Hot Springs & Fort Smith

Sunday morning we headed west to Hot Springs, Arkansas, boyhood home of President William Clinton. Hot Springs National Park is an interesting park, as it is intertwined with the city of Hot Springs. The visitor center is in an old bathhouse, in downtown Hot Springs, in the former bath house row. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, people came to the city to relax and sit in the waters of the area's hot springs, and magnificent bath houses were built. Only a few of them operate now.

Through the Jr Ranger program, the kids learned about the history of Hot Springs and the bath process. Bryan really wanted to take a hot bath, but the bath house by the visitor center was closed on Sunday, and the others were located in local hotels. We headed out of Hot Springs just before noon.

We the drove west over the Ouachita Mountains, and through the Ouachita Forest, and then turned north to rejoin I-40 at Fort Smith, Arkansas. As we approached Fort Smith, the trees turned from green to brown. Fort Smith started out an outpost to prevent conflicts between Native American tribes, then became a major staging area for westward expansion, and later an outpost for justice as the main courthouse for the west.

The visitor center had a lot of interesting exhibits about the different eras of the fort, and the people who were there, and a well done Junior Ranger program. It took us about two hours to complete it. We then drove west to Henryetta, Oklahoma, where we stopped for the night.