Day 3 - Of Springs Artesian, Digital, and Spiritual

Our super budget budget hotel had super rationed WiFi. As in, we could connect.... but that was about it. So we went to the ever-flowing spring of internets, Starbucks, to upload photos for le blog. 

Then we drove through the rest of Tennessee (crazy to think that we'd driven for a couple days but we're only a few hours north of Atlanta) and into Arkansas. We could tell that we were getting deeper into the Bible Belt with more billboards professing bible verses and repentance-prompting questions, as well as plaques at city limits that declared, "Jesus is Lord over **city name**."

The road climbed up a gradual hill before arriving at Hot Springs National Park. It is this very hill that provides the geothermal water in the park: over 2000-4000 years, groundwater seeps deeper and deeper into the earth where it gets heated and rises through seams in the crust before bubbling through springs crowning the hill.

People have been coming to the area for many many years, and white folks started  visiting the springs in the mid-1800s. Wooden structures were built first to provide more amenities and access to the springs, but eventually those unsanitary and unsafe structures were outlawed and torn down to be replaced with concrete and porcelain in the early 1900s. People espoused the virtues of soaking in hot spring baths to cure a wide swath of ailments from psoriasis and paralysis to tuberculosis and syphillis (while there are some positive benefits to hot baths, the cure-all claims remind me of some current alternative health fads). Eventually, modern medicinal discoveries proved better at resolving some ailments and the the majesty of the bathhouses faded from disuse. Fortunately the National Park System stepped in to preserve the facilities and history. 

Springs readily gurgle from the ground, and much of it has been routed through fountains--either for decoration or consumption. We enjoyed touching and tasting the water, and never quite got used to seeing steam rising from fountains. 

The water (that was rain when the Egyptians were building the pyramids!) is a pretty constant 134 degrees.... "Perfect for making hot chocolate!", as Whitney remarked. 

We toured the bathhouse that NPS has preserved, and thought that most of the practices would be pretty enjoyable (massage, hot bath, a shower that flows from every side) but would be happy to forego some of the experiences, such as being entombed in a steam box with just your head free (think of an iron lung).

We took as much steam as well could handle and took off for Texas. The flora shifted from lush, full, trees in thick green forests to more yellows, browns, and sparsely distributed trees. No cactuses or sagebrush yet, though. I had that song, "Big D, Little A, Double L, A S" repeating as nauseum in my head. Whitney's media was a bit more interesting: she enjoyed watching US Women's Soccer beat France in the Olympics. Thank heavens for unlimited data plans!

On our was through Dallas, we stopped by the Dallas LDS Temple for a twilight walk, thankful for the everlasting spiritual spring that we have access to.