walk
over another bridge … the Library is credited with saving Little Rock. It brought people and businesses back to
downtown, (like the area we were in the prior evening). The location of the Library was risky since
it was filled with burnt out warehouses – now, there is reclaimed riverfront
(and a boardwalk walkway to learn about wetland ecology) and the Library hosts
special exhibits for traveling shows – such as the Beetle’s Retrospective we
were able to quickly view.
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| Rock Town Distillery Barrels |
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| Big Dam Bridge |
After power walking the wetland
pathway to see what they highlighted, we headed off to the Rock Town Distillery
(in one of those warehouses nearby). After
a day of history, and power touring, I figured the boyfriend needed something
he could relax at… sadly they did not have food, so once the samples came out,
he got drunk. The tour was simple – 3 stops
– the barrels, the fermenting room and the bottling machine. I truly think the crowd was there to taste –
and taste they did. I smelled a lot of
them – just not my thing. After the tour
and tastings we headed for food, finally, to a highly recommended Rebel Kettle
Brewing right up the street for good burgers and a chance to sit. Because the last thing we were stuffing into
our Little Rock Day was Big Dam Bridge. We
asked just about everyone at the brewery what we should do before we left and
everyone agreed that we needed to walk this bridge. So we did, and it was beautiful.
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| (Part of) Bathhouse Row in the Daylight |
Once we were back in the car,
the boyfriend passed out (poor guy) and I drove us the quick 1 1 /2 hour trip
to Hot Springs.
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| The Arlington |
I was excited to get
there. People all day had been telling
me how beautiful it was… they had asked where we were staying… and the mixed
replies should have warned me. I had
booked us 2 nights in The Arlington, the art deco crown jewel at the heart of
the town. Everyone said it was a
beautiful hotel – and it was… not everyone agreed that it was the best place to
say, just was the most convenient.
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| Bathhouse Row to The Arlington |
It
was that too. Beautiful and convenient. That is all I can say because the staff,
service, room and food still leave me fuming.
But this is a happy blog, so if you want to read about it, head to Trip
Advisor or contact me privately… I would just say, stay in a B&B, that is
my plan if I go back.
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| Hot Springs near the Promenade |
Once we got there and
survived check-in, I immediately headed out for a walk on the street. I needed to cool off and this was a good way
to get a lay of the land. Bathhouse Row
was literally right out the front door, as was the famed Promenade. I walked past all of that to the edges of the
“city” streets – in both directions. I
touched the famous waters pouring from fountains and I noted the water fill
stations. I found a naturalistic
rock/gem shop and went in (of course), and learned some local history and local
“must-sees/eats” from the shop owner –
we covered founding history to the nation’s first army/navy hospital to recent
changes and catastrophes (floods and mud slides). All this history boiled down to a lot of
death for a tiny town… so of course there are ghosts, lots of them. Then she and her partner told me about their
ghost stories… WOW. I don’t think I
could have worked there.
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| Take a Bath at the Buckstaff |
The whole purpose of coming
to Hot Springs was to experience the baths. These waters were so legendary the whole town exists because this was the place to come if you were sick. They were magic waters. (Now science knows that they are naturally heated by ratioactivity!)
So, the next morning after a god-awful, disgusting breakfast at The
Arlington (sorry, I had to tell you – YUCK), we headed straight to the
Buckstaff Bathhouse. I learned from the
park site that the Bathhouse was 1st come 1st serve, and
that only 2 Bathhouses in Hot Springs still offered bathing services. We got there and went right in (whereas by
the time we left there was a line).
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| Each Bathhouse was unique and beautiful Qupaw Bathhouse |
Neither of us had done this before, but we were up for the experience –
so off to our respective gendered sides… there we were wrapped in a white sheet
and unwrapped and rewrapped multiple times.
First up – the whirlpool bath – a deep soaking tub where you can just
relax for 20 minutes. From there you
scrubbed down and then put on a table to be wrapped in hot towels for a while
before you are moved to the shitz tub where your butt and lower back are submerged
in a sitting tub. Then off to the steam
closet to sweat before your needle point shower to rinse off. After all that exposure to the magic water,
you are sent off to a massage. I will
admit, by the end, my skin was baby smooth and soft and I was completely
relaxed. I can’t say that it cured my
ails, but by boyfriend insists he was more limber and felt better-Joints felt better. Perfect!
Just what the doctor ordered.
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| Sunset over Hot Springs Mountains |
That great experience set us
up for a fast paced rest of the day – with a Duck Tour to the Lake Hamilton (a
picturesque residential lake south of the center of town), a tour of the Park
Visitor Center Bathhouse – the gorgeous Fordyce (those stained glass windows in the male rooms
were simply breathtaking), lunch at Superior Bathhouse (renovated as brewery
Hot Springs on Tap – HA). ), window shopping in downtown, bath product
purchasing at the DelMar Bathhouse and other specialty shops (because there are
a whole lot of them in town and none of them are Lush!) … then a quick change
of clothes and off to a see the sun set at the Mountain Tower. While
the Tower itself was closed (we went back Sunday), we did stay to watch scene
play out from the pavilion. So, over the
burbs of Hot Springs, with a view of the Hot Springs mountains folding over
each other, we watched as the sky flashed a brilliant pink and purple for just
a minute… and then it was gone and we were off… we had a show that night!
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| Maxwell Blade and his HUGE card tricks |
We had tickets for a magic
show – the magic show, the number one show in Arkansas (according to all sorts
of promotional material). The Maxwell
Blade show was a fun and entertaining mix of comedy, illusion and
performance. He was a Vegas act before
he set up his gig in this resort town… kinda brilliant if you think about
it. He has no competition in the
evenings. You want to go out and do
something when visiting, this is it… and he was good! We laughed and ohhed/ahhed for over an hour
at card and ball tricks and dropped our jaws at some truly cool stuff with
liquids, sands and other more. Good
stuff! Credit goes out to the young girl
who volunteered to have her head cut off in the guillotine and the boy who
reluctantly pulled the cord… they were
full of gravitas. By the time the show ended around 10pm we were starving, so we
followed the advice of locals who told us to head to the Ohio Club, the oldest
place in town (old as in original).
There we listened to live music while sitting at a stunning solid oak
bar and chowed down on their burgers. By
the time we got back to the hotel, we were relaxed and satiated.
Sadly, I undid all the good
work done by the bathhouses the next morning when I went for a fantastically
challenging hike through the National Park.
As I said, my partner is not a hiker, so after another god-awful
breakfast at the Arlington, I headed out on the trails and he headed to the
Gangster Museum. Our plan was I would
hike for 3 hours, shower and we would head to the gardens before our flight
out. It sounded doable. The day before, I had a ranger at the visitor
center suggest some trails for me and map out a plan to see some great
overviews. She said it was going to be
tough and she was right. Normally a 5
mile hike is a piece of cake for 3 hours, even allowing for me to take my
camera out… but that was before I met Dead Chief Trail (and a few others).
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|
View From Goat Rock
|
YES, I did it – with some time to spare and I
did get some great pictures, but wow, I felt that climb for days after. The road we took with the car to the lookout
tower was filled with switchbacks, but Dead Chief Trail just went straight
up. HOLY GAWD. That is all I can say is HOLY. I was unhappy – it wasn’t a pretty trail,
with a fence on one side and the road switch backing on the other – I was not
sure that this endeavor was worth it and cursed it the whole way up … but then
I got up to Goat Rock Trail and saw the views of the folded mountains. So, sure, I could have driven to that view
point (and we did for him), but I like to think the view is more joyous when
you earn it with a butt-breaking hike up a mountain to see it!?!!?
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| Anthony's Chapel entrance |
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| Lookout Tower from the Trail |
I made it back to the
Arlington to shower and check out (after employees walked into the room while I
was showering – not kidding)… and we were off again. We had a few hours and more than a few things
to squeeze in. So we drove back to the
Tower (that I passed on my hike) and then drove to the North Mountain Overlook
(that I passed on my hike) so he could see some beautiful views and really appreciate
my crazy hiking brain… then we headed to the other side of the park for a view
of the west side before we took off for the Garvan Woodland Gardens to see
Anthony’s Chapel (a chapel that perfectly blends into the woodland
surroundings) and a few of the garden plots at this University of Arkansas
site. We wanted more time at Lake
Hamilton but we ran out of time… we had a plane to catch.
And that is how you power
tour with me! Whew!
[i]
There are 59 National Parks in the US System as of November 2017. Counting Hot Springs, I have visited 39.
[ii] There
are 546 units in the Park Service (as of the end of November 2017)Parks,
Monuments, Historic Sites and Parks, Recreation Areas, Sea/LakeShores, Reserves,
Preserves, Battlefields, Cemeteries, Trails, Rivers, Parkways and other
designated areas. According to my notes,
I have been to over 150 of them. I have
a long way to go.
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