We decided to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as we had considered going there before, but went to Las Vegas instead. I had found a beautiful B&B overlooking Lake Hamilton called Lookout Point. Our plan was to visit the national park and see the hot springs and bathhouse, as well as tour the Garvan Gardens. The rest of the time, we would just relax at the B&B.
We drove straight to the park on our drive in from Dallas as it was a beautiful day and the next day was supposed to be cold and windy. We parked in the lot next to the visitor's center.
We walked down bathhouse row.
Although we were too early for the tour of the Fordyce bathhouse, we just walked around ourselves and took pictures. It was really cool and historic and I loved seeing everything in its original state.
Then we walked over to hike Peak's Trail to the Mountain Tower. We stopped and took a picture of the hot spring before finding our way to the trail.
We are both very fit and we found the hike fairly steep and
we were a little sore the next day. We got to the Tower and paid the $7 to go
up--no way were we missing it after hiking all the way to it! We took pictures and then hiked back down.
We then went to check in at our B&B, Lookout Point. We got a queen room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the lake.
The grounds are beautiful and the room had everything we
needed. Breakfast each day was good and they had wine and appetizers each day
from 4:00-5:00. The house was quiet and we didn't hear anything other than a
few geese honking or birds chirping.
We checked in and went down for happy hour, then freshened up for dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. We wanted to eat by the water but the food was nothing memorable.
The next morning started with a wonderful homemade breakfast.
We decided to go experience the famous baths,
and arrived at Quapaw bathhouse right at 10:00 when they opened.
We opted to do the public bath since we could get right in
with no waiting and stay as long as we wanted. We enjoyed it and spent about an
hour and a half relaxing in the hottest baths they offer (102 and 104 degrees--although
the 102 felt much cooler than that). We had to get out a couple of times to
cool off.
We had lunch downtown at the Ohio Club. I had this as a
place to go to after dinner but when we saw it was open
for lunch we went ahead and went in. Hubby and I split a Reuben with onion
rings. This is a really cool old bar with a great
history and I was sorry we didn't get to go at night.
We walked around a little more stopping at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery so Ben could try a local beer, something he enjoys doing in every city we visit. He got a flight of several.
I got a salted caramel gelato and it is the best gelato I've ever had!
We saw Anthony Chapel before we left. This would be a beautiful place to get married in the fall.
We went back to the B&B for happy hour and rested a bit.
Dinner that night was at Luna Bella right next to Lookout Point. This gets good reviews on Trip Advisor but we thought it was just OK. Ben got the salmon topped with crab and I got the sea bass. I also got the goat cheese salad which was heavily dressed. The service here was wonderful though and my lemon drop martini was delicious.
The next morning we had another wonderful breakfast before heading home.
We had a wonderful trip to Hot Springs and it was a nice getaway to hold us over until Maui in November.
