Arkansas and Oklahoma Road Trip: Part Two
The next day of our road trip in May and June 2021, we woke up bright and early and walked to The Pancake Shop in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It opened at 6 am, and we got there a little after 7 am, but we still had to wait about 30 to 45 minutes for a seat! Thankfully, it was worth the wait! The pancakes tasted amazing!! My husband David ordered chocolate chip pancakes, and I had apple pancakes. David also ordered eggs, and we shared some sausage. And we learned a new trick from our waitress on how to eat pancakes! Cut a hole in the middle and fill it with maple syrup. Then, the syrup won’t go everywhere, and you can contain your mess and your syrup! It was an ingenious trick! I definitely recommend you eat here, but make sure to come early so you don’t have to wait long!
After eating copious amounts of pancakes, we walked across the street to the Hot Springs National Park to see steam coming up and out of the Earth! It was cool to see the steam coming from these thermal waters! There were a few open hot springs that we could see, but most of the hot springs were capped. There were also a few thermal fountains that you could use to fill up a jug or bottle with the thermal water. We opted out of this opportunity. What would we do with the water? Put it on a shelf to look at and remind us of our awesome trip? The gift shop did sell some bottles etched with words such as “Hot Springs” on it, but we decided it wasn’t worth it to get.
Since it was early in the morning, there was hardly anyone else out exploring, so we were able to get good photos without other people in them, and we were able to experience nature in peace. There were several trails to choose from, as well as the Grand Promenade that was nicely paved for people to walk and exercise on after bathing in the thermal water.
Bathhouse Row contains eight bathhouses, of which only one is closed to the public. Of the ones open to the public, Fordyce houses the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center houses museum exhibits and shows the bathhouse exactly how it was used between 1915 and 1962. We enjoyed learning about the bathhouse and seeing the dressing rooms, stalls with private tubs, massage rooms, and gymnasium. There were even old exercise machines there!
The Lamar Bathhouse houses the gift shop, while the Quapaw and Buckstaff house working bathhouses. We only went inside the Lamar, as we were not comfortable bathing during a pandemic. For lunch, we ate at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery, which is on Bathhouse Row. This is the only brewery inside a U.S. National Park, and it is the only brewery that uses thermal spring water in their beer! We ordered food and a flight of beer to try. We picked out two light beers for me and two dark beers for David. I loved the Candy Mountain beer! The food was alright. It was not the best, but it definitely was not the worst.
Across the street from Bathhouse Row was our hotel, and a bunch of shops and restaurants. We shopped and went to the Gangster Museum of America. The tour lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Basically, you just walked from room to room to watch movies and listen to the tour guide say a few interesting stories. I feel like the tour was too long, and I did not feel like I got much out of it. It was surprising to learn that gambling was prevalent in Hot Springs for years, but wasn’t actually legal until 2019! The cops would turn away and let it happen even when it was illegal!
We then treated ourselves after the tour — me with a s’mores cupcake and David with chocolate ice cream. We did some more shopping and ate dinner at Grateful Head Pizza, which seriously had amazing pizza! We loved it! The crust tasted like pretzel bread, and it had the right amount of cheese and sauce. We topped it with green bell peppers and Canadian bacon. Check this place out if you’re in town!
*I was not compensated for the reviews of any of these businesses.
