Day Six

Old Man River is the fourth longest river in the world, after the Nile, Amazon, and Yangtze. It is much narrower up here than it is down in Baton Rouge, where I’ve crossed it most often. Same waters, draining the continent. A major geographical hurdle! 

We got to Hot Springs, AR, before nap time. Nobody napped. Eloise sang, Pounce meowed, Isaac peeked his head up at all the commotion and Chris went on a jog. Eloise and Pounce pooped. Eloise and Isaac jumped around singing the Imperial March. We gave up on nap time. 

So we careened over to Bath House Row and found the National Park visitor center 13 minutes closed. Agony over missed National Park Passport stamps. Just kidding, the main visitor center down the street is open. I LOVE national parks. Did you know 2016 is the park service’s centennial? We are hitting a lot of them. We have the (silly) stamps to prove it! 

We found hot springs. They were hot. We briefly hiked. It was hot. We took pictures. Because we are so hot. 

Superior Bathhouse Brewery uses hot springs water to make beer and root beer in an old bathhouse. I had the Beez Kneez, which is one of their beers infused with local basil and honey. YUM! All the yums! We shared black bean humus and a cheese and meat platter of Petit Jean sausages. 

When I was little, we went on a fun AR vacation one year where we camped at a bunch of different lakes, including Petit Jean, and climbed to the top of this mountain here in Hot Springs only to feel slightly deflated and generally superior when we discovered everyone else just drove to the top. 

Tonight Chris and I were not able to recreate my childhood memory of that because the kids abandoned their ice cream and started running in circles shouting like crazy people in the brewery. 

“What was your favorite part of the day?” Chris asked Isaac at bedtime. 

“Eating ice cream! And running in circles like crazy people!” Isaac said. 

“Yeah that was my least favorite part,” I said. 

At least someone was enjoying it.