Lake Ouachita State Park, AR
I was up at the crack of dawn this morning, or should I say the lightbulb in the five gallon bucket so prominently displayed all night by our neighbors, finally lost its bright glow. I never can figure out why grown men need a campsite lit up all night, especially when everyone is all lined up in their 5th wheels. But, I digress...
Beaver's Bend State Park was jam packed last night and every other campsite seemed to be sporting some kind of hot rod. First thing this morning a parade of the street rods took a ceremonious lap and finally all parked on the community green. Apparently, it was the big weekend of the "Rod Run". We didn't stick around, but decided to move on for Arkansas was calling. We did enjoy watching the late street rod arrivals as they came past us into the meet.
Our big outing for the day was visiting Hot Springs, particularly the National Park. The weather was a cool and breezy 60ish perfect weather for soaking in the baths. We packed a backpack with bathing suits and rain gear figuring we had the bases covered. We enjoyed walking down Bathhouse Row and reading about the history of these houses in their glory days. We knew a couple of them were still operating as bathhouses so were eagerly looking forward to "taking the cure". Our first stop was at the official National Park Headquarters where we were able to tour the Fordyce Bathhouse. This establishment was thought to be the best of the hot spring bathhouses and people came from all over to cure everything from liver ailments to syphilis.
We began the tour with a very dated movie about the history of Hot Springs and how the springs geologically occur. The building felt very Victorian and had lots of tile, marble and stained glass. The wood work was gorgeous, particularly in the women's dressing room. However, as we went from floor to floor to floor and began to really see the baths and the techniques used we started to get a little creeped out and even a bit queasy.
The longer we poked around the more it felt like we were in some kind of torture chamber. For example, the Hydro-Therapeutic Room touts. "It's equipment includes sun-ray cabinets, frigid cabinets, devices for sprays, douches, Sitz baths, electric baths(!) and the like." And how could one not want to partake in the Chiropody Room where foot problems are treated in a number of ways. "Painful cysts between the bones on the bottoms of feet would be crushed and slid off with sideward knuckle punches." And let us not forget the Hubbard Tub Room where underwater treatments were given for...we're not quite sure what. However a sign did say that this room was formerly used to administer mercury rubs once a standard treatment for syphilis. Great....can't wait to soak in that tub!! Ned got really freaked out about the firehouse on the wall near the tubs. Not really sure if these were used to fill the tubs or give enemas. Ahhhh....At this point Ned and I found our way out of the building and decided to forego taking "the cure" and decided to pig out on BBQ. Smoked ribs and coleslaw were such the better choice!
Tonight we are camped at Lake Ouachita State Park. Even tho it's cool and threatening to rain the campground hopping. We had the choice to take the last electrical spot, which is basically in a gravel parking lot, or opt for the tent campsites. Guess which we chose. Tent campers don't like rain so we got a great spot in an almost empty campground loop over looking the lake. It feels good to just hang out read and play some games. I'm teaching Ned backgammon so he'll have a chance to beat me at something else besides Skip-O.
