Day Thirteen - Year Two

Today we toured downtown Hot Springs and the Hot Springs National Park.  The national park is actually within the town itself.  We had a great tour guide from the KOA campground, and she told us all about the history of the area and how it grew from a "wild west" town into the town today.  It seems that Hot Springs was basically Vegas before Las Vegas was born!  All of the gangsters came here to enjoy the healing powers of the waters, and with them, brought the gambling and brothel businesses.  Everyone from famous actors and actresses to sports legends and presidents have been through the bath houses.  It was declared a neutral territory for all involved, so there was no war while at the Hot Springs!

Bathhouse Row is beautiful, and the buildings look just like they probably did when they were built.

The Fordyce Bathhouse is owned by the National Park Service, so we toured it in great detail and saw all of the rooms in their splendor.  What an interesting story surrounding this business and location!

The tour then took us up to the Monument Tower so we could look out over the whole park as well as the town itself.  Great view!

We then rode the tour bus through the old section of town where the main tourist row used to be, and still contains an alligator farm and petting zoo.  We also stopped in front of the boyhood home of Bill Clinton, which is still privately owned and occupied.

All over town are stations where people can fill their empty jugs with water straight from the springs, unfiltered and hot.  Later in the day, I brought a couple of containers to fill for us, too!