NPC and Hot Springs

15-28 April 2022

I did a little detour to Memphis to see my daughter Shannon compete in her second NPC competition. NPC is National Physique Committee and is a bodybuilding competition. I missed her first one last year so I definitely wanted to be there for this one. She’s worked so hard and, yes, I know I’m her mom but I think she’s pretty amazing.

She ended up placing 5th which in my opinion she was robbed! Spoken like a true mom, I know. I enjoyed getting to spend some time with her. It was a very short visit but I’m thankful for the time we had.

After my visit with Shannon I headed back to Arkansas, to Hot Springs National Park. I had a spot right on the creek and enjoyed falling asleep with the windows open listening to the sound of the water. It was so peaceful.

The campground is small, only 44 sites, and the ones along the creek were pretty level. The ones across the street from the creekside sites were not. If I'd had one of these, I would've asked to move. The pics below show just how sloped the campsites were and two examples of how NOT to level your camper.

I have no words. Using firewood for support? Really? How can anyone think this is a good idea? At least his wheels were connected to the ground, unlike the guy on the right.

Always keep your wheels on the ground. Use leveling blocks for support if you have to but the wheels should never be dangling in the air. There's your RV safety lesson for today.

Now on to the fun stuff. I took a tour of downtown Hot Springs and walked along Bathhouse Row.

These are the original bathhouses built in the early 1900s. Only two, the Buckstaff and Quapaw are currently operational.

Fordyce Bathhouse. It opened in 1915, cost over $212,000 to build and furnish, was the largest bathhouse on the Row and was the first one to close down in 1962.

It has been restored and is now the Hot Springs National Park Visitors Center and Museum.

Men's bathhall. They would relax on the benches and enjoy the drinking the water while visiting with each other.

Private bath and shower room on the left, saunas on the right

Ladies "cooling room" where they would come to relax after their bath to allow their body temperature to gradually return to normal.

The Fordyce even had a gym. The medicine balls look the same but the weights sure have changed!

Wednesday it rained all day so I booked a massage at a place recommended by the ladies at the visitor center. I had an hour long "no pain" deep tissue massage at Thai Me. Yes, the name made me question the legitimacy of the business but with the recommendation I decided to try it. I was in desperate need of a good massage and she did well. I felt so much better afterwards. It loosened up the muscles I'd used on Pinnacle Mountain!

The next day I drove to Garvan Woodland Gardens and Anthony's Chapel. The gardens were gorgeous and the place is huge! Definitely allow several hours to tour all the gardens.

Looking down toward the koi pond

Look up from the koi pond.

Full Moon Bridge

Koi pond with Full Moon Bridge in background

Yellow flag iris, pink dogwoods (my favorite), tulips, viburnum, azaleas and hellebore. Just some of the beautiful flowers that were blooming.

They even have a kids area complete with a treehouse!

Anthony's Chapel is a gorgeous glass and wood structure just outside the fee area of the gardens. As you can see, there was a wedding about to happen so, unfortunately, I wasn't able to go inside. Maybe next time...

My gas cap light in my truck came on Wednesday, so I made an appointment at the local Ram dealership to have it checked. There was a recall item I needed fixed too so I figured I'd get it all done at the same time. I packed my backpack, dropped the truck off and Ubered into town to do some more sightseeing.

Gorgeous mural on the wall of a parking lot

Leaf chairs; interesting info on bathhouses and baseball

At the end of Bathhouse Row is Arlington Lawn where you can see the thermal springs. The water coming out of the mountain is about 134 degrees F.

Behind the bathhouses is the Grand Promenade, a walking trail, and above that are hiking trails that lead up the mountain

I took the Peak Trail, which, just as the name implies, goes to the top of the mountain.

Can you imagine hiking in those dresses? Crazy!

At the top is the Mountain Tower. It stands 216 ft tall and has panoramic views of the Ouachita Mountains and the city of Hot Springs. Admission is $11 but they have many discounts (senior citizen, military, first responder, etc) so it was $9 for me.

Arlington Resort on the far right, Bathhouse Row towards the left.

The views were spectacular. This is a hawk or opsrey flying around looking for a meal. It was pretty cool to see one flying around below you.

As I'm enjoying the views, I get a call from the shop and it is not good news. What I thought was a simple problem turned out to be a major issue. Rodents had chewed through my fuel lines and that's why the gas cap light came on!

This happened on Friday and the parts they had to order weren't going to be in until Wednesday. My reservations were only through Monday so I needed to talk to the camp host and see if there was any way I could stay longer. At this point I decided to hike the Gulpha Gorge trail back to the campground.

I spoke with the camp host, and, as suspected, the campground was completely booked. I did find out that there's a chipmunk nest next to my campsite. I'd seen them running around and always thought they were so cute. Not anymore! ☠️🐿 Grrr! Those little beasts cost me $1000 in repairs. Not only did they have to replace the fuel lines but the gas tank as well!

Since I had no transportation and didn't want to spend additional money on Ubers I just hung out with the fur kids at the campground the last few days we were there.

Gable loves his chair; Fitz just hanging out by the creek

We had this great blue heron visit us one morning. He was looking for breakfast and I saw him catch one small fish.

Then of course the inevitable happened.

Another snake. It was in the creek just below my campsite. Some people said it was a copperhead but another guy said it looked like a harmless water snake because baby copperheads have bright yellow tails. I do not care what kind it was. I didn't like it being near me!

This is across the street from the campground. Arkansas really is a beautiful state!

Anyone know what kind of eggs these are? They were in a small pool of calm water on the edge of the creek.

Since my reservations ended before my truck was ready, Janet and Steve came down from Little Rock and towed me back to their house. They have connections for their fifth wheel so they let me hook up to their electricity and water. God is so good and always provides. I was blessed to have friends in the area that could help me. I'm not sure what I would've done without them.

An added bonus was getting more time to spend with these two sweethearts

Kimber and Fitz got along great. Buddy had never been around a cat before and just wanted to play. Fitz wasn't too keen on this idea. I even got Serafina to come outside for a little while!

After three nights at the "Riley Resort" my truck was ready to go. Although it wasn't the best circumstances, it was great to spend more time with Steve and Janet. Thank you again guys for helping me out!