Daily mileage = 214 Total trip = 870
Well, we left Memphis and headed across the river to Little Rock, AK. It's pretty flat and mostly farm land until you hit Little Rock. Then it begins to get hilly. There we stopped to see the Bill Clinton Presidential Library (sorry all of you devout Republicans).
It's new and in the downtown area. It has re-vitalized the area and was designed to look like a bridge (and is next to one on the Arkansas River). The bridge was his theme during his presidency on helping the country "bridge to the future." It was much better than we thought and we know that Tom D. is dying that we would even stop here!!
We then left and continued to Hot Springs, AK. Many of you are probably wondering why? I guess Mare was the one who thought it might be interesting to see the area. It is now a National Park (the smallest) and in addition to beautiful rolling hills, hiking trails etc., there is a small historic "main street" that has these wonderful old bathhouses.In the late 1800's up until the 1970's, people would come to Hot Springs to get "baths" from the naturally hot, mineral springs in the area. The water bubbles up through vents and these huge mansion type buildings were built in front of them. They called it "Bathhouse Row." They are now being restored and run by the National Park as a gone-by era. There is still one that operates today although once the medinical value was disproved, most people stopped coming. It was the birth of the spa treatment! (And get this, a 20 minute bath and 20 minute massage is only about $50.00; definitely not NY spa prices!)
The water is hot but people also drink it. In fact you have all probably had some mineral water that you paid a fortune for. We just filled up our water bottles on the street for free!The last interesting thing I'll leave you with is that there's also a race track here, Oaklawn Park. Apparently, many Kentucky Derby contenders are trained and race here.
It must be in the water.
Maybe tomorrow's winner visited Hot Springs not too long ago!
Good night,
Love,
Mare & Rich
3 comments:
Did you see Monica Lewinsky around the Clinton place? How many Razorbacks did you see?
Love, Rick & Corrine
p.s. Just how hot was that water Rich?
Hi guys! It sure seems like your having fun in Arkansas! I was wondering if you did any reading while you were at the library? They seem like they should have a nice selection of books! :)
Love, Morgan
Oh! And Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!
Well, the water is about 134 degrees coming out of the ground and no we didn't see Monica. She must have been buying a new dress!
No razorbacks present, at least none admitting to be one!
We didn't stop to read any books because they had tapes to listen to and we did an audio tour! But one of the guides said that even though Presidential "libraries" are always called "libraries" they really are museums. However, I do know that if you want to do research there, you can do so!
What to be a historian??
We didn't even have Mexican tonight. Somehow we didn't think Mexican food would be too good in Oklahoma City.....
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