Exploring Hot Springs + Pancakes

Recently we took a little venture South. We loaded up the car and took off at 8 pm to start an extended Holiday Weekend in Arkansas. A few normal stops along the way for coffee and gas station snacks and we arrived in Fayetteville around midnight on Thanksgiving night. Up early the next morning for breakfast and back on the winding roads to our first destination, Hot Springs.

The weather was abnormally warm for the end of November and the quaint little town was bustling with people as we drove the drag toward our hotel. We stayed at The Hotel Hot Springs, dog-friendly of course and located at the edge of town. Perfect location to be able to walk everywhere. We set out to explore, admiring the history and architecture of the town before running into a little gem called the Aristocrat...where they may or may not have let us buy tall-boys with which we were able to dump into styro-foam cups and continue our journey around town. This is gangster land folks, so it's fine. We had an escape route if needed. We did a bit of window shopping where I found the perfect patch for my denim vest, before making a stop at the Copper Penny Pub for a snack and cocktails, after-all it was happy hour.

We checked out the hotel bar, it's tradition, before continuing the evening which consisted of sparkling Christmas lights and filthy martinis at the infamous Arlington Hotel, where it was still nice enough to be on the patio before heading on to find live music. We started at a place called the Ohio Club, the oldest and apparently most popular place in town, it was packed so we decided to move on finding a place called, Maxine's Live. Jackpot! Live music and informal, the perfect place to belly up to the bar before ending the evening. Maxine's was named after Maxine Temple Jones, the once Brothel Queen of Hot Springs in the mid-1900's, which was located on the second floor and used to be named the Crystal Saloon.

The next morning I introduced the BF to The Pancake Shop. A well-known breakfast spot in Hot Springs but worth the wait. By the way, order the pancakes...along with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, apple butter, coffee, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. I am being serious too. You will want it all. One last stop to pick up a few holiday gifts before packing up our bags to head into nature for the next two nights. Before leaving, we filled up our water canister for camping with the natural water from the springs, it's right in the center of town...Stay tuned for our experience's in the wild mountains of Arkansas!

There is so much history in Hot Springs and it's worth the drive.