My sister and I have spent a lot more talking lately than we usually do, and in one of our recent conversations we talked about taking a small road trip together.
It occurred to me that we have never been on a vacation together. Our family didn’t vacation when I was growing up, and by the time I went off to college, she was just entering elementary school.
My very good friend offered me the loan of her condo in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for some rest and relaxation. I asked my sister, Jeanna, if she would like to go for a few days and she excitedly said, “YES!”
It took some crafty scheduling/rescheduling of things on both our parts. I had to move some work projects around while she had to move some doctor’s appointments and chemo/cancer treatments around, but we made it happen. We invited two of our cousins, Kim and Samantha, to tag along and headed west last Wednesday for a few days.
It really isn’t a bad drive at all if you are looking for a short destination trip for a small vacation. And in my opinion, there are many family-friendly activities to do in Hot Springs.
Our favorite activity was napping. No joke. Once settled in, we opened the curtains wide and soaked in the beautiful view of Lake Hamilton with a sprinkling of the lower Ozark Mountains as the backdrop. We then proceeded to each find our sleeping quarters to unpack and rest.
I can’t tell you it was a trip filled with tons of activities, but I can tell you it was so relaxing and filled with tons of laughter. We spent a great deal of time sitting on the balcony, watching boats go by — some speeding, some lazily drifting and some pulling all sorts of floats behind with people riding on them and trying not to get tossed off. There were small fishing boats, speed boats, small and large pontoon boats and lots of jet skis. We even made games out of the boats traveling by to entertain ourselves. One morning, in amazement, I noticed two men in the distance, and it looked as if they were floating on top of the water. They were on some sort of self-propelled boards that just kind of hovered above the water. It blew my mind.
Jeanna mentioned that she would like to ride a boat, so I searched the great Google for boat rides in Hot Springs. You can rent a pontoon, but it is very expensive, plus there is the cost of gas and insurance. You can also ride “The Duck.” These are vehicles that ride both on land and in the water, but they’ve been around since World War II, so I’m not so keen on riding them anymore.
Turns out there is a very nice man named Captain Jack who owns a luxury pontoon and gives hour-and-a-half tours around Lake Hamilton four times per day. We called him up, explained that we had someone on a walker and he graciously accommodated us so we could enjoy a nice spin around the lake.
We took a ride up to the mountain tower. We rode all around town. We ate at some great restaurants, and we spent lots of time resting and visiting.
It was an awesome trip, and we have already been talking about our next adventure.
