One Sketcher's Adventures: December 2022

I arrived at Gulpha Gorge Campground late and the sun was already well put to bed. I was able to find my campsite without too much difficulty and proceeded to put my tent up in the dark. It was a great opportunity for me to pull out my Every Moment Holy book from my homemade portable library and read a Liturgy for People Who Sleep in Tents.

After a good nights sleep, I packed my tent back up and stowed it all back up in my car and left the quiet of the campground to find a parking spot on a busy street in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I fed the meter and then walked the promenade behind bathhouse row until the visitors center opened. The steam rose up in the morning air, where the hot springs were exposed and the heat felt good in the chill of the day. The water comes out of the ground at 147 degrees and felt quite warm to the touch. There is no place to soak in the water outside and most of the bathhouses have been converted to other uses, though two of them still function as bathhouses/spas. I, however, had neither the time or inclination to pay for the experience so I contented myself with trailing my fingers through the water in the display pool and bottling some water to drink on the road.

Once the visitors center opened, I explored Fordyce Bathhouse which has been restored and is full of history. You can see the opulence that surrounded the bathers of the day and learn about the different types of treatment that they practiced. Some that made you raise your eyebrows and say what?!? and others that made me think, oh we kind of doing something like that in therapy. After I had had my fill of learning, I headed back out in the street and found a place to do a quick sketch before taking a drive up to over look the city and then head back down the road towards Texas.