{"id":933,"date":"2012-10-16T23:05:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T03:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/?p=933"},"modified":"2012-10-17T18:21:51","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T22:21:51","slug":"hot-springs-ar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/16\/hot-springs-ar\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Springs, AR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hot Springs has always intrigued me.\u00a0 Is there a naughtier name in America?\u00a0 Just Intercourse, I think.\u00a0 Now we have been to both.<\/p>\n

And – surprise – the springs are really hot!\u00a0 The spring-fed fountains actually steam, even on a hot day (80 yesterday).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Steaming fountain<\/p><\/div>\n

I suppose that it is easy to like a town when the weather is perfect, as it was for our visit – crystal clear skies, low humidity, a light breeze and balmy 80 degree heat. Just beautiful. But I probably would like it in a driving rain, too. Great architecture and some steamy history involving gangsters and sports heroes – a fine combination.<\/p>\n

It is a place that we would both like to visit again.<\/p>\n

Maybe next time we will actually indulge in a bath. Cost: $64 for a whirlpool bath, a 20-minute massage and a loofah to take home.<\/p>\n

Four things that caught our attention in Hot Springs:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bathhouse Row.\u00a0 This is Hot Springs’ raison d’etre<\/em>, of course.\u00a0 Only one of the bathhouses is still offering baths, but the buildings are all still there, all are still in use in some way and all offer a view into a simpler time a century ago.<\/li>\n
  2. The Promenade. This brick walk above Bathhouse Row is a fine stroll. A great place to be on a perfect day.<\/li>\n
  3. The Arlington Hotel. The building is an imposing period to the Bathhouse Row sentence. And the interior is a tangible piece of Roaring 20’s art.<\/li>\n
  4. Andrew’s Restaurant. We were attracted to this second-floor restaurant by the sidewalk sign that promised a “bakery bar”. Never seen a bakery bar, so of course we had to go upstairs. There we found a very authentic 1920’s dining room, reminiscent of the old Durgin Park, complete with a row of betting windows in the hall, from its days as a bookie joint. The food was good – not great – but the ambiance was amazing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"<\/a>

    Bathhouse Row visitor center<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Buckstaff Bath building<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    The Promenade<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Jett testing the waters<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    The Arlington Hotel<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    The Arlington’s lobby bar<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Andrew’s sign<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Andrew’s betting window hall<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Andrew’s dining room<\/p><\/div>\n

    Our home for the Hot Springs stay was Catherine’s Landing<\/a>, a very nice RV park near Lake Catherine. We were not on the water, but were near the dog run, the laundry and the bathrooms. The park also has a very nice playground (though we saw no children while there), a 9-hole Frisbee golf course and a heated pool. Jett thinks it is her favorite campground yet, which, combined with our love of the town, made this a very successful stop on our journey.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    The dog run<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    The river<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Back-on sites on the river<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    The pool<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Inside the lodge<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Sitting area in the lodge<\/p><\/div>\n

    We also gave Patience a treat before we moved on: we washed her. We didn’t realize how dirty she was until the job was done and she looked (almost) new again. That $100 wasn’t in our budget, but it was worth it.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Patience, freshly washed<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hot Springs has always intrigued me.\u00a0 Is there a naughtier name in America?\u00a0 Just Intercourse, I think.\u00a0 Now we have been to both. And – surprise – the springs are really hot!\u00a0 The spring-fed fountains actually steam, even on a hot day (80 yesterday). I suppose that it is easy to like a town when … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,11,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-places-ar","category-gtw","category-places","category-rvparks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VniU-f3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}