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!

Day Twelve - Year Two

We headed to Little Rock today.  Our first stop was the Clinton Presidential Center and the Presidential Library.  It was a beautiful building and setting.  An old railroad bridge crossing the river has been converted to a pedestrian bridge, so we had to check it out afterwards.  We saw some barges in action, so Sam was excited to see that!

There were lots of interesting displays and there was a copy of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room.  The amount of information about his eight years in office was monumental - it really makes you realize that a lot happens in a short amount of time!  I have never been a Clinton fan, but the library is a great display of history.

We then took the free shuttle ride to the Riverfront district and had some lunch.  Mexican food - yum!  We then walked over a bridge to check out the Nature Center - beautifully done!  Outside their windows were several bird feeders that were busy, and a young ground hog was helping himself to the seeds on the ground!

Inside was the biggest display of old fishing lures I have ever seen - quite colorful!

We then looked around the Clinton Museum Store, and caught the shuttle back to the parking lot.  It was pretty hot out, so when we checked out the temp gauge in the car, it said it was 100 degrees!  Whew!

We then drove through town and stopped at the Big Dam Bridge, which is another pedestrian bridge built over a dam and lock.  Because it was all out in the sun, Sam and I opted to wait in the shade while James braved the heat and walked to the top.  He got a couple of good pics to share.

That finished up the day for us - on the way back to Hot Springs we passed a bank with the temperature on display - 103 degrees!  Yikes!  Thank goodness the humidity wasn't too bad!

Day Eleven - Year Two

We drove down to Hot Springs, AR – what a gorgeous campground!  Best site we have had so far!  And we are literally in the Hot Springs National Park, which actually encompasses one end of the town – kind of unique!  Of course, the minute we got here and started to set up, it rained.  These folks are having a drought so they are happy!  J

One of the ladies at the office offers tours of the area, so we are going to check that out on Friday.  The weather forecast says 97 degrees tomorrow, so we are thinking of driving to Little Rock to check out the sites there.  We’ll try for hiking around here on the weekend when the forecast calls for a cooler temp of 93 degrees.  :P

Day Ten - Year Two

We drove over 400 miles to Heber Springs, AR.  When I booked the KOA campground online, I thought it was Hot Springs, AR, and didn’t notice until we reached this campground that we were in the wrong place!  Oops!  This is a nice campground, but not where we want to be, and no wifi, so we are heading to Hot Springs tomorrow.  Beautiful lake area in the valley as you drive in! Sugarloaf Mountain was right behind the campground.   AR is a beautiful, mountainous state.

Day Nine - Year Two

Our last day in Birmingham, and my plan was to tour the Golden Flake factory and then visit the Southern Museum of Flight.  Unfortunately, the Southern Museum of Flight is closed on Mondays, as are several other attractions here, so we only got to tour the factory.

Sam was not enthusiastic about the tour, because they require everyone to wear a hairnet, as in all food preparation factories.  I guess I will have to take food prep factories off my list!  J

The bad news – no pics allowed.  Boo!  The really funny part was when the lady in charge of the tour was handing out hair nets, she gave Jim two of them and said he would need them to cover all of his hair!  J  Then, even more funny, she called him out into the hall to tell him that she was checking with her supervisor to see if he would be allowed to take the tour while wearing shorts because he had so much body hair exposed!  LOL!  We were all laughing over that one!  He ended up getting the thumbs up, so we went on the tour.

It was interesting to see the process from potatoes in the door to finished chips in the bags.  They service the whole southeast United States, from KY to the east coast, and south through MS, AL, and FL.  I have to say, I haven’t tasted a better potato chip than the warm fresh one right off the line!  Yum!  They even gave us three small bags of chips each to take home.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and cleaning up to prepare for travel the next day.  Birmingham was a cool place!

Day Eight - Year Two

Hiking day – headed to Gadsden, AL to visit Noccalula Falls.  We toured the park and checked out the pioneer village, rode the little train around the park for a quick historical tour, and then headed on a hike.  We checked out their new Black Creek hiking trail – 1.7 miles each way.  Easy trail but about half of it was in the sun, so at 93 degrees, it got a little hot.

Four bottles of water and an ice tea later, we made it back to the falls, so we climbed down the rocks to walk under the falls.  It was a good climb, and Sam became reenergized walking through the cave under the falls, so it was good.  In the pics below, look closely in the first one and you'll see people at the back - that gives you an idea of the size of the cave!  It was a beautiful park, and well worth the trip if you are ever in the area!

Day Seven - Year Two

On Saturday we decided to visit the McWane Science Center – free admission with our MOSI membership!  Yay!  We got there at noon and left at 5:00 pm – needless to say Sam had a blast!  Nothing like having fun learning.  J  It was a good day, and we got to stay on our feet all day to get ourselves ready for some hiking.