Duck Touring Hot Springs
Wednesday continued the run of beautiful, sunny days. Hot, though, but I generally am fairly comfortable in hot weather. Gerry and I decided to take the Duck Tour, which would give us a chance to see parts of the town and sites around nearby Lake Hamilton. Once we got started, I found the “captain” of the boat entertaining and informative. He talked about the houses of the famous and infamous that lined the lake shore and their histories. I’m going to let the pictures below speak for themselves. As usual, the rest of the photos are available on my Flickr page. Since Gerry wanted to leave town very early Thursday morning, we had dinner at the condo and watched the DVD on the music studio in Muscle Shoals. I’m not normally a big fan of biographic documentaries, but this one was surprisingly entertaining. It was interesting to hear back stories…
Last Days in Hot Springs–The National Park
We got an early start Thursday. Gerry was heading back east that morning, so I got up and fixed breakfast so that we could have a final chat before he left. After he left, I cleaned up and got down to work. Or at least that was the plan. I’m under deadline to finish my first published book, and I’ve hit a wall. As the day passed, I had brief moments of typing, but mostly I stared at the computer screen or out of the condo’s patio door at the lake beyond. Well after the sun went down, I finally gave up and packed up my belongings in preparation for departure Friday morning. Writer’s block is a terrible thing to have. And this is a crappy time to have it. Before I’d gone to bed Thursday night, I got an announcement that the area would be under a flash flood…
Hot Springs,… Finally! And a Special Birthday
Since my 2016 trip to southeastern US, I’ve hoped to visit Hot Springs, Arkansas; however, I simply ran out of time to add it to that trip. My birthday approached, and I wanted to get out of town for a few days. Hot Springs came up again because it was far enough south to get to warmer weather but not so far that I need a whole day to drive it. The celebration had started early when I visited family back East, and they decided to surprise me with the early presentation of a German Chocolate Cake decorated with six candles. Then, my eldest sister informed me that she and my brother-in-law would treat me to a week in their timeshare! Finally, my youngest brother accepted my invitation to spend that week enjoying the facilities and activities along with me!! I left home the Friday before my b-day very concerned…
Home, Home from the Range
The night’s storm died away, but that Tuesday morning afterwards began still cloudy and was the coolest of the extended holiday weekend. Fortunately, it wasn’t so cool that I changed my mind about visiting Evans Plunge Mineral Springs in Hot Springs. I entered the small town around 7:30 a.m. and was able to get enough of a Wi-fi signal from my phone to find the direct route to the facilities. My timing was perfect because there weren’t many people there. I actually had the sauna to myself for several minutes. There were also few swimmers using the indoor swimming pool as I approached. I again reminded myself as I slowly walked down the steps into the shallow end that it had been decades since I swam, and what my body could do then was not the same as where things stood now. Those words of warning faded as…