Taking the Waters

When I was little, I used to watch a short film called "The Cure" staring Charlie Chaplin.  Click here to watch the whole movie, only 19 minutes long.  It came out in 1917, and tells the story of a drunk (one of Chaplin's favorite vaudeville roles) who goes to a spa to "take the waters" and dry out.  Hydrotherapy was a popular cure for centuries, for everything from syphillis to alcoholism.  Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, tried "hydrotherapy and mild exercise" (AA Big Book p. 7) when he was at the Townes Hospital, and said it helped him.

Today, we were at the historic "Bathhouse Row" in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a town that used to be a magnet for people seeking all kinds of cures.  People used to drink the water, bathe

in it, and undergo a variety of wacky water-based treatments.  The temperature as it flows out of the ground is around 140 degrees, so it has to cool somewhat before it is used, but bathing in and drinking the water is still a pretty popular activity around here.

In a bunch of 19th century novels, people try to get cures for syphillis especially with these sorts of healing mineral water treatments.  After penicillin was discovered, the popularity of the springs fell off, and Hot Springs because a den of gangsters like Al Capone for a while.  They ran gambling operations and other criminal activities out of the town, until they were run off and ended up in Las Vegas.  Now the town is sort of limping along with attractions like the second-rate wax museum and pirate-themed mini-golf.  Nevertheless, we decided to try a day at the spa, to see if the mineral baths would work wonders on our road-weary bodies.

Here is the link to the National Park at Hot Springs

We sat in the waters, drank the waters, and got massaged and scrubbed just like Charlie Chaplin.  Of course, at the end of his short film, his booze is accidentally added to the spring water, making everyone really enjoy drinking it!  That didn't happen to us, but by the end of the day were were definitely refreshed and sort of detoxed, I think.  I said, "Now we should eat a refreshing, light organic salad accompanied by a berry smoothie!"

Of course, I told you in my last post how Hot Springs is also the hometown of Bill Clinton, and how his favorite restaurant was McClard's Barbecue, so guess where we went?

Read all about McClard's Barbecue

It was pretty good, although I have to say that Bite Me Barbecue in Wichita was way better.  The sauce was great, however. 

Tomorrow we will follow Bill into Little Rock to visit the Presidential Library and Museum (the second of this trip) and some other important sites.