Epiblog: Taking a Hot Springs Soak

When we visited Hot Springs National Park last Saturday, we made an appointment to take a mineral bath at the Quapaw Bathhouse, one of only two bathhouses that still operate in Hot Springs.  Like the other bathhouses on Bathhouse Row, it is an ornate building:

In 1941, a visitor could bathe in any of nine bathhouses, including Quapaw.  The prices were reasonable by today's standards, but, when translated into today's dollars quite expensive.  In today's dollars, that would $395.46!  It only cost us $50.00.

At the appointed hour, we were directed to a private room, where our attendant introduced us to our own hottub filled with real mineral spring water, and explained how it works:

 

The Quapaw Bathhouse opened in 1922. It is the longest building on Bathhouse Row, occupying the site of two previous bathhouses, the Horseshoe and Magnesia.  It was originally to be named the Platt Bathhouse, after one of the owners, but when a tufa cavity was discovered during excavation the owners decided to promote it as an Indian cave. It was renamed Quapaw Bathhouse in honor of the local Native American tribe that briefly held the surrounding territory after the Louisiana Purchase was made. The natural hot spring in the building's basement was publicized in promotional brochures making the cave and hot spring a popular attraction. The Quapaw had bathing facilities on its first floor making them accessible to the elderly, handicapped, and wheelchairs. Vacant since closing in 1984, it was the first to be leased for adaptive reuse. It reopened as a family-oriented spa in late June 2008. 

This family enjoyed our soak in the 104F water.  Interestingly, it didn't seem nearly as "minerally" as many natural hot springs we've soaked in, and there was no noticeable smell -- not surprising because the primary mineral in the water is calcium carbonate, not sulfur, iron or other minerals.

Our tub came complete with a little brass bell we could ring to call an attendant if we needed help of any kind:

We had an all-too-brief 20 minute soak, with 10 minutes to cool down, dry off and dress --

-- then we were invited to lounge in the parlor outside our soaking room.  We could drink cucumber water and cool our faces with peppermint-laced cold-water towels.  Covid wasn't much of a worry because there were no other patrons in the private baths when we were there.

Kathy found Diablo's, a great Mexican restaurant, across the street from Bathhouse Row, and we decided to repair there to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

Kathy chose a margarita for her salutatorial libation, strong and tasty.  David chose Sangria, which, as it turned out, was perhaps the best he had ever tasted.

After lunch, we spent the rest of this rainy, stormy day running shopping errands and didn't get back to the RV until around 3pm -- soaked, fed, imbibed and happy with a day that might otherwise have been a washout.

Salud!