Western Adventure #5-Lovely Walks & Lovely Drives

Day 5 -8/7/2024

After my morning walk, we headed back to Hot Springs to walk the Grand Promenade. We enjoyed the sights along the way. We stopped at the little park by The Arlington and dipped our fingers in the hot spring water. It was really hot!! We walked back up to Bathhouse Row and stopped by the old historic entrance. The two fountains were steaming hot. I went into Fordyce because Vince wanted to take a picture of the big tub on the third floor. Then we took a drive down Bathhouse Row. I took a couple of videos. We drove the Hot Springs Mountain Scenic Drive again, this time, stopping at the Observation Tower. We went up in the tower and took lots of pictures of Hot Springs and the area. We came back down and parked and walked around some more. 

Here are some pictures and videos from the day with captions.

The entrance to the Grand Promenade. The Promenade was designed for the patients to be able to have a lovely place to walk. It is all brick with some really great designs along the way.

Another view of the lovely Grand Promenade

The old Army-Navy Hospital. Property of the DOD. For some history, watch the video.

This video explains the existence of this huge building.

This is a view of the Arlington from the park next to it.

There was a thermal spring in the park. Vince tells all about it in the video.

Vince's take on this thermal spring.

This is an historic entrance into Bathhouse Row. It is flanked by these two columns with two thermal fountains beside them.

This shows one of the fountains by the entrance between Fordyce and Maurice bathhouses.

                     The Hubbard Tub Room left side             The mosaic tile in the parlor

                          Sign about the tub room                 The Hubbard Tub Room right side

This is a video of the track the assistants would use to move non-ambulatory patients to the Hubbard Tub Room.

Here are all the bathhouses in order as you drive down the street toward the Arlington Hotel.

Lamar. This is the one with the cultural arts center inside.

                    Buckstaff. This one has been open since 1912. It has never closed.

                                                                        Ozark

                                            Quapaw. This one is the biggest one.

Fordyce. This is the one that is the Visitor Center and is open for tours-guided and self-guided.

This is in between Fordyce and Maurice. It used to be the grand entrance. In the back is part of the Grand Promenade. There used to be concerts here with the band set up on the landing.

                                Maurice. Currently closed, but the NPS is renovating it.

                                            Lamar. This one has a restaurant inside.

Superior. Currently has a brewery inside. There are places to sit outside on the other end.

Caution: If time-lapse videos make you ill, do not watch this video. It is a 30 second time-lapse of our drive up Hot Springs Mountain Scenic Drive. 

                Hot Springs Mountain Observation Tower    Army-Navy Hospital & Bathhouse Row

                                                                      Views of Hot Springs                    

  

                                    More views of Hot Springs from the top of the Observation Tower

Time-lapse of our ride down the elevator

Caution: This is another time-lapse of our ride down the mountain. Feel free to pass on seeing this if you need to.

After a full day of exploring more of the town of Hot Springs and the park, we came back to take a few more pictures of the town.

a mural in Hot Springs

                                           statuary in the median close to the Arlington Hotel

I hope you've enjoyed mostly pictures and videos and not a whole lot of words in today's installment. Tomorrow will be a hike, a lake, and a non-existent waterfall. So be sure to stay tuned.