Blogs from Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States, North America

We spent two nights at the historic Lake Hamilton cabins. The owners are so friendly and welcoming. Skip gave us a tour of our cabin and gave us information on the national park and some local attractions. They checked in on us during our stay to see if there was anything else we needed. It's really been a great stay. The property was owned by Skip's parents. Our cabin was built in 1948, I believe he said. There were four guest cabins built before ours. Ours is the only one with a cement slab, he said. It's two stories with the bedrooms on the main floor to keep them cool. At the time it was built, it had an attic fan, which he said was state of the art back then. Today, it has air conditioning. ... read more

Well, if you’ve been reading along and paying any kind of attention to the news, you saw that the middle of the country was badly hit by thunderstorms Sunday night. I left you off saying it was over. Boy, was I wrong. I had plugged Moya back in for what I thought was the last time and left it that way. At 11 with NO warning the skies opened and the thunder and lightning were constant. There was no way this 70-year-old Nana was going outside and unplugging an electric cord from a utility pole. I prayed for the best. I was awake until 3:00 or so until it calmed down enough to fall asleep. This storm system just stayed on top of us for hours. I am used to watching weather patterns move from west ... read more

I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMAN! This morning we spent an hour or so just walking the streets near our B&B so Helli could take some pictures of the historic buildings. It is easy to get caught up in the stories that Vicksburg has to tell, from the paddle steamers to the wrought iron balconies on the old hotel and the canons that are on display still guarding the Mississippi river. The concrete levee has painted marks telling the flood water levels over the past hundred years, with simply overwhelming heights. Vicksburg is a town with such a rich and storied past and yet a very fragile future. Many of the neighborhoods are in disrepair and there isn’t a great deal of employment possibilities. The historic area of town is very quaint and ... read more

Today was the day, we headed to Crater of Diamond Mines State Park in Murfreesboro, AR about an hour southwest of Hot Springs, to go diamond hunting. We were so excited! We brought our tools from home and paid the $8 entry fee per person to get in. After we got in, we ate some hot dogs, nachos, and chili Frito pie from the Kimberlite Cafe and then commenced to diamond hunting. Although we did not find once, we found some jasper. We left shortly before 5:00pm and stopped at another geologic roadcut and then in Murfreesboro at a store to make a few purchases. We got back into Hot Springs and stopped at Chic-fil-A and then Dolce Gelato for some dessert. We were ready for bed after all this.... read more

We arrived late at night to the beautiful Baymont Inn which sits up on a hill overlooking Lake Hamilton. Check in was a breeze and we made our way to our room to some shut-eye for the next day's adventures.... read more