A Hot Springs Birthday Getaway

May is such a beautiful month. This is mostly because I was born in May so many years ago. It is also the time of year where school ends and I get some freedom. This year May was also special because it meant me saying goodbye to the Ozarks, my home of four years. I convinced man-half to take a quick weekend trip down to Hot Springs National Park. I didn't know if we would ever be so close again and this is the only national park in the area. It is also the smallest national park in the entire system and is uniquely constructed around the hot springs and mineral water. Thus, birthday weekend road trip y'all! Just a one night stay and a two-day trip!

Buffalo River Y'all! Survived crossing a water moccasin - ew!

The trip down to Hot Springs took through the Buffalo National River (one of our favorite stomping grounds in the Ozarks - see picture to left) and through the heart of Arkansas. Some folks might laugh at the idea of the Ozarks, but it truly a beautiful landscape in its own right. The gentle rolling hills/mountains provide vistas that are not replicated elsewhere. There is a particular cultural element that is also abound and is distinctive to other mountain-based communities. The total travel time from SW Missouri to Hot Springs took about 6.5 hours with pitstops included. Since we arrived mid afternoon on a Sunday, we opted to drive around town taking a quick walk-hike. I honestly did not take a single picture of us stomping around the hiking trails of park. There are two reasons for this. 1) Ticks. OMG...fucking ticks. We got covered at one point despite having some repellant on. 2) American murder chipmunks and American murder lizards. So, here's the deal when I walk in the woods I ain't much for coming in contact with snakes particularly those of the poisonous variety. Arkansas has got plenty of them, and we happened to be hiking in a densely wooded area with leaves everywhere on the ground at the right time of year for them to be active. Chipmunks and lizards also happen to be active in May and enjoy playing/hiding the leaves. Therefore, as we walked along these paths the chipmunks would dash among the leaves. On several occasions I had thought we had been got by a damn snake. I had no ability to take pictures between ticks and thinking that a snake was out to get us.

Those chipmunks and lizards are similar to the American murder fish that comes out the depths of a lake to hang out right in your peripheral view while diving. Those fishes make you believe something is out to get you (see example to the right of man half chasing away the classic American murder fish that almost got me in a Missouri quarry we dived in).

Post walkabout we headed to downtown Hot Springs for food and brews. Superior Bathhouse should be on anyone's must-visit list while in town. This bathhouse, which sits on the northern end of Bathhouse road, houses the first brewery to use thermal water for brewing beer and the first (and perhaps only) brewery to operate in a U.S. National Park. To boot, Superior Bathhouse Brewery also boasts beers using recipes from the heyday of the prohibition era, when celebrities, mobsters, and the wealthy would come to the area for the healing mineral waters. We ordered some beer cheese dip and two beers. The cheese dip was surprising fluffy and had a good beer flavor about it. Man-half opted to taste up a pint of Foul Play Stout. That dude is a sucker for a stouts that are chocolatey, milky, or coffee driven. Beer, according to him, should be opaque. He wasn't much of a fan of the stout but said he could appreciate the art of what the brewery was doing. I, on the other hand, loved my non-opaque beer. I ordered a pint of Madden's No. 1. It was enough to kick my little ass. It was a crisp and light beer that complemented the cheese dip. Would I go back again if I were there? Yep. Would I try more beers? Yep.

Strolling on the Grand Promenade like a champ!

The next morning we hit the main drag of downtown Hot Springs and Hot Springs National Park. Bathhouse Row is the main event of the park and is located along the northern portion of Central Ave in the downtown area. Shops and other tourist shops dot the adjacent streets. Parking can be difficult in the area but there are several free parking decks nearby. We arrived early and took a morning stroll along the Grand Promenade and meandered behind the bathhouse to see the capped, open, and pooled hot springs. I got PLENTY of pictures here because of the handy-dandy new fanny pack I received for my birthday. (Wait...it's a "waist pack" because only weirdos still wear fanny packs.)

After the stroll we opted to walk down to check out a different kind of water in the area - Mountain Valley Spring Water. Supposedly this water is just as special as the mineral water in the area. However, the Mountain Valley water was not bottled in the immediate area but rather somewhere else in the Ozarks. We beelined it for the store to get some samples and to use the facilities. The sparkling water was actually so good we bought a four pack that was later modeled in front of the park sign before we hit up the rest of Bathhouse Row.

Bathhouse Row is interesting. A brewery sits on the far north end with the remaining buildings being a combination of NPS facilities (most of which were closed during our visit) and operating bathhouses. We had no intentions of actually partaking in a bath or spa treatment while there. All operating bathhouses offered a public bath option (for like $15-20 for a 30 minute treatment) so visitors could experience the healing powers of the mineral water. Not gonna lie - it seemed ridiculous. This was verified when we stopped in one of the operating bathhouses and got a view of what looked like a small pool with about 15 people packed in. A viewing window let anyone in the lobby see that mess. Perhaps a private bath or spa experience would have been different. What we saw looked like a indoor hotel pool that needed a good cleaning. So...hard pass on that.

If you are like us, you would enjoy a stop in Fordyce Bathhouse. The museum takes visitors back in time to see how operations worked and included an in-depth history of famous visitors, medical advancement, and racial segregation in the area. In this particular bathhouse, the men's side was MUCH nicer than the ladies. Men also got the fun activities like cards and billiards while women were stuck in sewing circles ---- Boooooo! How boring. The house also featured the state of the art relaxation technologies and fitness center for view. A lot of the therapies developed looked like torture devices. Even so, it seems that part of the healing power of the bathhouse experience was perhaps not just related to the mineral waters but the ability for someone to actual relax in a spa for a period of time.

Our last stops of the day were to stop in the gift shop to try some fresh-out-the-spring mineral water and buy some NPS swag, check out one of the many public hot springs stations (where anyone can get some of that mineral water for free), and find the Bill Clinton sign. The gift shop should be on your list for photo ops. There is a GIANT bathtub you can get in and some face board cut outs. The water fountain there is also much easier to use for trying the mineral water first hand without having to having a water bottle to fill. We headed out shortly thereafter to head back home with a belly full of water. I'm sure we could have spent more time in the area but it was a good getaway at a busy time in our lives.