The Brando Blog!: Hot Springs National Park, AR Sept

Our last stop (besides going back to Orlando of course) was a relaxing visit to our nation's oldest national park, Hot Springs Arkansas. It is so old in fact, it pre-dates the national park system. In 1832 it was set aside by President Jackson as a federal reservation, some 40 years before Yellowstone National Park.

Outside the administration office, they have a fountain which continuously sprays the natural, mineral rich hot water upward.

They also have some free fountains that allow anyone to come and fill up a jug of water to take home. I'm pretty sure I saw a restaurant come and fill up some cartons for later sale at their establishment. Also saw a homeless-looking man come fill up.

While most of the spring water is now protected from contamination by covering it up, this spring was left open to show what it was like back when the Indians used it (minus the concrete basin of course).

The center of the park is not really what you would think of when one thinks of a national park. It is a block of buildings which are mostly old baths that were open in the early 1900s, now turned to museums or art galleries. Here is a model of the buildings on Central Ave.

We took pictures of some of outside of some of the old bathhouses.

However, not all of them are closed. Some, under supervision of the National Park Service, still remain operational. We decided to try out the only one with a pool, the Quapaw bath house.

Its kind a weird experience if your not used to a spa I suppose. You go up to the desk and tell them if you want a pool bath, a private bath, a massage or whatever. In the background you can see the spa's 4 pools each kept at a different temperature by removing more or less heat from the hot springs water.