Our venture to Hot Springs N.P. was detoured a bit to visit the Little Missouri Falls just northwest of Glendale, AR. Of course, we ended up on dirt roads and had parked the motorhome in Glendale with Jason and Buddy. We missed our turn and ended up driving much more then anticipated. Which caused us to get caught up in torrential rains and a thunderstorm. Here we were with rain jackets and an umbrella and of course the camera. Lightening flashed and rain poured but Mike had to get the pictures. We were a little nervous returning on the dirt roads when we had to cross the creeks because the water was just flowing across the road, but we made it back to the motorhome safely. A terrific thunderstorm was upon us and we waited a little while before we proceeded on to Hot Springs which was just down the road a ways. We arrived at Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. What a very nice park. It had full hook-ups, paved sites and was on a creek. Plus because we had the National Parks Pass, our rate was cut in half -- like $12/night. We could not beat that and we were only a couple of miles from the town of Hot Springs. As we just settled in, the storm continued with hail about the size of nickels. And they hurt. A tornado hit Hot Springs Village little North of us and did some serious damage up there. It was over in an hour. Our next day we ventured to the famous bath houses located in Hot Springs along Bathtub row. Tuesday the pump houses were shut down so they were closed. We ate at a hamburg joint downtown Hot Springs called Bubbalu's. Here the owner told us we had to visit the Garvan Woodland Gardens and of course get a hot spring mineral bath. We also threw in a visit to the observation tower on east side of the mountain and then drove up the west side of the mountain to overlook the town of Hot Springs. The Garvan Woodland Gardens were owned by the Architect Department of the University of Arkansas. There were many springs to see; koi fish in the pond; a model train running on a very neat tracks; and beautiful serene woods. We walked through these gardens for about one mile and a half. The chapel was magnificent!!!! Another great feature of this town was that you could fill your water jugs with actual mineral spring water. There was a hot spring faucet station, and two other cold spring stations. People were filling their jugs religiously. And so did we. What a great tasting water it was -- I could live there just for that and have fresh mineral spring water everyday!! The next best thing we did was the authentic bath that the Europeans used to flock here back in the late 1800's - early 1900's. You sit in a whirlpool bath, then you sit in a sitz bath; then a steam room and for the final stage hot cloths wrapped around your arms and legs with a cold cloth across your face. You cannot experience Hot Springs without a real mineral bath. It was glorious and our bodies just loved it!!!! We will be back someday soon!!!
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