Hot Spring National Park, Arkansas

I had to smile as I entered Hot Springs, Arkansas.  The conspicuous "welcome to the boyhood home of Bill Clinton" was very funny to me.  What was I expecting of Hot Springs National Park?  Well, something very organic, I guess.  I was secretly hoping for a hippie reservation with naked people soaking in pools of mud but thermal mineral pools of gradually decreasing temperatures with hues of green and blue with steam rising in a fog before a magenta sunset with people pollinating the natural rock tubs against a vast beautiful landscape would have been nice too.  My expectations may have been a bit too ambitious.  In reality, the town itself seems to be the national park.  All of the hot mineral springs are for hire and contained in numerous boutiques on Bathhouse Row.  A plentiful array of massages, facials, hot stone treatments, steam rooms and soaking tubs are available.  And here I just wanted to jump into a pool of hot mud with fat, old naked people for ten dollars.  What was I thinking?  Not quite what I was expecting but I can work with this.   I chose Quapaw Baths & Spa and promptly purchased the cheapest item on the menu.  For eighteen dollars I received all day access to four communal mineral pools and unlimited hot or iced mineral drinking water.  I was, however, forced to purchase a pair of old man slippers with fit perforations for three dollars.  "Flip-flops are required".  A day at the spa for twenty-one dollars, not too shabby.  I soaked fifteen minutes on and fifteen minutes off in one hundred and four degree water for several hours.  My skin now feels like sandpaper but it was worth it.  I'm hoping that the "power vortex surrounding the mineral pools", that a nice lady who incidentally happens to be living in an alternate reality explained to me, starts to kick in soon because that would be cool.  So far, the only thing that has started to kick in are the outdoor bathroom breaks that I have been taking every fifteen minutes due to all of the hot mineral water that I chugged today.  After the vortex-pool experience, the dogs and I took a forty-five minute stroll on the beautiful Grand Promenade which  traverses the center of town.  To my delight, I saw a natural hot spring along that path.  This was my favorite part of the day.  In other news, stink bugs have been appearing in the van.  I've seen five so far.  Where are they coming from?  I hope not the power vortex because that would be bad.