Taking A Bath!

One of my favorite things that we did in Hot Springs was a tour of an old bath house. Hot Springs is obviously known for their hot springs water, and consequently, they are also known for their bathhouses from back in the day. On the main drag in downtown on one side of the street, it's just bathhouse after bathhouse. Unfortunately, most of them aren't operating anymore since there isn't a market for that, but some have remained spas of some sort. Some have turned into office space.

The visitors center is located in the Fordyce Bath House, which has been restored and turned into a bathhouse museum of sorts. You get to (for free!) walk throughout all 4 floors (3 floors and a basement) and look at what an old bathhouse was really like back at the turn of the century. SO COOL! (Sidenote - I am SUCH a history nerd...)

OK, here goes - this is a shot out the front door of the bath house - the other side of the street is all cute shops, the side we were on was all bathhouses.

Here is a view down 'Bathhouse Row' - just one after another and they were all different. SO COOL.

This is the lobby of the bathhouse - so pretty with decorated tile floors. Outside, they also had a veranda with rocking chairs - just like it would've been back in the day.

This is the "men's parlor" area on the 2nd floor. This is where they would sit and hang out in between treatments or baths.

This is a shot of the 'women's parlor' where the women hung out and talked.

This looked really creepy to me when I first walked into the room. It was a spa/bath for people who needed physical therapy or for people who were disabled/paralyzed and needed to be lowered into the bath by that hoist.

Here's an actual picture of the lady getting treatments by a therapist in that exact bath!

This was the beauty parlor on the women's side.

Here's the gymnasium on the top floor!

Here's the dressing/lounge area for the women...

These were tanks that you got into and then only your head was poking out. I don't know if they were filled with water or just hot air? They look like some sort of dungeon torture device to me!

Here's an original bathtub in the women's side of the bathhouse. Most of the stalls also had a stand-up shower in the back of them - probably to rinse off? And all of the bathtubs were in their own private stalls and there would be an assistant to help you in and out of the tub and sometimes would scrub you! Weird!

And this was the next room over - The Cooling Room - just some metal chaise lounge chairs for them to lay on and cool off.

Here's a lady in an old-fashioned jacuzzi!

This is the hallway that connects the mens area and the womens area. Super cool tile floors throughout the whole building and it felt like an old hospital or something. Very neat.

This was a room for physical therapy....

Here's the entrance to the men's bath area.

This is a stand-up shower with weird jets that hit you from all angles when you went in there. It looks awfully industrial and scary to me!

The men's area actually has a big statue in the middle of the room and it was a fountain at one point. Very cool.

This is a shot in the basement - it's opened up so that you can see the real hot spring water that is just below the building. They felt that it had healing powers so that is why the bathhouses were so popular.

And all along the main drag in downtown, you would see these fountains and the water coming out of them was very hot - it was hot spring water coming straight from the ground!

Playing In The Garden

One of the highlights of our girls trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas was Garvan Woodland Gardens. It was kind of cold and gloomy that day, but it was still gorgeous! I bet it's just spectacular when the sun is shining and it's a little warmer. It's a photographer's dream in there - someday when I get a really fancy camera, I'm going to go to these kinds of places and just go nuts with pictures!

Here are Jenn, me and Lauren 'inside' the bell tower that is just down the path from the gorgeous chapel...

This is one of my favorite pics from the trip - I am standing inside the bell tower (like in the picture above) and shooting the picture looking straight up in the air. SO AWESOME.

And here is the magnificent chapel! It's all glass and it's in the middle of 'the woods'. It fits right in with the nature around it.

I bet that inside you feel like you are just 'in the trees' since it's all glass. We weren't allowed inside because there was a wedding party that had it booked.

Can you imagine how pretty your wedding pictures would be if you got married here?!

I loved the front door.....

So peaceful out there - no sounds or disturbances....

I found this next picture on the internet - it's a wedding that actually happened in this chapel. SO PRETTY!

Once you walk even a few feet away, you can't even really tell that the chapel is back there - I bet it was hard to build it without knocking down all of the trees around it!

Here's a shot of a water feature out in the gardens....the leaves were very pretty!

Lauren and I by some Japanese trees of some sort - pretty yellow....

I love this one!

The asian/Japanese influence is just so beautiful. I loved this bridge.....

I think this tree has scoliosis!! It's so weird how it's curvy and wiggly!

Awesome autumn colors.....

I was pretending that I was a nature photographer (my fantasy career) - here are some cute daisies!

And some of those 'raspberry'-looking berry/flowers that I have seen in Texas....SO COOL.

I probably should know what this flower is, but I don't! My Mom would know........

Absolutely beautiful scenery!

Atop a Beast

On the Hot Springs trip that I took with April, Lauren & Jen, we tackled one of the things on my 33-list: horseback riding on a ranch! I had imagined that I would be doing that in Texas, but 'when in Rome'......

Anyway, we made the reservation and then drove out to the place where we were supposed to meet our guide. His name was Travis and we found out after the trail ride that he was only 16 years old! I would've guessed at least 24! Anyway, we told April she couldn't hit on him anymore since she's married and he's underage. HAHAHA!!

Here's the little building out front:

It was just absolutely beautiful out there - so quiet, serene and secluded.

Here are 3 of our 4 horses - mine is on the left. They were all boy horses and mine was named Desperado. I love the name!

This was April's horse - his name was Bonanza. He must've just been fed before our ride because he went poo 3 times on the 1.5 hour ride! (I know this because he always stopped to go potty and April/Bonanza were directly in front of Desperado and I) He looks like he's smiling, doesn't he??

Here's April and Bonanza, ready to go!

We got to utilize the "equestrian crossing" area on the main road and it ended up that the four of us girls were the only ones with 3pm reservations, so we got the trail all to ourselves!

My horse was at the end of the line, so we held back from the others sometimes to get some good pics and to enjoy the quiet.

I love this next shot - Desperado was such a good horse. He was patient, gentle, calm and a hard worker. Oh wait - those are the qualities I want in a man. Maybe I should just marry a horse! Heehee!

Here's April, cheesin' for the camera....

A side shot of my sweet horsey, Desperado.

Part of the trail ride was along the lake up on a hill - it was absolutely gorgeous! Just stunning views and the weather was fantastic - about 72 and sunny.

The views of the lake and trees really reminded me of northern Minnesota - all those years of camping along lakes. Such good memories......

For the record, I DID enjoy my ride, so I DID tip my guide and I DID kiss my horse!

Here is Travis helping everyone off their horses...I was last in line so I got to watch it with Desperado.

Here are the 4 of us girls - Lauri, Jen, April & Lauren!

I had to get a picture of this sign - mainly because it mentions "britches." I love that word!

After the trail ride, we drove to a marina on the lake. What a pretty view!

It was late afternoon, so the sun was beginning to set. It was so peaceful and pretty.

Looks JUST like so many lakes I have seen in Minnesota. I forgot how much I miss lakes!

The colors of the leaves in the mountains were stunning too.....

Here's Lauren in the famous "white puffy vest" that we joked about on the trip....

Here's April, Jen and I....

Here they are, playing around before the sun set. We were frantically trying to take some pictures! (April, Jen & Lauren)