Civil War in Hot Springs?

150 years after the Civil War, the national park provided a little entertainment by stationing Civil War period reenactors dressed in period costume along bathhouse row to tell about the roll of the park during that time. 

One of the ladies was lucky enought to be stationed inside the visitor's center on this hot day. She and Jose, the park superintendent, visit about the good old days!

Governor Rector was present. During this time all of the state records were brought from Little Rock to Hot Springs for protection and Hot Springs served very briefly as the state capitol.

Thirty One

What a fun gathering and chance for Kay to introduce her new Thirty One line of bags.  We ate a light chicken salad dinner while Kay displayed her sample items and got us enthused about her product.

Jenkin's Ferry

What to do on such hot days but go for a car ride in the a/c. It turned out to be a fun experience. We drove to the little town of Paron and stopped at the store for a geocache. It was noon and the lady suggested the pizza place next door was good. Indeed it was. On down the backroads to Leola we enjoyed the countryside and soon arrived at Jenkins' Ferry State Park. Yes, we are here to find a geocache!

After finding the cache we went down to learn more about the area.  Here the Union troops fought off an attack by the Confederates. They used an inflatable pontoon bridge to cross the flooded Saline River and retreat to Little Rock.

 This land was settled by Thomas Jenkins. He started a ferry in 1815 which was run by his sons until the Civil War. There was not much water at the site of the old ferry during this summer drought.

We wound our way back to Hot Springs and stopped at Garvan Woodland Gardens for the salsa sampling contests. These ladies might not have had the best salsa but they had the best spirit. Salsa and margaritas on a hot day? Why not!