short, but sweet.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

i flew into Little Rock airport thursday afternoon and by saturday at noon, i was gone. it was a short but sweet visit to be sure. one of my cousins and i went to visit our grandfather and family who live in Hot Springs. in the past, i have hiked through Hot Spring national park, visited the famous bath houses, admired the local pottery makers, and enjoyed the races. but with our time constraints on this trip we only did a morning tour: walking around the historic downtown and sampling some of the tasty fresh (HOT) spring water. the downtown area is filled with interesting shops and boutiques on one side of the road and bath house row on the other. i'm not a shopper buy any stretch of the imagination, although i do have to admit that i had a lot of fun exploring shops with my cousin. especially the sweet shop (called the chocolate factory) that let us sample about 5 kinds of fudge. mmm... ;)

while walking you can see the look out tower at the top of the hill in the distance and arlington hotel which looms over downtown in an almost ominous way. but one of the most beautiful things i noticed on this trip was all the lovely flowers popping out for spring (you can check out some of my floral pix @ strawberry moon). the rest of our time was spent visiting with family, which was absolutely wonderful. i also enjoyed traveling with my cousin and giving our grandfather a chance to see all his grand-daughters together which made it particularly special. you know, every trip is memorable, but i do have to say that even with as brief as this trip was, it was definitely one of my favorites. :)

one of the unique bathhouses: