Arkansas & Missouri

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Table of Contents

• Hot Spring, Arkansas
• St. Louis, Missouri

• Quick stats about this trip:
  • ✈️: 2,840 miles
  • 🚘: 130 miles
  • 🚶🏻‍♀️: 6 miles
  • 💰: $126 per person per day (double occupancy) estimated

Hot Spring, Arkansas

I took a 3-day trip in September 2019 with the goal of visiting Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, and Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri.

Since there are no direct flights from NYC to HOT (Hot Springs, AK), I started my search backwards by researching which airlines fly into HOT, and from where. It turned out to be pretty easy, as the airport is only serviced by one airline, Southern Airways Express, and they only fly direct from two cities- Dallas and Memphis. I found a cheap ticket from LGA to DFW via Spirit, and while I don’t normally recommend flying with Spirit, as the savings are usually paid for in aggravation, I had a surprisingly smooth and uneventful flight. Upon landing in DFW, I contacted Southern Airways Express, and within a few minutes they picked me up from the main terminal and chauffeured me to their tiny corporate terminal. I had not realized when booking this ticket what I was getting myself into- I had thought it weird that one of the mandatory fields when booking the ticket was my weight, but I didn’t think much of it until I got to see the actual plane. It turned out to be a tiny 8-seater Cessna jump plane, and while I was slightly terrified for the duration of the flight, it was a cool experience to sit behind the pilot and see the happenings.

The pilot had an iPad with a GPS app that showed his route and had all the nearby planes circled on it. This adventure cost all of $39 and got me to my destination to boot😊.

HOT airport turned out to be the tiniest airport I had ever landed at to-date. It had one small bench masquerading as the gate, and a car rental counter that was closed for the day (I did not rent a car for my stay here, but if you land in HOT and would like to rent a car, you’ll need to time your flight with when the car rental counter is open).

There is no kosher food in Hot Springs, and I brought along some sandwiches to tide me over for my 24-hour stay.

Hot Springs is a tiny, walkable city, so I only had to Uber to and from the airport. I stayed at The Waters hotel for the night (now under the Hilton brand). It was by far the nicest hotel in the area, and the rooms were modern and clean. The hotel was recently restored, but retains a jazz age feel, the era that Hot Springs was most popular.

After a good night’s sleep, I dropped my backpack at the hotel’s front desk and headed to Hot Springs National Park, across the street from the hotel. It appears that Hot Springs was designated as a National Park not because of its exceptional beauty, but because the Parks Department felt that there was a dearth of National Parks in the region. Notwithstanding the undeserved National Park status, I do think that the park is underrated. It’s not exotically beautiful as many of the others, but it has a certain charm and history to it that other parks don’t have. Note that entry into the park is always free.

There are hot water fountains that come straight up from the springs all along Bathhouse Row, the main street fronting the park, as well as on the Grand Promenade. It was close to 100°F and sunny all day, which made hiking a chore. Additionally, because it was so hot, it was hard to see the steam rising from the springs- the colder it is, the more visible the steam.

I walked along the Grand Promenade, which is a peaceful, quiet walkway that has most of the park’s trails branching from it. There are a few hot springs along the path which are cool (and the water is hot. Really hot. 150° hot.)

I joined a one-hour ranger-led tour of the geology of the park, which was fascinating, followed by a one-hour tour of the historical bathhouses. The historical tour wasn’t as interesting, but it was nice to learn about the treatments the local spas offered to the rich (most of them ridiculous in today’s day and age).

I hiked up Peak Trail to Mountain Tower, a tall elevator that sits atop a mountain and has great views of the surrounding area. There’s a fee to go up with the elevator, but I got a discount with my America the Beautiful Park pass.

I then hiked back down to Bathhouse Row and headed to Quapaw Baths, one of the many bathhouses still in existence today, for a mineral bath. Most visitors come here for the spa services, but appointments need to be scheduled way in advance to secure a slot- the only walk-in option is the mineral baths. The water at the facility is all pumped in straight from the closest hot spring.

After retrieving my backpack from the hotel, I got an Uber for $55 for the 1-hour drive to Little Rock. By flying out of LIT I eliminated the need for a stopover on the way to my next destination, St. Louis, Missouri. There were no lines at TSA Precheck, and I was at my gate within a minute of having entered the airport. It seemed to me that you could show up 15 minutes before the gate closes, and still make it with time to spare.

St. Louis, Missouri

I flew LIT to STL via Southwest, and landed while there was still some daylight left. I utilized the Clayton Plaza Hotel’s- where I was staying for the night- complimentary airport shuttle to get to the hotel. For some reason hotels in St. Louis were expensive for that night, and it was difficult to find something for under $120, which was my preferred budget. Additionally, I wanted to be in the UberEats delivery zone of the kosher restaurants, and not too far from the downtown attractions either. The only one that seemed to fit my bill was the Clayton Plaza Hotel- in addition to the airport shuttle they also offered a complimentary 5-mile shuttle which was useful once or twice.

After checking in and dropping off my bags I boarded the MetroLink, which I found very easy to navigate, to Gateway Arch National Park. I arrived just as the sun was going down and spent just a few minutes walking the grounds and admiring the arch, with plans to be back the next day.

I then took the MetroLink to Gokul Indian Restaurant, where I was pleasantly surprised with my liking for Indian Vegan fare. The soup and the dessert were meh, but the appetizer combo was delicious.

The next morning, I ordered a cream cheese bagel and kugel for breakfast from Kohn’s Kosher Meat and Deli, via UberEats. I was rather disappointed as I had been expecting a NY style bagel heaped with cream cheese, and instead I got a toasted bagel with a small pod of cream cheese… the sweet kugel was good though.

After breakfast I headed back to Gateway Arch National Park.

I’m still not sure why Trump decided to change this National Monument to a National Park, a total misnomer, but it was a nice experience. Entry to the park grounds is free, and I purchased tickets in advance for the tram that goes up the arch. I received a $3 discount off the regular tram price with my America the Beautiful Park pass.

While the view from the top of the arch is beautiful, the way up is in a tiny, metal, claustrophobic box.

These boxes are no more than 4ft in height, and they stuff 5 people into each box. The ride up is about 3-4 minutes.

Next, I headed across the street from Gateway Arch to the Old Courthouse, where I signed up for a one-hour ranger-led tour. I enjoyed learning about the history of St. Louis here, and the arch’s significance.

I then headed to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which were spectacular.

I would visit St. Louis again just to get a chance to view the gardens one more time.

The highlight here for me was the Japanese Gardens.

After the gardens I visited the Saint Louis Zoo, which is located on the grounds of several other museums. It’s been rated the #1 zoo in the USA, but I wasn’t very impressed. Thankfully entry here was free, so it wasn’t too much of a disappointment.

I had researched a few more attractions such as the St. Louis Science Center, the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Brewery, and the Missouri History Museum, but I did not have enough time in my day to visit those.

Before heading to the airport for my flight home I made a quick stop at Café Coeur. I got the kalamata olive pie and a California sushi roll- the pizza was so heavenly that I ended up devouring the entire pie myself.

I was booked on a flight home from STL to LGA via Southwest. As usual, my gate was located at the very end of a very long concourse, and when I finally got there, I realized that I had misplaced my charger, and my phone was out of juice. Worried about not having my boarding pass (as I did not have a printed copy), I headed to the closest shop and purchased an exorbitantly overpriced charger. Thankfully I was able to file a purchase protection claim with Chase Sapphire Reserve, so this little snafu did not end up costing me a penny.

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globetrottinggeek

Visited 45/50 US States Visited 30/63 US National Parks