Weddings, ahh, weddings. Raucous, joyous, gorgeous, and let me be blunt... really stressful occasions. Our wedding day was perfect. Although there are always hiccups, I would change nothing. Seeing such a lovely party come together was so very satisfying. Not to mention, to set the whole thing off, I got to marry my best friend! What could be cooler? Although afterward I've been greeted with compliments of, "you should stop what you're doing right now and become a wedding planner," I've got some bad news-- as fun as it all was, I'm never gonna get married again! Talk about stress!
"And on the 8th day of wedding week, God created Honeymoons."
To celebrate/decompress from our wedding, Alan and I took a short Mini-Moon to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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| Stained Glass from the Fordyce Bathhouse, now Hot Springs National Park Welcome Center |
Although three days seems hardly enough, let's be honest-- the wine world never stops (and honestly, the Army doesn't give a damn about your personal time anyway), so that's all the time we had. Three days was glorious, but four days would have been truly sublime.
Accommodations
After dogged market research (leisurely review-reading while coffee sipping) we settled on the 1890 Williams House Bed and Breakfast. It's a delightful turn-of-the-century manse just a short half-mile from Downtown Hot Springs proper.
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| The Williams Suite |
Palatial suites with in-room jacuzzis and breakfast in bed sounded just like what we needed. Plus, I always fancy a place with complimentary robes and 1,000 count sheets. Breakfast was killer, the water was hot (of course), and the space was just perfect. We'll definitely be back.
Food and Drink
Although not as densely gastronomic as some other areas of Arkansas, Hot Springs offered us all the options we needed for our three-day vacation. As mentioned before, B&Bs are the way to go, so breakfast is a given. If staying elsewhere or coming in for the day, check out The Pancake Shop in downtown.
Seeking a delicious lunch or midday snack? Don't miss Rolando's Nuevo Latino Cuisine. The have an upper-level patio that frequently features live music, and always has a secluded mountainside atmosphere. We loved the quesadillas, fresh house-made Guacamole, and the Queso Flamado which is set ablaze by a nice dousing of Bacardi 151. Also, the Bloody Marias are not to be missed!
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| Rolando's Patio |
The best dinner we enjoyed in town was courtesy of Superior Bathhouse. As can be imagined, Superior is a turn-of-the-century Bathhouse turned brewery that offers a fantastic food menu and house-made gelato. Our favorites were the Giant Bavarian Pretzel and the Boursin and Tomato Pesto stack. Our server mentioned the tomatoes were a local creation, and I'd do some dastardly things to secure a jar of them, they were that good.
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And the beer? Oh man, is that beer delicious! Superior is the only brewery on federal property, and is the only brewery to brew beer with thermal water straight from the hot springs. It's some of the most flavorful and softest beer I've ever had. Their current selection of German options for Oktoberfest shows remarkable talent of the brewers, and was dazzling with the food.
Relaxation and Rejuvination
As their well-branded promotional materials will inform you, Arkansas is also called, "The Natural State," and Hot Springs lies squarely on the cusp of the Ozark Mountains in Ouachita National Forest. The area offers sublime hiking and camping, as well as boating and kayaking. The Sunday of our departure from Arkansas, we took advantage of a nicely maintained 8ish mile out-and-back hiking and biking trail called the Charlton Trail that follows the Walnut Creek.
During the hike, you'll summit two decent-sized hills that offer spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. During October, the weather is phenomenal, and the trees are changing color, and the wildlife can be spotted during early morning and twilight. Did I mention we didn't get bitten by even one bug?! Too good to be true.
PROTIP: Start from the lake side of the trail, as the entrance to the wooded side is blocked as of the publishing of this blog post.
Lake Ouachita is beautiful and has a lovely beach of worn slate. Channel your inner Norman Rockwell and get to work practicing your rock-skipping game. Winner of the most consecutive skips gets a free beer!
And now for the crown jewel of our adventure-- the Quapaw Baths and Spa. Hot Springs isn't called the Spa City for nothing, and we aimed to find out on Saturday morning.
Quapaw is one of two active bathhouses on Bathhouse Row, and still maintains a historic feel. Built in 1922, it is one of the newer bathhouses, but went into disuse officially in 1984. After determined rehabilitation efforts from the National Park Service and local businesspeople, the building was brought back to new unprecedented glory, and opened as a modern bathhouse and spa in 2008.
The baths encompass the main floor of the building, and spa services are offered on the 2nd and basement levels. Since the building sits atop a natural hot spring reservoir, the spa floor in the basement naturally radiates warmth.
We made our reservations two weeks in advance and signed up for a couple's private bath followed by a his and hers massage. Alan selected the Sportsman deep tissue with hot stone alignment, and I got a Swedish massage with facial. The bath was conducted in the upper level of the building amid the original tile and marble.
Be prepared to be warm, pampered, and well-hydrated! The staff is on a mission to fill you with their magic elixir-- Hot Springs Water-- during your entire stay.
The massages were conducted in a thoroughly modern room in the basement. Our masseuses, Liz and Marcella, were miracle workers. Alan notoriously suffers from the early stages of frozen shoulder, or something similar, and Marcella set about the task of applying therapeutic massage. At the end of the hour-long massage, Alan professed how he had never before felt so relaxed and how the tension was melting away. It no longer hurt him to move his shoulders, though there was residual soreness as was expected. My massage was the perfect pressure, thorough, and relaxing. I received attention on all tension spots-- my feet, my hands, and even my scalp! Since starting my sales job, I spend a long time in the car, and have developed sciatic nerve pain in my right leg, but was soon gone after the great massage. After the pristine treatment, we lounged and sipped thermal water in the reception area of the spa, slowly sinking back to reality.
As we stepped away from the bathhouse and into the cool morning air of Downtown Hot Springs, I couldn't help but reflect on the mythical properties of the baths and of the town itself. We really and truly felt lighter than air, rejuvenated, and refreshed. Alan had received physical pain relief like he hadn't experienced since before he joined the Army, and I felt hydrated, relaxed, and free from sciatic nerve pain. We were now fresh-bathed believers, and vowed to pursue the path of therapeutic massage and nice warm baths from now on, because not only are the results incredible, the process is some of the most enjoyable time you can spend!
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