Valley of the Vapors

 

The Vapors by David Hill
 (the book cover really is oriented this way)

Hot Springs, AR is know as The Valley of the Vapors due to a unique geological formation that allows water to seep so close to the earth's core that it returns to the surface heated, steaming, and full of minerals once thought to be healing. It takes rain water 4400 years to complete the full cycle and it is against the law to bottle this water for commercial purposes. Instead, both hot and cool springs of water are directed through public taps where anyone can bring a bottle and help themselves. Because the water's healing properties were once deemed so valuable, the US government held the land "in reserve" long before there were national parks. Hot Springs may now be the nation's smallest national park, but it is the first land held by the government for the benefit of its citizens. Unlike other parks, the park service doesn't manage the land for natural preservation, rather the land is managed to preserve and protect the natural supply of spring water. In addition to people of wealth and celebrity coming to Hot Springs, professional baseball teams for years held their spring training in Hot Springs so that players could access the healing baths. A few bath houses still operate as spas, but modern medicine has provided more reliable treatments and the health spa heyday is well past.

One of the hot springs

In addition to its history as America's Spa, from 1936 to 1968, Hot Springs was the nations premier

Old and New

location for gambling and entertainment. Unlike Nevada, where gambling is legal, Arkansas never allowed gambling, but local entrepreneurs and the mob teamed up to placate local authorities and create a Mecca of casinos, elegant hotels, fine restaurants and performance venues for the nation's top entertainers that operated unfettered for over 30 years. A recent book, The Vapors by David Hill, provides an engaging documentary of Hot Springs during these years. My daughter, Jessie, and I have both passed through Hot Springs--over 50 years ago for me, right after the casinos were shut down, and three years ago for Jessie. We both were struck by the sense of an incredibly wealthy place fallen on hard times. For her 30th birthday, I offered to bring her back.

Hot Springs has been through several periods of boom and bust. It is full of incredible buildings of wide architectural diversity, modern and historic often side by side, and sadly, with few exceptions, mostly in decay or some, simply abandoned. The park service is preserving the bath houses on Bath House Row, the main street in town and has landscaped it with gorgeous magnolias. The Fordyce House is open to the public as a museum. The mountain behind Bath House Row is maintained by the park service with many of the original walking trails and an observation tower at the summit. 

Storm that just missed us

The night we arrived, wicked storms passed just to the north of us and the tower was closed due to a power outage. Several of the paths were blocked by downed trees. But the Fordyce House was open and Jessie enjoyed poking around the local wax museum and several of the shops. After that, an employee of the campground directed us to a spectacular overlook in the Ozarks--Hickory Nut Mountain Vista overlooking Lake Ouachita, a hydroelectric lake home to over 300 islands.

So it's been a lovely trip. We head home tomorrow. Hopefully the storms have all played out. Enjoy the pictures and know that the best part of the adventure is coming home to share it with friends.

                                        

The Arlington

A very bad wax museum

The Waters newly renovated

Magnolia Walk

Bath House Row

1933 Hospital turned rehab center

Fordyce House entrance

Fordyce House lobby

Fordyce House massage room

Fordyce House bath stall

Fordyce House steam closet

Fordyce house Men's Bath

Fordyce House 2nd Floor Community Room

Fordyce House men's gym

Mountain Tower

Mountain Trail

Hickory Nut Mtn Vista on Lake Ouachita

The Vapors--the last and greatest luxury casino, then a church, now abandoned and for sale.

Oh, Chattanooga Choo Choo!

Chester Frost Park Campsite

Our view

My late husband passed his love of trains on to our kids by taking them places like the Chattanooga Choo Choo. When Ben was about 4, we decided to try our first long distance trip as a family. Ben was in love with the Great Smoky Mountain Railway video Greg ordered from public television but we couldn't find a room anywhere nearby as there were 100 federal marshals in the western mountains earnestly searching for Eric Rudolph. So we took the kids to Chattanooga. We stayed at the Choo Choo, at the time a Holiday Inn, which was a hotel created from the old train station, and took them to the marvelous Tennessee Aquarium after visiting a local train museum. Greg also took them to ride the Incline Railroad to Lookout Mountain. She who is afraid of heights stayed in the room that day and learned from the news that US embassies in Africa had been bombed and all the federal marshals had abruptly left for overseas. I booked us a room and we road the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad through the Nantahala Gorge on the trip home, marveling at the woods deep enough to hide a man from the marshals and craning our necks hoping for a clue that might earn us the $1 million reward on his head.

Jessie just turned 30 and we are back in Chattanooga to revisit those memories and on our way to make more in Hot Springs, AR. We are staying in Hixon, TN in a lakeside campsite in lovely Chester Frost Park on Lake Chickamauga. Jessie's dog, Franklin, and my Odie are with us and mostly being civil. 

Entrance Rock City

On our first day here we visited Rock City, a place I had not been. Jessie enjoyed it on a solo trip to the southwest. It's a natural boulder formation on a mountain top just over the Georgia State Line. You really can see 7 states from Lover's Leap. It was developed in the 1930s by a real estate developer who is noted for inventing miniature golf, and his German wife who had a penchant for preserving local plant life and illustrating German fairy tales with garden gnomes. So it's a lovely, natural garden among striking rock formations punctuated by creepy gnomes ending in a black light show of fairy tale illustrations. Odd but interesting. 

Tennessee Aquarium

Today, we had lunch at the Choo Choo and visited a much larger Tennessee Aquarium. Traffic was heavy and parking was expensive (and the aquarium wore us out there was so much to see) so we did not explore much of the riverfront walk except to make it to the pedestrian bridge traversing the broad Tennessee River. 

We are resting up for a long day tomorrow, probably driving in wind and rain, to our Hot Springs campsite. Enjoy the pictures and remember you can click on any of them to enlarge them for closer viewing.

Sunlight through the rocks

   

Cavern of Fairy Tales

See 7 states from Lover's Leap (really!)

Chattanooga Choo Choo!

The view from our table at the Frothy Monkey

Main Lobby Choo Choo

Choo Choo platform

Silly giftshop hats

More silly hats

Notice the gator's toe nails

Pedestrian bridge

On the pedestrian bridge

Franklin waiting on supper

Hungry Mother Kildeer

Camp life

 Ruthie had not been to Hungry Mother park in Virginia. I had not been with the new trailer. Virginia parks are lovely but full of rocks marking campsite boundaries. I damaged the Scamp on one and requested a pull through site this time. The pull through was cramped and narrow. I love this park and made a point of putting a list of more easily navigable sites on my phone for a return trip. That said, camp life here is sweet and we had a great time.

First things first, we hit the town for lunch and a new battery for my failing cell phone. I saw these interesting lights made from "found objects" and sent a picture to Ben and Sydney who are currently creating "found object" art and craft for an upcoming shop.

Our next stop was the friendly folks at the local Verizon store in Marion, Virginia. I was informed by their friendly staff that I could reduce my bill AND get a free phone. So I did (I think). $200 in accessories and fees later...It is a nice phone. And the fellow helping us was great. 

Having taken care of business, we were free to explore. There are lots of lovely places to walk, in the park and also along the nearby Virginia Creeper Trail. We've done it on bikes from Damascus, Virginia but decided to trek a bit on foot this time. GPS directed us to the trail and left us at an access point behind a local shopping center. There were picnic tables, where we enjoyed a snack, that overlooked both the trail and a lovely river beside it. The Virginia Creeper refers to a local train from days gone by as this is a rails to trails project. Our walk took us through some abandoned industrial sites but mostly through woods and along the river as far as we walked. 

We took narrow back roads home through quaint, old Virginia farming communities replete with the interesting abandoned buildings that suggest their history. 

There are, of course, lovely places to walk in the park. Our favorite is the loop around the lake. An island in the lake is home to a small outdoor amphitheater. In addition to campsites and cabins, there are interesting picnic shelters to rent. Tent sites are on platforms extending out from the hillsides. There is a restaurant with a lovely setting for reunions are receptions. There is even a small conference center. 

If you are into motorcycles or sports cars, The Back of the Dragon begins just past the park entrance on Rt 16 towards Tazwell. Eleven miles of impressive curves and more impressive views, if you dare look. This aerial view is from The Back of the Dragon website. As there was no alternative way back, we did it twice. There is a lovely pull out on top. The views really are spectacular, my picture does not do it justice.

But the highlight of the trip was to be found at the lake beach. A mother Kildeer had laid 4 speckled and well hidden eggs (see if you can find them). She did an elaborate injured bird dance for some time trying to lure us away. We were so charmed by her maneuvers we did not leave as quickly as we might have. I hope she got a nap afterwards. She certainly earned it.

Ruthie had also not seen The Churches of the Frescoes in West Jefferson, NC and Glendale Springs, NC. Ben Long trained as a fresco artist in Italy after his military service in Viet Nam. He came home looking for a place to begin a new career. A motorcycle riding Episcopal priest was trying to revive two failing mountain congregations. He offered Long a place in his sanctuaries to exhibit his talents. Long has become a celebrated artist and the two congregations and the communities around them now thrive.

Church at Glendale Springs

Very glad to be safely home and contemplating our next adventure! And I wiggled out of our narrow site without any damage.