Late last week, our family embarked on our first true “family vacation” in years.
Wife Krista had done a masterful job of advance planning to ensure this journey by car, while brimming with anticipation and fun, would not break the bank. Gas prices were one of few variables beyond our control.
We have a friend who owns a condo on beautiful Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas. That lovely comp would serve as headquarters and a place of comfort and refuge for our vacationing party of 10, including six adults and four children between the ages of 2 and 8.
In addition to Krista and myself were grands Ryder, Baylor, Beckett and Harper, son Brandon, daughter Kelsey, son-in-law Ryan and Krista’s double first cousin Kim.
We have made the roughly 250-mile trip many times, taking numerous routes. This time, we took a South Delta trek, connecting with Highway 61 at Cleveland and down to Greenville, where we crossed the Mississippi River into the Arkansas Delta. It was a beautiful ride.
After an uneventful journey — thank the Lord! — we reached our destination late Thursday.
Hot Springs is an historic city located in the Ouachita Mountains range. The city and its thermal springs sit nestled within a smaller local sub-range of the Ouachita called the Zig Zag Mountains. According to the National Park Service, in Hot Springs National Park, 47 natural thermal springs emerge at an average temperature of 143 degrees. Water that hot can cause a severe second- or third-degree skin burn within 2 to 5 seconds of contact.
After enjoying a breakfast of coffee, juices, bacon, pancakes and scrambled eggs prepared in the condo, our Friday ensued with a little jaunt about the downtown area, where we stopped in a city park to snap a few family photos while soaking up some of the local ambiance.
It was good to see that the Hot Springs central business district, roughly in the area called Bathhouse Row, seemed to be bustling with activity. The beautiful architectural features of the eight turn-of-the-20th-century bathhouses still standing draw a lot of the attention, but all of the storefronts were filled, businesses open and, hopefully, thriving. A parking place was difficult to find. That is usually a good sign.
Then it was off to the first of two family fun parks we would visit that day.
At the first, the older children and a few adults enjoyed several presentations on a virtual reality theatre ride before heading out to the go-kart track for some live, gas-powered action. Kelsey and Beckett paired up in one vehicle, Ryan and Baylor in another and Brandon and Harper in the third.
I lost count of the laps, but the riders were allotted a very generous 8 or so minutes of race time along the course. At one point, Brandon’s ball cap blew off and Ryan scooped it up, but not before tire tracks made the hat a racing souvenir.
At T-Rex Fun Spot on Central Avenue, a sister to the first park, an indoor rope-climbing course high above the indoor arcade floor soon drew the attention of Ryan, Kelsey, Beckett and Harper. All were property outfitted with safety harnesses before beginning their respective adventures. Ryan and Beckett also enjoyed another lift ride where they were hoisted by a rope before letting go and sliding down a massive reflective slide.
Baylor and Ryder, too young for many of the fun park offerings, enjoyed some of the dozens of arcade game machines simply by spinning a steering wheel or pretending to shoot pouncing on-screen dinosaurs. They had fun, too.
Before leaving the second fun park, Brandon, Kelsey, Ryan, Beckett and Harper suited up for a game of indoor laser tag through a dimly lit second-floor obstacle course. They came back reporting a fun time but in a stifling hot environment. War is hell!
On Friday evening, we paused to enjoy a delicious meal in a fun, family-friendly environment at The Purple Cow, a 1950s-themed diner. Both the food and the service were great! Our group had a blast eating the purple-colored ice cream and milkshakes that were served up in bountiful portion sizes. Several to-go cups and containers were requested.
On Saturday, we traveled a few miles outside Hot Springs to the Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. Krista had taken advantage of a Fourth of July-themed “Firecracker” ticket special good for any single-day admission through Aug. 2. We saved 40% off ticket prices.
We were somewhat disappointed to find that many of the kiddie rides in the park were either closed or got off to a very late start. Signs posted at various mechanical rides mentioned a worker shortage. Some operators were having to pull double duty at adjacent rides, which meant one of two would be running at a time.
The carousel was spinning, but it was not popular with Ryder, who cried while his daddy stood alongside his moving shiny black pony.
Kelsey, Beckett and Harper were energized by one of the thrill rides, The Hawk. Kelsey and Beckett were first to ride it, after which Harper decided to join in for a second spin. According to the park’s online propaganda, The Hawk “swoops, soars and dives for prey at heights up to 50 feet. The thrills keep coming as repetitive swings hurtle downward with a boom that rotates 360 degrees both clockwise and counter-clockwise at speeds up to 13 rpm.”
We older folk were watching it all from a distance — I from behind the wheel of an electronic scooter that I rented for the day, and Krista and Kim from scooters they hauled with us from home.
Ryder was my constant traveling companion, and while others in our party were held up standing in line for a ride — at the log plume, for instance — we would have fun scouting the nearby surroundings.
Initially, Kelsey had to console Ryder while she and Harper accompanied him in an enclosed kiddie bucket ride, Bugga Booga, reminiscent of a Ferris wheel but not nearly as tall. By the end, he was either shell-shocked or at peace, as the tears had dried. Ryan, Beckett and Baylor were all smiles in an adjacent bucket on the ride.
Most of our group ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant within the park. I chose a personal pepperoni pizza from a nearby vendor. It was delicious.
There were more rides, more activities, and then the huge water park provided its own fun for some in our group, who had dressed with water play in mind. We older folk chose to remain dry, except for the sweat that was dripping on a day when the high temp reached 97 degrees but probably felt like 107.
Fortunately, there were plenty of air-conditioned spaces throughout the park into which one could dip for a nice cooldown.
After leaving Magic Springs, we rode up Mountain Drive to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. We didn’t go up into the tower — we’ve done that several times before — but I highly recommend it to any newcomers for the historical exhibits in an air-conditioned mini-museum, as well as the panoramic view of the upper deck. This time, we used the tower area for more family photos at a nearby observation point and to accomplish a little last-minute souvenir shopping in the tower gift shop.
Later, rest and relaxation were on the agenda. Pizza, sandwiches and party foods were our closing-night dining fare. We sat out on the balcony of the condo, as we had the previous two evenings, watching the colorfully lit vessels navigate Lake Hamilton into the night.
We talked about the day and other events in our lives; the kids played, watched TV or viewed YouTube Kids programming on a cellphone borrowed from one of the adults; and then we all settled in for a night of sleep.
On several mornings, the kids enjoyed throwing bread off the balcony to geese and turtles on the grass below or in the water near a boathouse.
The geese were elsewhere on Sunday, but the turtles were there to say goodbye. After a hearty meal of sausage, pancakes and scrambled eggs, we cleaned up the condo and hit the road.
One of our last acts before leaving Hot Springs was capturing a gallon of natural hot spring water from a public jug fountain downtown. The fountains are just about everywhere you look.
The Park Service website says the water's high temperature kills most harmful bacteria, and it is monitored to U.S. standards for safe drinking water. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, "Hot Springs National Park is the only unit of the national park system that is mandated to give away its primary natural resource to the general public in an unending and unaltered state. The water is naturally potable (good to drink) when it arrives at the surface of Hot Springs Mountain."
We observed people filling all sizes and shapes of containers with the 143-degree water. Some filled a half-dozen or more large vessels at a time. Brandon said the Milo’s plastic tea jug he used was almost too hot to handle.
Our final vacation stop in Hot Springs was at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, where we enjoyed our last meal and bade adieu to our hospitable host city while each harboring the winsome emotion common to all enjoyable family outings: "I'm not ready for this to end."
This vacation of ours was more of a mini-vacation than a full-blown one, so it did seem to be too short.
A safe trip from Arkansas to Mississippi, this time on an always busy I-40, brought us into Charleston at about 8 Sunday night, tired but thankful to be safe.
Hopefully, our next family vacation will come sooner and last much longer. The kids are growing so fast.
