Last-minute trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas

This past weekend, my family had plans to visit relatives who live about 6 hours south of us. We had a dog sitter lined up, and we were packed and ready to go on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, my MIL texted us early that morning that she came down with Covid and was not well enough to have visitors. We would need to reschedule our visit. But, we couldn’t cancel our dog sitter without forgoing the entire fee. And, it was a small miracle that we had an entire weekend when none of us had any other plans or commitments. So, my husband and I decided we should try to go somewhere else for the weekend. But where?

My first thought was to visit my son at college. However, there was a football game this weekend, and therefore no hotels or rentals to be found. My next thought was Hot Springs, Arkansas. We’ve talked about visiting Hot Springs for years, but it just never bubbled up to the top of the list. Hot Springs is only 4.5 hours from our house.

I jumped onto hotels.com to see if we even had the option of staying in Hot Springs over Labor Day Weekend with no prior reservation. As I suspected, the pickings were slim. Most hotels were totally booked up except for a few rooms with just one queen bed. Even two separate rooms with one queen bed in each was not ideal for the four of us (including our two teens, ages 13 and 16).

But thankfully, I found lodging that was reasonably priced and available. I booked it online, and we started driving north instead of south.

The Wharf Resort

We stayed at The Wharf Resort in a two-bedroom condo for $179/night, booked through hotels.com.  The condo was very spacious and had a full kitchen, washer/dryer, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

I’m not going to sugar coat it: The units look outdated. However, they were clean, and the staff at the resort was super friendly and helpful. The best part of our condo was the balcony and the view:

We were right on Lake Hamilton. I’m a sucker for any type of water view.

The resort was fairly small, but it had a pool, tennis courts and boat docks.

If you’ve watched Ozark on Netflix, this entire area reminded me of that.

What we did in Hot Springs

Since we only stayed two nights, we just had a day and a half to explore. But we managed to do a lot:

Ziplining: My husband and son went ziplining at Adventureworks.

Robo World: My daughter and I enjoyed interacting with the robots at Robo World coffee shop.

The waffles on a stick were delicious!

Bathhouse Row and Downtown Shops: While the boys were zip lining, my daughter and I visited the historic Bathhouse Row and downtown. We toured the famous Fordyce Bathhouse, which doubles as the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center.

The downtown area also had some quirky shops and galleries.

Magic Show: We went to a magic show at Maxwell Blade Theatre of Magic. The show was 2 hours long with an intermission!

Waterfront dining: We took advantage of the location and ate on the waterfront both days.

Why didn’t we just stay home?

Some of you may be thinking: Why didn’t we just stay home and save the money? Couldn’t we have done local activities as a family for less money?

Here’s the thing: As our kids get older, it gets harder and harder to get quality time with them. Our oldest lives 3 hours away at college. Our other son has a very active social life with his friends. If we would have stayed home, he would have quickly made plans with friends, and we’d hardly see him. Family trips take away all of the distractions and allow us to just spend time together.

The reality is that my family doesn’t travel as much all together as we did when my kids were younger. So when we have a free weekend like this last one, I’m going to seize the opportunity. Hot Springs may not be as exciting at Europe or Costa Rica. But, that doesn’t really matter. I’m just happy we got to spend the weekend together.