We have decided that Arkansas is a great place for a mini-vacation — we had loads of fun over Thanksgiving. This time we went to central Arkansas, in the area around Hot Springs and Little Rock, for Easter weekend.

Friday, March 25

After about a five-hour drive through the wildflower-filled prairie, we arrived in Hot Springs. We found “historic bath row,” parked the car, and wandered down the street until we found a tasty-looking pizzeria where we ate dinner.

Once we were properly nourished, we worked our way back up bath row, looking at the historic bath houses.

As the evening cooled off, we noticed that the fountains were steaming. Upon closer inspection, we learned that they are in fact fed directly from the hot springs.

Back behind one of the baths we found a couple of springs bubbling out of holes in the rock.

Then, it was time for ice cream!

We walked over to the park on the corner of Central Ave and Fountain St to eat our ice cream while standing in the steaming run-off from another hot spring.

Despite it being after bedtime when we arrived at our hotel in Benton, we headed straight down to the pool!