A-Z Challenge Day #8 - The Letter "H" is for Hot Springs, Arkansas

Click here to go to the A-Z Blogging Challenge Website.

Welcome!  From February 28 - March 16, my best friend husband Cary and I went on a trip.  From Eugene, we traveled to parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.  I haven't blogged about it yet, and thought that highlighting our vacation would be the perfect way to participate in this year's Blogging from A-Z Challenge.  My blog isn't always about travel, but for the next month it will mainly feature travel photos and memories of our experience.

This is my fourth time participating in A-Z.  For those of you unfamiliar with the challenge, participants post daily during the month of April, except for on Sundays.  That gives us 26 posts for the month.  It is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We visit the blogs of others who are taking the challenge, connecting with old friends and making new friends.

"H" is for Hot Springs, Arkansas 

My first post of the A-Z Challenge this year was about the Arlington Hotel, where we stayed the second night of our stay in Hot Springs.  You can read that post by clicking here:  The Arlington Hotel.

Across the street from the Arlington is a little park in Hot Springs National Park.  Hot Springs was the very first national park in the United States.  It has been a destination point for many for nearly 150 years.

 

The stairs behind the gazebo lead to the Tufa Terrace Trail.  Hiking the trail, along with a series of daily baths, massage and great food are great ways to improve one's health.

Mountain Valley Spring Water is located next to the park.  This building was built in 1910.  I brought our water bottles home with us as a keepsake.

There are beautiful buildings along this street.  I didn't get back to Bathhouse Row, with all of the old bath houses that have been restored.  Two are operating now plus the the one at the Arlington.  Another is now a museum about Hot Springs.  

There were also some abandoned buildings in this part of town.  The Majestic Hotel burned down in 2010, and still has not been dealt with.  When you drive in from the freeway, you drive right past it and several vacant buildings and think, what the heck?  We never did make it into the city itself.

Here is a link to a great article about The Majestic, from Abandoned Arkansas.  Interior photos are included.

This abandoned medical building is right across the street from the park and the Arlington:

We just didn't get everything done ... I think that you need at least 4 or 5 days to dedicate to this town to experience it properly.  We didn't even drive through the rest of the park.  But, we made it there, sick or not, and enjoyed ourselves very much.

I plan on doing a history post or two on Hot Springs someday, but I am going to wrap this up for now.  If you get the chance to go here, I'd take it if I were you.

Thanks so much for your visit.  Please check out the links below for more information.

Please click here to check out others posting in the A-Z Blogging Challenge Participant List. A-Z Blogging Challenge Participant List.  I do have comment moderation on, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry. If a word verification shows up, just ignore it. I didn't put it on, Google did, and your comment will still go through even if you don't fill it out.

Have a super day! 

 ~ Kathy M.

Links

Hot Springs, Arkansas - Wikipedia
Google Photos of Hot Springs, Arkansas Photos

Hot Springs National Park

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.