Doctor's Orders

I've learned two major lessons over the past couple of days:
1) Camping is the great equalizer
2) Low expectations yield high rewards

1. It does not matter where you're from, where you're going, how many trips you've taken around the sun, or what you arrive in.  Campers really don't care.  Sure, you have the more experienced travelers or the luxury homes-on-wheels, but at the end of the day, you are all in the same spot to do the same thing.  Camp.  It's truly a beautiful thing.  Never before have I witnessed such selfless comradery or adventurous excitement all in the same place.  And for those of you who are the skeptics or the worriers and feel that I have been in constant danger with little payoff, I am here, today, to change your mind.

2) I was not looking forward to visiting Arkansas on my 48-state extravaganza.  I mean, it was really at the bottom of the list where low expectations neighbor loud upstairs tenants and finding a questionable hair in your meal.  But alas, I made my way through the state from Memphis where the music sings to your hips and shimmies your feet.  Things were not looking up as I drove about an hour without seeing any formation of a town.  As I drove west, the sun began to set and I soon became face-to-face with a beaming hot fire ball just below the visor's protection.  It's okay.  I only saw spots for about an hour after I parked.  Thankfully, the Crater of Diamonds State Park proved to be fabulous.  I even enjoyed using my eco-friendly hand powered washing machine for the first time!  From the hot shower to a day of diamond huntin' in the world's 8th largest diamond reserve, my views of Arkansas soon began to change.  In fact, I ended up staying two nights before heading to Hot Springs National Park, just a two-hour drive away.

To say I am as happy as a clam is an understatement.  I mean I must be at least as content as an oyster with a pearl at this point.  Eyore and I spent the first day hiking the mountain and learning our way around.  Hot Springs is the smallest and only urban-set National Park.  I soon learned that I could hike into town in less than an hour which is exactly what I did the next morning in chase of some hot springs.  The quaint town of Hot Springs features Bathhouse Row, which is an array of traditional and modern bathhouses dating back to the early 1900s.  Although I was able to put my hands in some of the fountains spewing steaming hot water, I was looking for the real deal.  When the bathhouses first opened, they were used to treat the mentally ill where mineral baths and increasingly difficult hikes were prescribed by medical professionals.  I had the hiking part down (although I did take a great tumble landing me on the wrong side of my own ankle), so now I wanted the water.  I chose to go the traditional route in Buckstaff Bathhouse which has been in operation since 1912.  Now I didn't want to go relax in a luxurious vintage bathhouse, but y'all skeptics twisted my arm!

After arriving in the lobby and asking for the whirlpool mineral bath, I was promptly escorted up an old golden elevator to the bathing floor.  While some patrons choose to go the way of the birthday suit, I opted for my bathing suit since only the bath was private.  I was then wrapped

toga style in a sheet and brought to an old-style tub that would even gain President Taft's seal of approval.  The bath was basically a personal jacuzzi.  My bath attendant, Sara, also gave me hot mineral water to drink to raise my body temp in an effort to detox.  For the next 20 minutes, I was in heaven.  Sara popped in once to give me some more mineral water to drink, but how much plain hot water can a gal drink?  So I poured most of it in the tub. 

After the bath, I was brought to a sitz bath where you sit in a deep butt-tub that fills with warm water for your lower back.  I read a magazine and poured more of the mineral water they brought over to drink on my chest.  Next came the vapor cabinet which is a steam cabinet that you sit in where the only part of you that is still visible is your head.  I would not recommend this part to anyone who is claustrophobic since they close metal doors around your body.  I decided to rest my head on the enclosure for a quick snooze.  But wait!  There's more!  Sara then lead me to a massage table without the hole in the middle and began to wrap hot towels around my body leaving a cool one for my head.  I was also finally able to drink ice water which I guzzled in lieu of pouring on myself.  Life was so good.  Finally, the needle shower - which is not as painful as it sounds - gives you a good rinse in what looks like a spy's wet dream of crisscrossing lasers which are actually just gentle water jets.  For $33 I enjoyed over an hour of thermal mineral therapy in what looked like an archaic medical floor filled with marble walls and giant tubs.  Needless to say, I certainly wouldn't have minded faking the occasional public outburst if it brought me to Buckstaff all those years ago.

After my wonderful water encounter, I window-shopped along the main street and stopped in the

Superior Bathhouse.  The smallest of the bathhouses, Superior recently reopened as a brewery where the only beer made from mineral water exists.  Though I am not a beer drinker, I sat down to enjoy a gyro and some of the best chili that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting.  With a final hike back to the campsite, Eyore and I went for another long trek on the opposite side of the mountain and returned for some yoga under the sun and ice-cream for an appetizer.  So to all my skeptics and worriers, I am fine.  In fact, I am more than fine.  I am the happiest I've ever been and more so than that, I am an official fan of Arkansas.