We have made it into another new State, Arkansas! We are staying at another KOA Holiday which is within the National Park. It is more forestry than others we have stayed at. It has a nice babbling brook running throughout which Winston is attracted to. It also has a nice pool however we were more interested in going in to the historic town to check it out than staying at the park. The park manager/owner was super nice and agreed to drive us in their shuttle van to town and also arranged to pick us up later.
Didn’t realize that one of the presidents was born in this area.
Just outside of Little Rock Arkansas is a jewel of a small town in the heart of a National Park. We decided to go a little way off the beaten path to the town of Hot Springs, to go to a Bathhouse with the natural hot springs. These bathhouses started in the early 1900’s when people were charging a penny to put your feet in these springs. What a concept and clearly something you could make money off of, so the bathhouses were born and built. There are 8 large bathhouses along bathhouse row. Only 2 remain open as bathhouses and only 1 has been open consistently since 1912. We both decided that the pools were worth the trip. The pools, there were 4, were each set at different temperatures so we were able to hop from one to another.
First pics of the Main Street of Hot Springs which is bathhouse row. Then inside the bathhouse where you can see the three hotter pools below, and then a cooler one above. Again, great stop!
On the way back from the hot springs afternoon, the park owner gave us a tour of the area and talked all about the horse racing that takes place annually here at Oaklawn Hot Springs where the winner goes to the final race of the year at Kentucky downs.
Next stop on the way to Nashville was a Harvest Host just west of Jackson Tennessee. This was a working orchard called Blessed Bounty Orchard. Nice people, only cost us $20 for the night. They also had a storm shelter which was cool/scary/hope we don’t need to use it. There were/are a lot of Tornados that have hit around the areas that we have been and are still in, so being diligent on where the safe places are to hole up until the tornado passes is a must. Here are the pics of the storm shelter, and we are glad to didn’t have to use it!!
Next stop……NASHVILLE or MUSIC CITY !!!