Bill Clinton Slept Here, before it was an issue
Written: Nov 29 '00 (Updated Nov 29 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: historic town; beautiful setting
Cons: litter; decrepitude
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| skippio's Full Review: Arkansas |
Shortly after we moved to Arkansas, we took a trip to the southern part of the state, and happened to pass through the town of Hot Springs. Although we didn’t have a chance to explore it at the time, like General MacArthur we vowed to return. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, return we did.
Hot Springs is located in the Ouachita Mountains of west-central Arkansas. The town is nestled into the spaces between the gently-sloping mountains, which were covered in spectacular autumn hues of reds, oranges and browns punctuated by the greenery of an occasional conifer. We were surprised to arrive at the peak of fall foliage season, because the leaves in our part of the state were already on the ground.
After checking into our room at the Super 8 we got a bite to eat at Colton’s Steakhouse. Colton’s, apparently, is a small chain restaurant exclusive to Arkansas. It is one of those Western-themed, peanut-shells-on-the-floor type places that are becoming so popular nowadays. When we first walked in, twing-twangy country music was blaring throughout the joint. Thankfully a basketball game soon came on the television that took precedence over the music. Colton’s has a full-service bar with a Fabio-lookalike who pours drinks for the appreciative crowd. (Maybe it was Fabio, those butter commercials didn’t work out as he expected.)
We were seated in good time, and served by a heavy-set woman who was lacking eyebrows. She didn’t even bother to draw them in or anything, she just didn’t have them. Other than that her appearance was reasonably normal. At any rate, she was an excellent server who kept our coffee cups full and was very attentive to our dining needs. We ordered sirloin steak and fried shrimp, and found both dishes to be highly satisfactory. The price was reasonable, too, and we ate almost an entire bucket of peanuts.
The next day, Thanksgiving, we embarked on a thorough exploration of the city. At least a hundred hotels and motels are crammed into this city of about 54,000 residents. Luxury hotels abound in every style from Art Deco to Victorian to geometric, modernistic Jetson style. Shops selling everything from diamond rings to Ozark crafts line the downtown streets. Restaurants and bars are abundant. However, there are many abandoned buildings and vacant lots, and it seems like the town is past its prime and approaching an era of urban decay. Hot Springs also has a horse racing track where, during the season, Arkansans from far and wide can lose as much money as their hearts desire.
Hot Springs is not only famous for its hot springs, but also for being the childhood home of President Bill Clinton. In the center of town, adjacent to a metered parking lot, is a green area displaying a large sign showing a young Bill in a high school band uniform holding a saxophone. As we strolled the hillside paths around Hot Springs, we couldn’t help but wonder if Bill used to take lady friends for, um, romantic outings on these very same pathways. Hot Springs would be a wonderful place for a budding Cassanova.
Hot Springs National Park is adjacent to, and in some places inside, the town. Because the city and the park blur into one entity, there are no entrance fees to the park. Clearly-marked signs guide tourists to scenic drives that begin in the heart of downtown and wind their way up into the mountains, where viewpoints offer scenic vistas of the town and mountains. The weather when we visited was not exactly ideal for touring; it was chilly, drizzly and foggy. Unfortunately, when we were up there, the mountaintops were locked in a thick sheet of fog, which prevented us from seeing any breathtaking views. The fog was very pretty, in a surreal kind of way.
We got out of the truck at the top of West Mountain to take a stroll and look around. A stone wall runs around the parking area, to prevent tourists from rolling down over the hill. We could not see more than twenty or thirty feet off the mountain because of the damp haze stretching out into the distance. We could, however, look out over the wall and a few feet down the slope to see an appalling amount of litter -- beer cans, pop cans, fast-food bags and more cigarette butts than the Philip Morris company produces in a year. It was particularly irksome because twenty yards away stood a brightly-painted trash can. We were dismayed not only because visitors to this beautiful mountainside would be so ignorant and disrespectful, but also because the National Park Service had obviously not cleaned up the area in quite a long time.
Although the National Park does contain some beautiful wilderness areas, the main reason most tourists visit Hot Springs is for the downtown area and, of course, the baths. We will address this further in Part II, because we recognize the fact that nobody wants to read such a long Epinion. We did not take the baths, primarily because we are too cheap to pay for anything like that, and also because Steve at Super 8 told us the facilities would be closed for the holiday. To learn more about the baths, please read Nathanael73’s excellent epinion on the subject at http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1F71-34D2BDA8-3A0D79B9-prod6 .
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of this Epinion!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
skippio
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Member: W. Fritz
Location: Newton, Iowa
Reviews written: 44
Trusted by: 109 members
About Me:
Winners of Fitter Families, Best Couple, Texas State Fair, 1926. We haven't aged much.
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