Hot Springs, Arkansas----great time!

Clayton and I just returned from 5 days in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We had a great time just relaxing but we did take in some of the sites also. I thought that I would share a few of them with you.

One of my favorites was dressing up and taking an old time western picture. I have several of these with my friends---so I wanted to add one of Clayton and I to the wall.

We also went to the Coleman Crystal Mine. In the past Clayton has actually gone down and dug for crystals but this time we just browsed the pieces on display and bought some glass pieces to add to our rose garden.

large crystal piecehuge piece of amythest

Rose Garden

We also went to an alligator farm and petting zoo. You could feed the deer and goats which was fun. We missed the feeding of the alligators which I hear is a real treat but it was fun to look at them up close anyway. We brought Barry a real alligator head back with us which he thought was really cool! There were also some monkeys, lemurs, and a 175 year old turtle.

And of course we had to take a tour of a bathhouse. We toured the Fordyce bathhouse. It is not currently being used as a bathhouse but it is used as the visitor center as part of the National Park.

Needle Shower

old time steamer

Original stained glass in the men's bathing room

We also took a dinner cruise on the Belle of Hot Springs! It was a wonderful evening---the night air out of the deck was very pleasant and the scenery was beautiful on Lake Hamilton.

We hated for it to end---but work and kids called so we had to come home.