We moved somewhat slowly and then took the hotel shuttle to the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center, where we spoke to a Hot Springs National Park ranger. We had been planning to hike the Sunset Trail but everyone we had spoken to at the hotel had never heard of it. The ranger was well aware but told us to do other paths instead. Since the town is located within the park, we just walked about three minutes from the visitor center and were already in the woods. The temperature was in the low 50s and very comfortable. The first .2 miles were horrible, heading straight uphill, but everything else was better. We hiked the Dead Chief Trail (1.1 miles) to the Goat Rock Trail (.7 miles), taking a slight detour to head 270 feet up to the North Mountain Overlook, where we looked out at the view and chatted for a bit with a couple visiting from Michigan, two of less than a dozen people we saw during our hike. We then took the Upper Dogwood Trail (.6 miles) to the Lower Dogwood Trail (.4 miles), eating a few snacks along the way. We had planned to leave all day for hiking but Arielle’s comfortable sneakers were just a drop too big for walking downhill to be pleasant, and so we were content, linking up with the Arlington Trail (.1 miles) that led us onto the 5th floor of the Arlington Hotel, walking right by what looked like haunted guest rooms before we took the elevator down to the lobby and exited back into the town about a block from the visitor center where we had started.
We spent the next few hours strolling through downtown Hot Springs, stopping first at Beef Jerky Outlet, where we talked to a man we assumed was a local but was actually a native Californian and longtime Nevada resident who discouraged us from moving there by giving us a reality check of what it’s like to be a liberal living in the South. We continued on to The Candy Corner, giving the cashier his first customer since 9am. Abe got 10 taffies for $1.50 (banana cream pie, cantaloupe, carrot cake, cinnamon roll, eggnog, honeydew, hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, root beer float, and tangerine – he has so far tried 3 and spit them out), Arielle got twenty fruities, and Abe also got some root beer barrels. We walked into Fat Bottomed Girl’s Cupcake Shoppe, where we browsed and gawked at the cupcakes on display. We next tried the wine ice cream (peach zinfandel – nope) at The Argentinean Coffee and Wine Bar, and we ended up getting and eating vegan empanadas with spinach, mushroom, and onion. We sampled some more ice cream at Pour Some Sugar on Me and decided that was the place we’d come to for dessert after dinner. We walked past the row of legendary bathhouses that Hot Springs is known for, deciding not to go for it though Arielle was considering it. We stopped at the park store to get souvenir postcards, learning that one side of the street is the park and one side of the street is the town. We then stopped at the town visitor center and had a nice conversation about the Mets. We also saw a sign that championed Hot Springs as Bill Clinton’s hometown.
We walked the remaining five minutes back to our hotel, where Arielle took a great nap in the very comfortable bed while Abe caught up on some TV and blogging. At around 6pm, we left to take the shuttle to the Ohio Club, Arkansas’ oldest bar with a long gangster history. There was live music, and we realized later that the performer had a tambourine on her foot, which was cool. We decided to sit at the bar so we could hear the music and still talk. Arielle was amazed to see the Impossible Burger on the menu but opted instead to put a garden patty in the Reuben sliders. A slight miscommunication meant that she ordered the Reuben rather than the sliders, but the bartender was more than happy to provide the pretzel bun she had wanted and she put twice as much filling between it. Abe was also confused, ordering brisket sliders thinking they came on top of burgers. They ended up just being brisket but were delicious. The fries on the side were decent. It was an overall great experience and the very friendly bartender even engaged in conversation about Arielle’s work for a few minutes, noting it was depressing but that he was impressed with how many gigs she had gotten in a short time. We walked a few doors down to Pour Some Sugar On Me and came up with a great scheme – get ice cream and call the shuttle so we could eat it back at the hotel! Interestingly, they sell only one size but you get up to three scoops. Abe ordered two but caved and got two cinnamon and one chocolate brownie, while Arielle got birthday cake, mint chip, and rainbow sherbet (yes, she knows that’s a weird combination). We got lids that didn’t quite fit and took the shuttle back to the hotel.
We remembered that our fridge accidentally froze our Mississippi leftovers, so we realized we could use that to our advantage and waited about an hour to eat the ice cream as we handled flight logistics with Arielle’s parents. We watched an episode of “Will and Grace” in the hotel using the handy HDMI cord we had brought, though Abe noted his computer doesn’t have an HDMI, but luckily Arielle’s does. We went to sleep, thoroughly satisfied with our day.
Approximate number of miles covered: 8
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