Who says there's no fun to be had in Arkansas??  Not me and certainly not a former US prez...  So the family decides to go on a little weekend getaway to noneother than...Hot Springs, AR.  This resort destination is about 3 hours (4.5 hours with kids) from Memphis and home to the high school alma mater of Bill Clinton.  What follows is both a trip documentary and travel advisory so this may be the entry to skip if you never, ever, ever plan to go to Hot Springs.

 

We stayed at The Arlington Hotel which is a historic hotel with much...uhmmm...history behind it (hey - I run a business, not write the travelguide!).  Big Al Capone spot, had one of his caddies (that's Cadillac to you non-car peeps) in the lobby, really small elevators, etc.  I would totally stay there again because 4 people in a room was only $119 a night which seems pretty good to me.  I would advise against the spa options in the hotel as they also have a historic aspect and can be quite disappointing to those expecting the sanitary conditions commiserate with this century.

 

We arrived late on a Friday night, ordered pizza and went to bed.  Early Saturday, we took the Duck Tour.  For those unfamiliar with our early Memphis siteseeing, the Duck Tour is is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks.a land/sea vehicle equipped with sassy captains full of witty reparte. 

 

The town of Hot Springs is beautiful with a whole row of bathhouses and kitchy cute stores.  Post duck, we went to Magic Springs which is the AR version of Disney/Six Flags and poorly run.  It didn't help that it was 95 and sunny but 1/3 of the rides were out of commission and the attached waterpark denizens didn't inspire a return trip.  We ducked out about 3p and took refuge in the hotel pool with the adjoining hotel bar... 

 

Sunday, we avoided the hotel brunch (at $45 for 4!) and walked across the street to The Pancake House which was a great, clean, efficient diner (which only takes cash by the way).  It reminded us of the Courtesy Diner on Hampton (known to the kids as The Dines).  Pancakes at the Dines wins...FYI.  We spent the rest of the day dodging questions as to when we were going back to the water park (which we deemed a sanitary hazard)  and tried to buy them off with presents at the local toy store.  Brooke picked out a gladiator costume and Andrew wanted dinocheckers.  We were walking back to the hotel and decided to check out the Hot Springs Natl Park right next to the hotel.  The water there is HOT!  I know that sounds stupid but it's 168 degrees fresh from the spring and that is HOT.  We started to climb up the paths of the park which lead to the top of the mountain.  We were about 3/4 of the way up when we realize we were entirely surrounded by trees with no water, no food and no clue how far the top of the mountain was.  In addition to that, we realized our survival tools included only a gladiator costume and dinocheckers.

 

We made it to the top of the mountain and even found the observation tower which was great.  The walk back down was MUCH faster and the boys found a blackberry bush.  The 'survivorman' initiates decided to eat the raw fruit while the girls noshed on Ritz crackers from the observation tower gift shop (yet another reason why women live longer).  The rest of the afternoon was spent alternating the pool with the naturally heated hot tub at the hotel.

 

Monday, we drove back, rescued the dog from the pet hotel and glared at the overgrown lawn.