Total Eclipsing in Hot Springs!

For the eclipse, we decided to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Back in 2017, we talked about going down to Bruce's favorite place in the world for this eclipse, Mazatlan, but being in Biloxi instead of Washington, we decided to just make it a stop on the way home.  Having not seen Hot Springs National Park and Bruce having talked a lot about wanting to go to Craters of Diamonds State Park for several years, Hot Springs was the winner.  Besides, remembering the traffic from the 2017 eclipse that we had no real plan for, we planned this one.  To avoid eclipse traffic, we decided to spend four days in Hot Springs.  We could get there before any of the big traffic started coming in, do the national park one day, the eclipse one day, and the state park one day.  That would fill our time in Hot Springs.  I also had been practicing with The Baby (my big 150-600 mm lens - see early Uganda posts to see how she got that name) on how to shoot the sun with my camera because I wanted some good shots.  I had special filters for both cameras, built hoods to hold those filters so they could be easily removed at totality, and practiced astro photos on both the moon and the sun.

So, feeling confident, we were ready for the eclipse.  And during transit, the filter for The Baby's hood got damaged.  It got a crease in it.  I tried my best, but I could not get a replacement in time.  Knowing I had the Lumix for backup, we decided I would try to see if The Baby would focus through the damaged filter, and that I would just do my best.  If I couldn't get good shots this year, there's another couple of eclipses coming up, just not in the US.  I have been known to ride airplanes at times.

So, we got checked into our hotel and went to dinner.  When traveling, we tend to look for unique names of restaurants and then check the reviews.  The Purple Cow was the winner.  They have this purple ice cream pie that I wanted to try.  So, I ordered dessert first to make sure I had room for it!

It wasn't bad.  Just purple colored vanilla ice cream in an oreo crust with whipped cream.  The rest of the food was really good, too.  We learned that slicing a boiled egg and putting it on a sandwich adds another layer of yumm.  The South of the Border soup was also very good.  It's a modified chicken tortilla soup with a very tasty broth, and adding the cheese takes it a step further.  The restaurant was an excellent choice.

The next morning, we decided to do the national park, so we got up a bit early and headed to town.  For the most part, Hot Springs National Park is a nice hiking park.  There are very well-groomed trails throughout with both cold and hot springs up and down the mountain.  

The park and the town abut right up against each other and you get to see it all, the pretty and the ugly, right next to each other.

We drove up to the top of the mountain where the Mountain Tower is.  I can't believe I took a picture of a picture of the old tower, but neglected to take a shot of the tower itself!!

The views from the top of the tower were wonderful, even though it was rainy and cloudy, which was not boding well for tomorrow's eclipse.  The weather reports and the Windy app were all reassuring me that the skies in Hot Springs would be fine, though.

Hot Springs National Park is named after the springs that come down from the three small mountains.  The rain falls on North Mountain, Indian Mountain, and Hot Springs Mountain and seeps into the ground going so deep under the Earth's crust that it is heated by pressure and radioactive decay.  There is no volcanic activity under Hot Springs to heat the water.  The Ouachita Mountains (of which these mountains are a part) just have so many cracks and fissures that the water gets pushed out in particular places before it has the opportunity to cool.  

The park, iteself, was a bit underimpressive.  The highlight of the park is Bathhouse Row, a row of old bathhouses that runs along the edge of the park, right along Central Avenue in Hot Springs.  Some of these bathhouses are functional and can take walk ins.  Some of them have been converted to restaurants or bars.  One of them functions as the park's Visitor's Center.  Bruce wasn't feeling well and parking was impossible, so he dropped me off in front of the Fordyce Bathhouse and went back to the hotel to rest.

The National Park Visitor's Center is in the Fordyce Bathhouse.  While it is not functional at this time, it gives a great rundown of how the bathhouses work and has preserved what they looked like back in their heyday.

This stained glass is central to the ceiling of the men's bath hall.

There were several private rooms along the perimeter of the men's bath hall.

This statue of Ponce de Leon accepting water from a Native woman is central to the men's bath hall.

Similar to a steam room, but for a single person.  They called it a vapor bath.

This was one of the earliest physical therapy rooms.  

Men's exercise costumes of the period

Women's bathing costume and a therapeutic bath designed for people with significant mobility issues.  Note the straps and pulleys that were used to raise and lower them into the bath and to help move them into and out of the room.

Women's exercise costumes

The gymnasium

The tanks and mechanics of the hot springs

This is a glassed in area a so you can see the water from the spring below.  

After touring the Visitor's Center/Fordyce Bathhouse, I wandered around town.  I checked out the stations at the Eclipse fair and stopped in at various shops to see if I could find a new filter for The Baby, but was unsuccessful.

This is the main walking entry to the park.  The Fordyce Bathhouse is the brown and white building on the right.

   

This fountain is a hot spring fountain.  The water is definitely hot!

This waterfall is also hot!

I liked this storefront for artisinal soaps and candles

Even Smokey the Bear was there!

It's a cute town.  It didn't take long to walk the few blocks of the tourist area and see it all.  Dinner was at the Blue Monkey, where we got enough for tomorrow, too, so we didn't have to fight eclipse traffic.

The next day was THE DAY - the total eclipse of the sun.  The morning was spent making sure both cameras, filters, and hoods were crystal clean, and the settings were right.  When it came time, we moved the car around to the side of the hotel I wanted to watch from.  I tried to use The Baby, but focusing through the creased filter was impossible.  So I put the Lumix on the tripod and started up.  It took a few shots to be able to get it focused right.  But, after that, everything went smooth and great.  We just sat in our chairs using our glasses to watch the eclipse.  Periodically, I'd reach over and press the shutter button on the camera (with a two-second timer because I'm too cheap to get a remote, though that situation might change at some point soon).  It was fun watching it with the solar glasses without my prescription eyeglasses.  My double vision made the eclipse even more interesting!

As the sun got more hidden by the moon, it began to get dark and cooler.  The birds started acting like they were bedding down for the night.  Street lights started coming on, too, which was unfortunate.  In 2017, we were in a rural part of Oregon, and it got pitch dark at totality.

At totality, I took the filter and hood off the camera.  I missed the diamond ring effect, which flashed as I was taking off the hood.

After totality, I put the hood and filter back on and took more shots as the moon moved past the sun.

The following day, we were planning to do Craters of Diamonds State Park, but it stormed again.  Rock hounding in the mud simply didn't appeal to us, so we'll just have to come back.  Instead, I learned how to make a composit photo of my eclipse pictures.  

We planned to eat at a German restaurant that a friend who I served in Germany with said was authentic, but it was closed because they had special hours during the eclipse.  Their normal hours are, like any respectable German restaurant, closed on Sunday and Monday.  But, because of the eclipse, they were open those days and closed on Tuesday.  So, we'll just have to eat there when we come back to go rock hounding!  'Tis now time to go west!