Visitors at Hot Springs

Our good friends Jane and Rob planned a trip to Hot Springs while we were here. They stayed here, in the Arlington Hotel. On Saturday they took a hike with me. (Poor Bud had to go to Little Rock for dental work.) Our starting point was just down the hall from their room on the seventh floor. A walkway takes you to the outdoor pool and from there you can access the trails in the National Park.

We walked along the trail on the side of North Mountain and then over to Hot Springs Mountain.

It was about a mile and a half of fairly level trails to the observation tower.

It was chilly with sun and some clouds, a good day to go up the tower.

As long as I’ve been coming here I’ve never taken this elevator trip…

so I was happy to be doing it with Jane and Rob.

The views were great with the cloud shadows. That’s the Arlington Hotel at the intersection of Central Avenue and Fountain Street.

Past the city you can just see a shimmer from Lake Hamilton.

We left the tower and took the steep path downhill. Behind Bathhouse Row is one open spring, trickling and steaming away.

For lunch we took the advice of a fellow traveler at the Arlington and checked out the Ohio Club. Turns out this is the oldest bar in Arkansas, having been serving drinks since 1905.

During prohibition you entered to a fake wall and only got back to the bar if you knew the password. Our waitress told us there is a bullet hole in the ceiling from the rowdier days of this city.

After our late lunch we headed back to the Arlington.

We couldn’t reach Bud (turns out cell service was down at the park) so they showed me around the 100 year old hotel.

Downstairs there’s an ice cream parlor, a barbershop and a bookstore, and on the third floor they have their own bathhouse.

Turns out Bud didn’t feel well enough to join us, anyway. Sunday morning he was better and with my help managed to cook a nice lasagna. Jamie and Sean were supposed to come out and hike and eat with us, but their dog was very sick on Friday and still had no pep. Also, Jamie was afraid she might be contagious and didn’t want to expose Matey. Jane and Rob did get to meet Jamie on Friday, and spent a bit of time at her house while I held the IV bag up so Jamie could give the dog 500 cc’s of saline solution.

Between Bud’s sore mouth and Jamie’s sick dog it was not the weekend we had hoped for. But Jane and Rob said it was a nice break from Wisconsin and though it was chilly they enjoyed our walks in the 50 degree sunshine.

I’m just very happy they made the trip.