Hot Springs, Arkansas

Catherine's Landing 

Dave relaxing by the Ouachita River

Love seeing all the Cardinals around here

Water. That's what first attracted people, and they have been coming here ever since to use these soothing thermal waters to heal and relax. Rich and poor alike came for the baths, and a thriving city built up around the hot springs. Together nicknamed "The American Spa,"

 Today the park protects eight historic bathhouses with the former luxurious Fordyce Bathhouse housing the park visitor center. The entire “Bathhouse Row” area is a National Historic Landmark District that contains the grandest collection of bathhouses of its kind in North America protecting the 47 hot springs and their watershed.

People have used the hot spring water in therapeutic baths for more than two hundred years to treat rheumatism and other ailments.

What was once sought after treatment today seems more like torture.

After 9-11 each spring in the collection system has been sealed and covered with a green box about four feet square with a metal cover, chain, and padlock.

Like earlier visitors, you can stroll the beautiful brick Grand Promenade behind Bathhouse Row

Drinking water filling stations throughout the city

Today was Relaxation without taxation day sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.


Free shaved ice for everyone.

We knew we were eating here before we got to town.
1. They are in the book of 1,000 things to see and do before you die
&
2. It's BBQ

In 1928, Alex and Alice McClard ran a tourist court, which also had a gas station and a diner that served up barbecued goat. When a traveler stayed with them and couldn't pay his bill, he offered up a secret recipe for "the world's greatest hot sauce" They took the recipe and played with it and soon the barbecue business became bigger than the tourist court or the gas station. That was the beginning of a family business now in its fourth generation.

We wanted a Tamale Spread but didn't order it correctly.  When our waitress brought our food we asked where's the cheese?  She said "oh, you wanted a Tamale Spread".  I'll be back with one.
Now we have 3 entries AKA lots of leftovers.

There really are ribs under those fries

Quapaw Baths & Spa an historic bathhouse, rich with the most modern spa amenities.  The perfect place to immerse in Hot Springs’ acclaimed thermal waters.

The tower elevator will transport you 216 feet to the observation decks where you’ll enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of the Ouachita Mountains, Hot Springs Mountain, and Diamond Lakes area – all at 1,256 feet above sea level.

You knew if there was an Off-Road park nearby we would find it.

Hot Springs ORV Park
Off-Roading in Hot Springs began in the late 1970's with people "wheeling on a multitude of timber company logging roads, and utility company right-of-ways.  Over the years the "unofficial trail system" grew into an impressive array of trails.  It was great while it lasted...in 1999 the landowners closed access to the area and put the property up for sale.  In 2001, a group of off-road enthusiasts purchased the acreage with the intent of developing the nation's premiere off-roading destination while preserving the land's natural beauty.

 The 1,254 acre park includes the majority of the original trail system, as well as new trails and obstacles, with varying degrees of difficulty.  Trails are continuously being built on every terrain type imaginable -- hill climbs, mud pits, rock gardens, water crossing, you name it.