Hooray For Hot Springs!

I met my cousin in Hot Springs, Arkansas and had a bit of dirty fun.

We spent 2 days digging through red clay to find quartz crystals with our name on them.

Pay dirt!

We had a blast.

It was an interesting trip.  We came separately - K left her husband in California, I left my dog in Virginia - and we met by accident in the middle of the airport in Little Rock.  I was thinking about K as I walked up the ramp from my plane, worried that I didn't have her cell phone number and I hoped that we'd meet up at the rental car counter within the hour.  I was walking briskly toward baggage claim watching the floor so that I'd not run over people's feet with my carry-on-with-wheels, when I looked up to see a familiar woman walking in the same direction from another gate.  We locked gazes at the same time, both equally surprised to see each other. 

And this was the beginning of a vacation that was meant to be.

Our flights to and from Little Rock went perfectly.  We had serendipitous meetings with total strangers.  We had lucky numbers reappear, specifically 13 and 777.  We had perfect weather that matched our wish list.  We never had a bad meal - even the eggs we bought to make breakfast every morning were the best I ever had.  We got along famously, never one argument about anything.  We had a great water view from our balcony and spent every morning and evening looking over the lake.  I was able to take advantage of a friend's time share and K took advantage of a family discount on the car rental.  We even had a brand new car - I was pulling plastic off of the seats and the back of the car, and it had that new car smell we all love.

The first two days in Hot Springs were hot and humid, typical Arkansas summer weather, so we sucked up the heat and explored the Hot Springs area.  First we took a tour through Garven Woodlands Garden, a beautifully kept woodland garden in the Ouachitas mountains. Even though we had to climb up and down the trails, the trees gave us some welcomed shade and a connection with nature.  After a long but relaxing walk we drove back to Hot Springs to explore the Bathhouse district, did a little shopping in the air conditioned stores and headed back to our rented condo on Lake Hamilton before treating ourselves to a great dinner in a local restaurant.


I can't remember what we did the second day, probably more driving around and shopping - oh, wait - we had lunch on the Belle Riverboat as we toured Hamilton Lake, a beautiful man made lake bordered by million dollar homes.  It was beautiful.  Then we went downtown for some shopping. There are a lot of local artists in the area!

The third day the weather became more friendly, less humid and cool, so we set out to Coleman's Crystal Mines where, for a measly 10 bucks a piece, we could spend the day digging around the cast-off piles of dirt and take home anything we could find.  And we found!  We kept digging and finding and filling the trunk of our rented car with red clumps of clay until we could take no more, then headed out for food.  We hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for hours.  We went to the first fast food place we saw, a Sonic, and had a meal fit for queens.  It could've been our hunger, but that was the best fast food burger I'd had in years!

K and I spent the rest of the afternoon outside our condo soaking and cleaning off our finds.  We felt like we had found a long lost treasure and were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of our bounty once we'd cleared off the red mud.  

We were so successful we did it again the next day, though that time we quit an hour early and headed  straight for our first Bathhouse experience at the Buckstaff Bathhouse - no appointment necessary!  Little did we know how well our attendants would get to know our naked bodies during our 3 hour bath and massage package.  Lots of steam, lots of water, lots of massage oil.  We closed the place down and went to dinner.

Hot Springs is famous for the thermal spring waters that rise to the surface from the depths of the earth at almost one million gallons a day.  After we pushed the native American population aside a couple of hundred years ago, people from all over the world have been visiting the giant and beautiful bathhouses since the 1800's, creating a healing center for any who could make the trip.  The history of this town is rich, and because the buildings are mainly marble and ceramic tiles, they are still standing!  The water is so hot, we have to cool it down enough to bathe in and its soothing mineral water is so pure we can drink it straight from the ground.  I drank a ton of it and did not die! Downtown Hot Springs is full of fountains, big and small, where you can fill your own bottles with water and take home for free, but you have to be careful you don't burn yourself.  There is no shortage of water or steam in this town!  For K this was a welcome relief from the drought conditions back home in Northern California.

The next day we skipped the digging, spent the morning cleaning out the trunk of our car and getting as much mud off of our crystals as we could before heading out to the post office to send the rocks home; neither of us wanted to carry the stuff home in our suitcases.  Rocks are heavy!  Lunch, shopping, dinner, condo on the lake.  A good restful day.

Our last day in Hot Springs involved a scheduled bathhouse/massage extravaganza at the Arlington Hotel.  We closed that place down, ate a late lunch, spent some time getting sound therapy at a shop to which we were recommended, shopped some more and headed home to pack. I had a clear vision during the sound therapy, which involved being surrounded by sound frequencies that promote healing, of Hot Springs turning into another Sedona, a town filled with energy healers and creative people.  Encircled by mineral springs, crystal laden mountains and natural beauty, it's a perfect place for some healing.

It was also a perfect girls only vacation, though K loved it so much she's bringing her husband back with her next year.  I'm going to recommend some cave tours that we missed this time around that look really interesting.  We were pretty close to visiting Hot Springs during the perfect time of year, but I think a week or two into October would be even better.  The weather would be cooler; better for diving deep into hot steamy things, and the plethora of trees would be turning into their autumn glory.

Our crystals are our gifts straight from the earth, untouched by any except our own hands.  Thank-you mother earth for your healing waters, your healing crystals, and the lovely, friendly people of Hot Springs.  It's was a dirty and clean and fun vacation - the most fun I've had in a long time!