Day 7 - Hot Springs National Park KOA

Yesterday evening we dodged a bullet as a line of severe storms popped up on the Eastern side of Memphis. The line ran from Mississippi to Canada marching East. Along the front there were either severe thunder storm or tornado watches. On the radar the storms were depicted in yellow, orange or reds. Quite scary when you are in an RV. The sunset last night was gorgeous!

This morning we left Marion, AR and headed West to Hot Springs National Park KOA. Happily when we arrived, they upgraded us to one of their deluxe sites at no extra charge. It's a beautiful pull through site with a patio, patio table with umbrella overlooking a pond with a fountain. We arrived around 12:30 pm and decided to have lunch first which we enjoyed at the patio table. From there we left to go tour Hot Springs National Park. We drove up a narrow winding one lane road I kept hoping. Apparently it was true. We drove up to the lookout tower that fortunately had an elevator. MIL opted not to go, so she stayed below and chatted with a lady. At the first level there was an enclosed panoramic view of the surrounding areas and the history of the town of Hot Springs & the park itself. The second level was open air view. We came back down and chatted with MIL's new found friend. We drove on the upper mountain scenic trail then headed to the National park office and welcome center. The welcome center was also a museum and restored bath house. It was very interesting. The town over the course of its history had numerous fires burning down hotels and bathhouses alike. The thermal water comes from the ground and is so hot that it needs to be cooled with only Spring water, which is the law.

Around town there were people filling up jugs and 2 liter soda bottles with cold spring water. We had one plastic cup that we were willing to try. As I approached the people filling up their multiple jugs, they let me butt in to fill up my cup. We all tasted it, but decided we would put it in the refrigerator at the motorhome and try it again as ice water. Of course at the writing of this post, we have not re-tasted the water. From there we decided to go to the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo. I knew ahead of time that it was probably a T T. We fed and patted pigmy goats and fawns. We held and patted a 4-year old alligator. We saw lots of sleepy alligators. We saw lemurs, turkeys, peacocks, burros, emus, and alligator turtles. DH had a hankering for a mudslide so I programmed my phone to a Liquor Mart but it was closed. That is when I realized it was Sunday.
So we went back to the motorhome. We all sat around the patio table and saw this black duck practically drowning a white duck. What was actually happening was the "birds & the bees." So, while sitting there besides the pond it occurred to me to look up to see if alligators were wild in Arkansas? Yes is the answer, but they are in the lower third of the state. So hopefully for us and the ducks, there were none in our pond. Tonight we had leftover sirloin steak and cubed rutabagas. The rutabagas were in the frozen food section of our local grocery store. I was surprised to see them there. Autocorrect is always interjecting words into this postings that make no sense. Crazy. Tomorrow we are headed to Murfeesboro, AR to Crater of Diamonds State Park. Happily the weather is not unbearably hot. And it is not expected to rain tomorrow.