Little Rock

Bath House Row, Hot Springs

Little Rock, Arkansas

We drove to Hot Springs National Park today along scenic US 7, a winding road through the Ozarks that must be stunning during its Fall foliage season, as it's even pretty when all is green.  It's a great road for motorcycling, and we saw hundreds of them.

Hot Springs became an attraction in the early 1800s when the hot springs were discovered, as people in those days, and well into the 20th century, believed hot springs had the power to cure all sorts of ailments. Over the years, large, ornate bath houses were constructed to cater to these people, and they're still in operation. Well-heeled people flocked here to "take the waters," and it was a favorite haunt of major league baseball players and gangsters, like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.

To protect the area, Congress declared it a "resort," and in 1921 made it a National Park. The Park Service operates the Fordyce Baths as its visitor center. You can't bathe there anymore, but you can tour the building to see how it worked. Among the things there are those box-type things where you sit in them and only your head shows. In old gangster movies, a guy would be in one and then someone would sneak into the room, lock the box, and turn up the heat.

By and large we were disappointed in Hot Springs. Bath House Row, where rich people once strolled in style, is now full of tacky souvenir shops.

We're now in Little Rock. We got here kind of early, so we've had a chance to explore a little. We're down by the River Market area, where we took a brief stroll on the River Walk. We also went to the Peabody Hotel, an elegant hotel by the river that is known for the mallard ducks that live there.
The ducks, which are wild, live up on or by the roof at night. Every morning at 11, a hotel employee (he's called the "duckmaster") leads the ducks into an elevator and down to a pool in the lobby. They have a red carpet for the ducks to walk through the lobby. At 5 each evening the duckmaster leads them back upstairs. We'll try to catch the morning ritual tomorrow. We also plan to see the capitol building and tour the Clinton Library.

It's very hot here. It was in the 90s in the desert, but it's in the low 100s here. And it's not as dry, so it feels hotter.