Last week we went on a vacation to visit my parents in Little Rock and, after that, friends in Searcy. A last minute change allowed us two more days with my parents, which I (Sarah) was excited about, and turned out to be a lot of fun.
My parents both took off work for several of the days and my mom decided it would be fun for us to take a day trip out of Little Rock. Hot Springs was the city of choice. I had never been to Hot Springs and didn't know what there really was to do there so we did some research online and came up with some fun options.
The hot springs in Hot Springs (ha) make the city famous for it's bath houses. Only one of them remains a true bath house; many of the others have been converted to spas, visitor centers, or museums. Above is Simon playing in the shower during our self tour of one such bath house.
My mom lounging with me as we wait on Dad and Simon to come back.
The town still has a lot of it's older features like the original hotel or barber shop signs. I always find little places like that charming and it is fun to remember how things used to be. This was an old advertisement on the side of what is now a clothing store.
We ate at a cool little Ecuadorian place called Rolando's for lunch. It was definitely different than anything we had tried before but everything was delicious.
One of the things that sparked my mom's interest in Hot Springs was an article she read about a soap store and cupcake store owned by the same people. All of the soap scents were based off of cupcake flavors. My mom is a sucker for that kind of stuff and so am I so we wanted to go by there before we left.
Bathhouse Soapery & Caldarium was the name of the soap place and they really did have delicious sounding soaps. I decided on a Cherry Almond soap and my mom got Cotton.
The Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcake Shoppe was right next door and had some deliciously named cupcakes. We each got one: Red Velvet Cake, Salted Caramel, Lemon Lavender and Creme Brulee. After eating until we almost popped at Rolando's, we decided to wait and eat these when we got back to Little Rock. I had the Lemon Lavender and it was wonderful! Definitely unusual, but yummy!
During our internet search for things to do in Hot Springs, we had come upon Garvin Gardens. I knew you could have weddings there but I didn't know it was also a place to just wander around and enjoy nature. Lucky for us (or for me) the current exhibit was Tulip Extravaganza! I was super excited because I LOVE flowers and what could be better for a flower lover than a Tulip Extravaganza! I was not at all disappointed.
One of the Peacocks that greeted us at the Gardens
Family picture... we hadn't intended for it to be funny but when my Dad had to straddle the two rocks I couldn't help but laugh so this is how it turned out.
We got some fish food in the lobby before we headed out but the koi fish didn't want to eat any of our fish food. I guess they get it all the time so they just stay full.
After about an hour of touring the gardens we FINALLY made it to the tulips! It really was magical with bright tulips as far as you could see.
Picture Moment
I took a ridiculous amount of tulip pictures, so these are just a couple that I thought captured the scene well.
All of this was just one day of our Little Rock stay but the remaining time was less adventurous. Mom and I went shopping. That is something I have definitely missed because Simon is... to say the least... NOT a shopper and even if he was, he couldn't replace shopping with Mom.
We were able to spend an evening with my grandparents and get caught up on their lives and over all it was just a pleasant and much needed trip. Thanks for making time for us Mom and Dad!!