Springs of Hotness

My sixteen year old sister, Clara, begged me to take her on a vacation for about a month. I explained to her that I didn't have a whole lot of vacation time left, but that maybe she could come to Memphis for a week. Her response was, "no, that's ok." Apparently Memphis is not cool enough and spending time with big sis is not enough to bring her here. Thanks so much! But, because I love her so much and I know how crazy mom and dad are making her this summer, I agreed to do some brainstorming on where we could take a weekend getaway. I came up with Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Now I know what you're thinking...Arkansas? Really?

But, since moving to Memphis, I've heard many people say how delightful a town Hot Springs is. Ok, so maybe they didn't say delightful, but whatever. It's a nice place to visit. Like, people even have vacation homes there and go on honeymoons in Hot Springs. So last Friday, Clara and I hopped in the car and headed south (ish).

We had a great time! We did a little shopping downtown...

Checked out the historic bathhouses on bathhouse row...

Partook in some spa treatments...Clara still hasn't given me the pics from her camera so I'm not able to post the really cute one of us in our white fluffy robes. However, I will tell you a funny story about our spa experience. Friday night, we went to this really nice Italian restaurant and had a waiter named Giovanni. Well turns out that Giovanni is multi-talented, as he was Clara's masseuse the next day! What a hard working guy, that Giovanni!

We played some pirate putt putt (again...pics on her camera).

Went out on the lake with some friends...

And since I'm more of an early riser than she is, I woke up early to do some hiking and running in Hot Springs National Park.

The natural hot springs that gave the city its name...And the view from the top!