As the dreaded winter vortex hit back in January, our family was touring Hot Springs, Arkansas…
The soles of my shoes were freezing to the pavement as we walked beside the Hot Springs along Bathhouse Row.
Because we could not really stay out for long in that frigid weather, we toured the Fordyce Bathhouse, also known as the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center.
Let me just take a moment to say… the boys do a better job of posing for photos than I do.
The Fordyce Bathhouse is full of strange contraptions that look a bit like things that would be found in a torture chamber.
Not that a gymnasium is a torture chamber, but… well, yeah.
But the overall purpose of the bathhouses in Hot Springs is this:
All five of us really enjoyed the self-guided tour!
While in Hot Springs, we stayed in the lovely Arlington Hotel, which is a history lesson in itself.
“The Arlington’s luxurious accommodations and location in America’s Spa City have attracted many famous guests including U.S. presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George H.W. Bush, and native son Bill Clinton. Many baseball greats such as Babe Ruth as well as championship boxers have relaxed and enjoyed the thermal baths at the Arlington. Stars such as Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand and Yoko Ono have all luxuriated at the hotel. Al Capone, whose favorite room was 442, had the whole floor for his staff and bodyguards. He could look across the street from his window and see the activities at the Southern Club, now the Wax Museum.” -from Arlington Hotel website
This was a stunningly beautiful place to stay, and a wonderful pit stop on our way to visit family in Oklahoma!
Have you been to a special place in Arkansas? Please leave a comment to let us know where we should stop on our next trip through this state!
50-States-Before-They-Graduate
Our family aims to visit all 50 states together before our boys graduate from high school. To take a look at some of the places we’ve been, visit our 50-States-Before-They-Graduate posts. If you’d like to offer suggestions for places to visit in the 50 states, we would love your input! Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions for your favorite state(s), or virtually visit the other states we’ve visited to offer your recommendations on those pages! We’d love to read about your own family’s adventures… or to simply know about destinations you’ve enjoyed!