Another Maxine Story: Christmas Present to Hot Springs

I hope those of you who are waiting to hear about my latest extension of my 2007 Christmas present will enjoy this story. If you are not interested, delete now.

To bring you up to date, back in September 2007, while being laid up following foot surgery reconstruction, I thought about what was important to me. All I wanted was to be able to spend three days alone with each of my children without responsibility and chores.

My oldest daughter, Debbie, presented me with three days in Wimberly, Texas, in a cabin in the wilderness of The Devil's Backbone, which happens to be the most haunted place in Texas. And, YES, we were entertained, complete with a hot tub and a precious little ghost boy named Ted. This was in my first letter.

Dennis, my oldest son, had originally wanted to take me to Hot Springs, Arkansas, on his Honda GoldWing motorcycle, but my surgeon threatened to dismiss his services IF I got on a motorcycle.

So, my son and his wife Rita, picked my up at 4:00 AM on May 1st, 2008 and we drove in his big Ford pickup truck. I got the back seat, so that I could elevate my foot most of the way. We went the most scenic routes so it took us about 8 hours to get there.

We arrived in time to drive around town to plan our trip around the springs and decide what we wanted to do.

Upon our arrival, we noticed several women running. We asked "WHY"? They were running to catch a "DUCK" which I will explain later. But these women had hugh boobs and were capable of giving themselves a black eye as they ran. And they told us about the "JUG FOUNTAINS" that were stationed around in several places. Now I have heard "boobs" called "jugs" before, and I definitely didn't want to be drinking the water if it did that. We saw the "Jug Fountains" and people were lined up getting water. I passed. Most of the women we saw weren't wearing a bra either.

I told my son that I didn't want any of that free spring water because boobs that big would be uncomfortable, and it might give me an uncontrollabe desire to get a tatoo.

We decided to check out the "Duck." The duck is a vehicle that travel on land and water. Captain Carl was the driver and he had a ball with me. Of course I played right along with the entertainment, as he drove off the pavement into the lake.

My son had rented a KOA Kottage (cabin) that was up in the Ouachita Mountains. I think the elevation was 1200 feet where we were, and this overlooked a beautiful pond down below with lots of ducks.

Without TV or radio, we had to entertain ourselves playing word games, like we did when he was little. This proved to be an eye-opener when I came up with an "E" word that he didn't know I knew. We finally went to sleep with words floating around in our brains. It started raining and the wind howled and we wondered if we were safe, but we were on the northeast side of the mountain and most of the bad weather comes from the west. The next morning we went down to the KOA kitchen to eat breakfast and start our tours, and found out that TORNADOES had been all around us, and 8 people were killed.

We took a tour of the city of Hot Springs, went up a 200 foot needle on the mountain overlooking the surrounding area. You could see the mountain breathing hot misty air out of it's belly in several places.

There were several bath houses built over these hot springs, and there were guided tours that offered more than a bath. There was also a place where scalding hot water was running down the side of the mountain where you could sit by the side of it and if you wanted to do so, you could soak your feet or whatever in it. I saw a young man jump in and immediately came out looking like a lobster. So, I hobbled over for a closer look. There was a gentleman there with a thermometer and he said it was 164 degrees that day. I told him that I thought that was the same temperature we would heat the water to dip our hogs in to scald them on hog-killing day in Mississippi. I put my hand in and said "I'm not about to try and soak a tender foot."

There are 47 hot springs which for thousands of years, have poured forth from the southwestern slope of Hot Springs Mountain, at a rate of nearly a million gallions a day. The waters, having traveled through many layers of filtering rock on the way to the Earth's surface, have been found to be nearly 100% pure. It is hard water though.

We walked through the wax museum, and ate at BUBBALU'S BODACIOUS BURGERS. Later we went to Garvan Woodland Gardens, which is 210 acres of trail surrounded by waterfalls and flowers of every description. The hailstones from the night before had knocked all of the flowers off, but it was still beautiful. This property surrounds 4-1/2 miles of shoreline on Lake Hamilton. This was previously owned by a lady named Verna Garvan and when she died, she donated it to The University of Arkansas Architecture in 1985. The grounds were well manicured and they plant 83,000 bulbs every year. We were able to get a golf cart to ride around in.

We met some interesting characters while we were there, and ate some good food, and saw another beautiful part of our country, but most of all, I got to spend this time alone with my son, and he squeezed my heart when I asked him "What was the most memorable time for him?", and he said, "Spending time with my Mom." They were so good to me, and I appreciate the memories we made.

As much as I enjoyed myself, it was still good to get back to my own bed.

Until my next adventure, the love overflows,

Maxine