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Hot Springs & Little Rock: Exploring Arkansas
Bathhouse Row is once again an elegant and proud place. Thoughtfully restored in the last decade after years of decay following the collapse of Hot Springs’ illicit economy, the eight buildings now form an impressive collection which speaks of quality and indulgence. Once again visitors flock to the town to enjoy the calming – some say healing – properties of the pure, hot waters from the springs. The adaptation of the bathhouses to the modern day vacation market has been cleverly done. Five of the bathhouses have been developed into your typical spa resort destinations with attractively presented updated facilities and prices to match. One has retained more of the…
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Hot Springs Arkansas And Its Remarkable Story
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Hot Springs Arkansas And Its Remarkable Story
It isn’t difficult to work out why this town grew in the place that it did – the clue is in the name Hot Springs, after all. What is fascinating about this attractive little town though is its history, not just its social history but its centuries old geological history too. Unlike most other places centred on hot springs, this one is nothing to do with volcanic activity, there is nothing of the sort around here. Here, the gushing of seriously hot water from numerous springs in what is now a National Park, is caused by a fascinating chain of events which literally takes millennia to evolve. The rain which…
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Hot Springs & Little Rock: Exploring Arkansas
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Volcanoes And Us
Amazing scenes have been unfolding on the TV screen recently, the Earth itself cracking wide open as bright orange fire laps around buildings and rivers of molten lava surge with unstoppable power through the darkness. This is, of course, the latest eruption in Iceland, the land of fire and ice, captured live and beamed in graphic detail straight to our news channels. Michaela and I have always been fascinated by volcanoes, but then who isn’t? Before we’d even met, Michaela had visited Etna and I’d trudged up the slopes of Vesuvius, and we’d both watched the intriguing sight of bubbling sea water and marvelled at what may be going on…
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Potrero: To The Lonely Sea And The Sky
We’re sitting in the balmy breeze beneath the swaying palm trees on Sunday evening when we first hear news of the eruption, some seven days after the event. It seems that Turrialba, one of Costa Rica’s more active volcanoes, experienced its most violent eruption since 2011 last Monday and deposited significant amounts of volcanic ash over areas which we have travelled through since then – yet we only learn of it now! Not sure how we missed that. Choosing our location for this last full week of our Costa Rica tour hasn’t been completely straightforward; the northern Pacific coast has a fairly high number of over developed resorts, which we…
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Adventures & Adrenaline In La Fortuna
We’ve had some pretty amazing adrenaline adventures before – whitewater rafting, tombstone dives, even a bobsleigh run – and now La Fortuna goes into our history as a place where we have matched or even surpassed those thrills. Ever thought of coming down a mountain via zip wire? Nor had we, until the temptation was just too strong…. It’s on the Monday that whoever is in charge of La Fortuna weather throws a few switches and changes a few dials. Heavy cloud cover replaces bright sunshine, regular bouts of torrential rain flood the soakaways and send everyone running for shelter, and the imposing Arenal volcano disappears from view completely. The…
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La Fortuna: Lava Flows And Laughter
With mountains and volcanoes meaning a lack of decent roads, transport options from Monteverde to the Arenal region are limited, with the road option being long and laborious. Most travellers therefore take the route known locally as “jeep boat jeep”, although these days due to its popularity the “jeep” bits are by minibus. A 90-minute ride along unmade roads which are really nothing more than farm tracks brings us to a muddy slope at the edge of Lake Arenal, where large white egrets hunt for fish and swallows swoop overhead. There is a regular stream of minibuses depositing travellers here, bringing enough people to fill several of the little boats,…
