Hot Springs Wrap-up

You know how when you're on vacation, one 24-hour period can feel like several days based on the things you've been doing?  That's how it was for us during our three days in Hot Springs.  We arrived on a Friday afternoon and left on Monday morning but it felt like we had 9 days!  Between doing the touristy sight-seeing things, taking a walk around the historical neighborhood where we stayed, and driving around, plus errands like groceries and gas, and just relaxing in the evenings, we made the most of it!

It rained (or threatened to rain when it wasn't raining) the whole time we were in Hot Springs.  I got to use my raincoat!  Thankfully we never got caught in a downpour.  And while there were some severe thunderstorms in the area, we were spared from the devastating weather events that parts of Oklahoma and Nebraska experienced (tornadoes).  Because we're from Florida, we don't have experience with the kind of weather the middle part of the U.S. gets.  Our sister-in-law knows this, so she's watching the weather for us as well and made sure to let us know our first night in Arkansas that bad storms were brewing.

I've blogged about the big things we did in Hot Springs, but we did a few other things as well.  On Saturday morning we walked down to the Farmers Market.  They have a good venue for it in Hot Springs where the vendors can drive up to their assigned spaces for the season and set up pretty easily without having to haul their tables and wares from the parking lot.  They had sellers of farm-fresh eggs, vegetables, and meat products, as well as handiwork, crafts, and canned items like jams, jellies, and BBQ sauce.  Soaps, jewelry, woodwork.

Farmers Market, Hot Springs, Arkansas

We walked through Veterans Park.  They have a statue of Adam Brown, one of the Seal Team SIX men who was from Hot Springs.  There is a book about him.

Adam Brown, Seal Team SIX 

Some of the homes in the neighborhood are on the National Register.  I guess that's why the Trolley Tour went through our neighborhood!

And of course there were pretty flowers around.  #flowersmakemehappy.

You may be wondering about restaurants and eateries in Hot Springs.  We actually ate at home except for Sunday lunch when we went to Texas Roadhouse with our friend after church.  With my celiac disease, that makes it more difficult to find places to eat safely, and I hadn't come across anywhere in the area that struck me as somewhere I wanted to try.  Sometimes I really hate having celiac.  Traveling is one of those times.

But eating in does help keep us on budget.  We are 11 days into this trip while I'm writing this and we are $131 under budget!  Six of the days we've been under budget; five days over - and mostly because we added a few attractions that I didn't go back and adjust for before embarking on the trip.

We hope you've been enjoying our trip report.  Let us know if you've been inspired to add anywhere to your list of places to see in the U.S.

~ Cindy D.