Arkansas- The Natural State (Pt 1)

After the Louisiana shock, we crossed into Arkansas for a bit more familiar territory. Plenty of outdoor spots to explore, albeit with different characters than in the Rocky Mountain states.

Starting off in the privately owned Garvan Woodland Gardens we wove through a densely packed trail full of cute little bridges and landscape experiments by the local architecture school.

Also in the gardens area is Anthony Chapel, which had a really captivating style. The whole chapel grounds were fun to study, I’m hoping that I have the opportunity to mimic the angled vertical triplet lines in the future.

Following the chapel, we headed north to the town of Hot Springs Arkansas, which also happens to be the smallest natural park in the country. Bathhouse Row is composed of old saunas and spas that have historical methods of rejuvenation. Athletes and sickly came here in the early 20th century to try to improve their physical condition.

That torture chamber box on the left is an early steam chair.

Many of the bath houses had gyms for physical therapy and training contained in them. This was part of the national park historical preservation.

And the coolest part was in several locations in the town water spigots disperse free hot springs water directly from the source. Because the water is never exposed to air it is free from parasites and bacteria, although the park rangers do monitor it regularly. We decided to make hot chocolate from the 143*F water!

We didn’t make a spa day out of it, but in the future we might! Next up was Little Rock, which was quite humid the day we entered town. We walked around a bit and checked out the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge.

And the historic Old Mill, which also had a cool bridge.

We decided that we needed a good break halfway through the state, so decided to break down in the boonies. Not a huge problem- driveshaft u-joint- but it was late and we were tired so we got a hotel for the night and had a shop swap it out in the morning.