{"id":101,"date":"2019-12-01T11:40:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T17:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/?p=101"},"modified":"2019-12-01T14:13:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T20:13:26","slug":"hot-springs-ar-to-fwtx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/hot-springs-ar-to-fwtx\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Springs, AR to FWTX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 27, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The day begins with a view of the lake right outside the hotel door, sun rising over the mountains illuminating it. I knew we were in the mountains, but it is obvious we are on a mountain side. I\u2019m not sure, but I thinking the lake is manmade as a result of a dam somewhere on the mountain. (It turns out this is true!) <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m up early, something I am trying to work on. Apparently\ngetting to bed early can make the difference. I get out of bed at 6:30 and I\nhead to Starbucks to journal, plan the route for the day and write that first\nblog entry. I looked for a local place close to Bath House Row, to no avail.\nHow can a place like that not have a local coffee shop on the most popular\nstreet in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A little sibling for the Element!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Hot Springs Spa that I want to go to doesn\u2019t open until\n10, so I hang out until about 9:30 and make my way downtown. It’s a sweet\nlittle town, reminding of some of the little mountain towns I was in while\nworking in British Columbia. I got the National park office and exhibit and\ncruise through, seeing how people took to \u201cthe waters\u201d over the history of the\npark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now, off to the Baths. It\u2019s fantastic! $22 to use the hot\npools, which is all I need. While there are other services one could avail\nthemselves to, I am on a timeline and the pools will be enough. There are 4\npools, ranging in temperature from 95\u2019 to 104\u2019. I head to the 98\u2019 pool and that’s\nfine, but I need more heat. I spend the next hour and a half alternating between\nthe 2 hottest pools and intermittent cold shower. It\u2019s blissful and my shoulder\nand lower back pain melt away. While chatting with a couple and their grandson,\nwho are here for the holiday and travel to hot springs whenever they can I find\nout there is a steam cave that you can enter for another $10 fee. Note to self:\ncheck out the steam cave on your next visit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

I get out of the pools and after another cold shower, get\ndressed and head out. My body temp is way up at this point and the sun is out.\nI walk around in a t-shirt and check out the gift shop and a couple of stores. A\ncouple of Arkansas quartz crystals are purchased at a store called All Things Arkansas.\nIts hard for me to pass on picking up a rocks from every city I go to, but I am\ncircumspect and only get a couple of small things that I can give away on my\ntravels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Heading out of town, I stop at a local thrift store. I did\nnot pack any shorts and I am headed to California. What was I thinking? And of\ncourse, they don\u2019t have any out, but I grad a couple of short sleeved shirts for\n$3 each and get back on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I didn\u2019t realize how far we had climbed into the mountains,\nbut as I exit the city it is apparent that we did. And at one point we climb\neven higher before headed down to merge back on the Interstate. Arkansas is\nbeautiful. The last time I was here I spent a half day in Little Rock and went\nto the Clinton Presidential Library. It is a beautiful state and the stop at Hot\nSprings will be repeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I am headed to Fort Worth to spend Thanksgiving with my dear\nfriend, Joan B and her partner Dwayne. Joan moved here a couple of years ago to\ntake a job at Alcon as Head of Global Diversity and Inclusion. She is one of\nthe smartest people I know and love spending time with her. We always learn\nsomething new about the work we are doing. She says she found me under a cabbage\nleaf at the Kalamazoo Farmers Market, when she lived in Kalamazoo and worked\nfor Kellogg. I was selling textiles and tuffa planters there at the time (I\nthink I was just getting into beekeeping when I met her.) And a conversation about\nthe light needs to succulents turned into a lovey friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Having people in your life who get you, and find ways to encourage\nyou to utilize your gifts is critical. I am lucky to have so many such friendships.\nMany new ones are emerging and yet the ones that have been maintained for years\nare most dear. So it will be great to spend some time just being together,\ncooking, drinking manhattans and enjoying the time together relaxing and\nreconnecting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    The rest of the trip is uneventful. The change from mountain\nto prairie to Texas hardpan is worth noting. I realize I should have taken more\npics along the way, so you could see the change. I will work on that for the\nnext leg of the journey.  Of course, I\nhit the worst traffic ever as I come into Dallas. I\u2019m sure it even worse being Thanksgiving\nEve. Google maps saves me 20 minutes of stop and go traffic but I arrive later\nthan I thought I would. The highway between Dallas and Fort Worth isn\u2019t nearly\nas busy and tons of little sports cars speed past me and weave in and out of\ntraffic. Apparently sports cars and giant half-ton trucks are the norm here.\nWho knew?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We are joyfully greeted by Joan and Dwayne, with a cheese plate and manhattans followed by mussels in a garlic sauce by Joan and a potato dish that Dwayne made. It sets the tone for the weekend. Leila is welcomed with open arms. Dwayne lost his Corgi, Taffy, a few years ago and they both dearly miss having a pup around. Good food, perfect manhattans, and lots of love and laughter. The perfect way to end this first leg of the journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    November 27, 2019 The day begins with a view of the lake right outside the hotel door, sun rising over the mountains illuminating it. I knew we were in the mountains, but it is obvious we are on a mountain side. I\u2019m not sure, but I thinking the lake is manmade as a result of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrsheldon.net\/mrsheldon.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}