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| Bath House Row at Hot Springs NP |
Hurray!!
We finally made it out of Texas. It seems like we have been driving here forever
but it really has only been 6 days. And some of the driving is crazy. First we
must have the smallest car in the state as everyone else drives huge pickup or
SUVs. It’s kind of comical to park in a lot where all the trucks are 2 feet
taller than your car. It makes it hard to find your car. Also the freeway
entrances in the big cities are weird as they come in from a parallel road
instead of directly from a ramp like we do.
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| Quapaw Baths & Spa |
Today
we drove from Dallas to Hot Springs, AR, to visit the 14th and last National
Park on our list. Hot Springs is the smallest park in the system and the oldest
if you count the time it was protected by the government (1832). It is also
different from other parks as it was and still is to some extent a commercial
venture. The hot spring waters here have been used for therapeutic baths for
more than 200 years and the main part of the park is a block long string of
bath houses.
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| Thermal Baths (downloaded photo) |
With
recent medical advances the use of thermal baths to cure illness has fallen out
of favor, but that didn’t stop us. We took our turn in the baths, including drinking
the mineral water. No, not out of the bath directly but they have some set aside
for you to drink. We went to the Quapaw Baths and Spa where they have four
thermal baths ranging from 95 to 104 degrees. I don’t know about cures, but after
an hour I do know that we were very, very relaxed and feeling good.
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