~~~ Hot Springs, Arkansas ~~~

Hot Springs National Park - Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs National Park has natural areas, historic buildings and cultural landscapes. While you are there you can tour the park visitor center in the historic Fordyce Bathhouse, Stroll by the eight historic bathhouses and the Grand Promenade, located within Bathhouse Row National Historic Landmark District, Drive scenic mountain roads--Hot Springs and North Mountain Drives and West Mountain Drive or Picnic on the mountains... Also across from the historic bathhouse row are many little shops and restaurants to enjoy.

To really enjoy this area you will need a couple of days... Bring your water jugs and fill them up at the many faucets located around town.

While your visiting don't forget to go to the Bucksatff Baths located on bathhouse row to take a bath! It is a very refreshing day! I did and for 60 dollars you will be guided to the dressing room where an attendant provides a bathsheet for you to wear. In the bath halls, you have a private bath tub which your attendant has cleaned and filled with fresh 98-100-degree water. The tubs are large enough for you to stretch out and soak. After the bath you go to a full steam cabinets, then enjoy a Sitz (sitting) tubs filled with 108-degree water. After that you are rinsed off in a needle shower and then lay down on a bed where they apply hot packs to provide heat therapy for specific aches or pains. Then a two-minute cool-down shower is a refreshing, tingling experience and they best part a full-body Swedish massage. Now that is a half of day of being pampered. I loved it!

Enjoy this slide show of the Fordyce Bath House

which is the visitors center for Hot Springs.

It is set up exactly how it was in it's heyday!

Hot Springs Mountain Observation Tower Description
The Hot Springs Mountain Observation Tower stands 216 feet, with views of the park and surrounding area. An elevator swiftly takes you to the second level where there you can read about the history of Hot Springs... Then back on the elevator to the top observation deck. It is a breathtaking panorama view of beautiful Hot Springs, the Ouachita Mountains and the surrounding Diamond Lakes area. It's a great way to start off or end a day of sightseeing in beautiful Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. Please enjoy the slide show of the tower.

Here are a few more pictures of the Hot Springs area... Hope you enjoy

We are leaving tomorrow for Fort Smith, Arkansas. We will be staying right outside of Fort Smith in Barling, Arkansas at the Spring Hill COE park. It is right on the Arkansas River near James W. Trimble Lock & Dam. Our youngest daughter lives near here so we will be hanging out in this vicinity until January 3rd.

Until Later

~~~ Memphis to Hot Springs ~~~

We are moving on to our next adventure... I love Memphis and will miss it a lot especially the barges but I am ready for the next adventure which is "HOT SPRINGS". We will be staying at Crystal Springs Corp of Engineer Park in Crystal Springs, Ar.

We started out today at the crack of dawn. Today's trip is about 329 miles & it is the farthest we have driven on this journey. We really like to get to where we are going as early in the day as we can. That way we have time to set up Tassie & then relax sitting outside with our cocktails, checking out the park.

The interstate was pretty busy with a ton of traffic (cars & semi's)

We have always noticed there seems to be a lot Semi's on I40...

We finally turned off onto I30 at Little Rock, Ar.

and headed south down towards Hot Springs...

Until we came to our exit 111 US hwy 70...

this road was a nice country drive with lots of trees and rolling hills.

We finally made it to our campground around 1:30. We have been here before and it is somewhat a nice park... Not the best I have visited but adequate enough. Some sites are not real level. Very busy this weekend. I think a lot of people are trying to get in there last hurrah before school starts... Crystal Springs COE Park is west of Hot Springs via HWY 270, located on Lake Ouachita. The lake extends approximately 30 miles and has a water surface of 40,000 acres. Visitors enjoy fishing, skiing, scuba diving, boating, and other water activities. Bald Eagles are an attraction for the visitors during the winter. The campground consists of 74 sites, 52 have water and electric hookups (50 Amp). Other amenities include a dump station, fish cleaning station, hot showers, boat ramp, playground, and a swim beach

Until Later