Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas is home to the second smallest national park in the United States. The current smallest being the St. Louis Arch.

As someone who loves hot springs, a good story, beer and anything that's driving distance from home, Hot Springs, Arkansas was high up on my list of must visits.

Joe and I drove there from Kansas City which took about 7 hours.

In the past, I've visited the home of Arkansas in Bentonville and have stopped at Crystal Bridges. If you're a road tripper and enjoy a good roadside attraction then both of these places are well worth a visit. For our trip, Joe and I just wanted to get on the road so we didn't stop.

Here's a few pictures if you do feel like stopping though!

At Hot Springs National Park, you can stroll down Bathhouse row and visit eight of the original buildings where the hot thermal waters flowed. These bath houses include: Lamar Bathhouse, Buckstaff Bathhouse, Ozark Bathhouse, Quapaw Bathhouse, Fordyce Bathhouse, Maurice Bathhouse, Hale Bathhouse and Superior Bathhouse.

Today Lamar's Bathhouse is used for the national park store, park archives and research library.

Superior Bathhouse is now a really cool brewery! Joe and I got some beer to enjoy in our airbnb.

The only bathhouse that we actually visited was Quapaw Bathhouse where we sipped on champagne and soaked in a private tub. It was a cool experience!

If you walk around the downtown area then you can stumble on some other thermal pools that are interesting to check out.

On one of our days in Hot Springs, we visited Garvan Woodland Gardens. It's over 200 acres of botanical gardens and woodland areas to explore.

Personally, I really enjoyed seeing the Anthony Chapel. If you've ever visited Powell Gardens near Kansas City then it will probably remind you of that.