In October, we joined The Husband's siblings - a younger brother and a younger sister - and their spouses for a weekend trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Because we'd heard of a traffic jam on the interstate east of Little Rock, we took the long way, down to Mississippi, crossing the river at Helena, and detouring through Stuttgardt, Arkansas so that the menfolk could check out a store for game
hunters.
We rolled into Hot Spring at about 2 p.m. We checked into our hotel (The Arlington), then set off on foot to find food. Just up the street from the hotel was a micro-brewery - I forget the name - that sold "artisan" beer and sandwiches. After we ate, we wandered across the street to the Ohio Club and commenced to drinking (I highly recommend the Cadillac Margarita). "A good while" later, after making our pictures with Al Capone, himself, we - um - "moseyed" on back to the hotel and spent a pleasant evening sitting on the patio by the pool. There was a band playing in the hotel lobby that night, and eventually we went down to check them out. When the elevator doors opened, we were barely able to get out of the elevator for the crowd that was gathered in front of them. I thought, "Dang, this band must be great!" but it turned out that what had drawn the crowd was the rumor that Bill Clinton was about to enter the premises. Sure enough, in a few minutes, the man strolled in, shaking hands and workin' the crowd like a pro. :)
After a bit, the crowd disbursed, and we turned our attention to the band, 4 "mature" guys playing easy-listening stuff. The band was ok. More than watching them we enjoyed watching the dancers. There was a "mature" couple on the floor for most of the songs. They were smooth as silk, but I could not help but cringe at the get-up the woman was wearing: a leopard print shirt and flesh-colored leggings.
I do not recommend flesh-colored leggings for women of any age or build. And that's all I'm going to say about that. ;)
The next day, we had breakfast at a nearby pancake shop, then The Husband and I went to one of the bath houses for our first professional massage. I am torn between thinking it was the best thing that ever happened to me and thinking that it was a completely impractical and frivolous expenditure. When it was over, I'd have given anything if I'd had somebody to tote me back to the hotel and dump me in the bed. As it was, we made it as far as the front porch of the bath house, where we plunked ourselves into rocking chairs until we could work up the gumption to walk back to the hotel.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the many shops on the "main drag." Dinner on the patio at Ronaldo's that night was good. Drinks in the hotel lobby afterward.
There was a film festival in process at the hotel that weekend. We caught glimpses of "Mr. Sulu" from Star Trek, and my sister-in-law cornered him for a photo as we were on our way out the door to go home. It was a fun weekend.
This past weekend, we went to New Orleans with the sister and brother-in-law. They have a son who plays in the University of Memphis marching band, and since the UofM was scheduled to play Tulane in New Orleans on Saturday, we drove down on Friday, went to the game on Saturday, and came home today. (Memphis won!) We stayed in a hotel in Metairie and drove down to the French Quarter for dinner at Oceana Grill on Friday night before venturing onto Bourbon Street for a while. We met up with some cousins at the game on Saturday, and when the game was over, we all went back to Bourbon Street. When our feet and ears and noses couldn't take it anymore, we called it a night and ransomed our vehicle from the riverside parking lot. This morning, we stopped for breakfast at a little diner in Hammond, then headed home.
Places like Hot Springs and New Orleans are fun for a little while, but I do not enjoy traffic and crowds, and it is really good to be home. :)
