State 48: Arkansas

Day 1: Kelli and I made it to Arkansas! We flew into Little Rock and drove an hour-ish to Hot Springs. Since it was around lunchtime when we got there, we stopped at Delucas pizza. It was a decent meal, but nothing special. 

We then went to Garvan Woodland Gardens. It was pretty, but it was like most other botanical gardens. They did have Anthony Chapel though which was made of glass and wood. Great place to have a wedding!

Anthony Chapel

Garvan Gardens

More from the gardens 

Gardens 

Peacock at the gardens !

We decided on a German restaurant for dinner - Steinhaus Keller and then had to get dessert from Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcake Shoppe. It was delicious! You can also add ice cream to your cupcake which we did, but I think it was better without the ice cream! 

Vanilla bottom with chocolate top and chocolate ice cream!

It was a long day for the both of us- Kelli woke up at 3am and I woke up at  3:50am for our 6am flight. After dessert we walked back to our Airbnb and went to bed! 

Day 2

We started out our morning with Lake Catherine State Park. We hiked the Falls Branch Trail and saw a “waterfall” which was actually pretty small. It was a nice hike overall. 

Part of the hike

Waterfall

Big boulders 

We decided to drive to Hot Springs Village (30 min away), but when we got there we were told it was invite only! I guess it’s a golf course/country club/ private houses/ restaurants. So that was a wasted trip, but oh well.  

Got back into town and ate lunch at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery. It’s unique because it’s located in a historic bathhouse within Hot Springs National Park.  It’s the only brewery in a U.S. national park and the only one in the world to brew  with 100% natural thermal spring water. 

We then walked the Grand Promenade which is a historic, half-mile brick-paved walking trail in Hot Springs National Park. It runs behind Bathhouse Row and offers views of the thermal springs. We had actually started on this path yesterday, but didn’t see anything exciting so we got back down. I guess we needed to go just a bit further to see the springs.  It was slightly underwhelming. 

Bathhouse row 

Quapaw Baths- still operational 

Buckstaff Bathhouse - still operational 

Hot springs 

Hot springs 

The “green boxes” in Hot Springs are secure, locked covers installed by the National Park Service over most of the area's 47 thermal springs. They protect the natural, mineral-rich spring water from contamination, regulate pressure, and prevent the public from accessing dangerously hot water

We stopped in at Fordyce Bathhouse visitor center and museum. It’s free admission and self-guided tours!  The signage around the museum was interesting and we learned a lot! It was also cool seeing the inside of what the bathhouse would have looked like back in the day. 

Once we were done there we got in the car and drove up Hot Springs mountain to get to the Mountain Tower.  The tower is 216 feet and has an observation deck and a museum.

Arkansas (specifically Hot Springs) has been a little underwhelming. It definitely isnt the worst state, but it might make my list of the bottom 10 states. Some stuff (like the bathhouse museum) was interesting, but not enough that I would come to Arkansas for it.   I’ve learned some cool things though and gotten a lot of steps in AND got to hang out with one of my besties… so no complaints there! 

Stay tuned for the rest of our Arkansas journey!