4 Awesome Day Trip Ideas from Hot Springs

President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site

Learn more about the 42^nd President of the United States when you visit the President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site located in Hope, Arkansas.

Hope, Arkansas is about an hour and a half drive from Hot Springs National Park.  This city was the home of young Bill Clinton from birth through the first six year of his life.  As a young child, former President Clinton lived in the home of his grandparents (the site of the National Park unit), until he moved only a few streets away when his mother remarried.

When you visit the birthplace home, you will arrive at the park’s Visitor Center which is separate from the actual home.  Here there are displays about Bill Clinton’s childhood and life as well as a National Park bookstore.  You will also be able to get your stamp cramp here.

Roughly every half hour, you can take a ranger-led tour through the birthplace home of Bill Clinton.  On the tour, you will see the family room, dining area and kitchen (which was recently restored after it was the target of arson in 2015).  Highlights included a discussion of the pictures of Bill Clinton as a child as well as his mother and grandparents.

You are then led upstairs where you get to see the family bedrooms.  You learn that Bill Clinton’s grandparents gave up the master bedroom to the young family while they lived there.  You will also get to see the young Bill Clinton’s room, bed, book, pictures, and personal effects.  One thing that I loved was that as a child, Bill Clinton was a fan of cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, and you will find several photos of him with his childhood hero.

One feature of the house that Jason noted was the air vents.  The vents were multi-directional with slants that directed the air in both a horizontal and a vertical direction.

I enjoy visiting President’s homes because these visits provide a glimpse into the humanity of the powerful individuals that have held a position of leadership in this country.  Seeing the humble origins of our gregarious 42^nd President formed a feeling of connection.  I unknowingly assumed that Bill Clinton came from a position of advantage and wealth, but I was wrong.  The park rangers did a good job of sharing stories from his early life, and provided a welcoming atmosphere for the visit.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Visiting Little Rock Central High School is a near-reverent experience.  In 1957, this school was the focal point of the mandate to enforce the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, and to integrate public schools in the Jim Crow south that were both separate and unequal.

While today’s social environment is far from perfect, I know that I am extremely lucky to have benefited from the sacrifice, courage, and leadership that took place at this school in 1957.  I would imagine that any person with an ounce of empathy and conscious would be moved when reflecting on the experience of these nine students.

It is a humbling reality that the integration of Little Rock High School took place only 61 short years ago.  Considering the quick passage of time, and the rapid creation of change in today’s world, we are still so near to the reality of suffering that the Little Rock Nine endured.  It is important to remember and to reflect on how fragile the social progress is that has been made in the span of a few short decades.

I am empowered to know that these are the individuals on whose shoulders I stand!

What you need to know when visiting Little Rock Central High School:

• Little Rock Central High School is located approximately 1 hours drive from Hot Springs, Arkansas.
• You can get your National Park Passport stamped at the bookstore checkout desk in the Visitor Center.
• Call ahead (at least a week in advance) to secure your spot on one of the daily tours. The tour lasts approximately 45 minutes and involves some very moving story-telling.  On the tour, you will walk from the Visitor Center to the Mobil Gas Station across from Little Rock Central High School.  You will then walk in the footsteps of Elizabeth Eckert on the lonely and frightening walk that she took alone on the 2^nd attempt to integrate the school.  You will then enter Little Rock Central High School and explore the lobby, the 2,000 seat auditorium, and walk the halls of school.
• The school is active, and the Park Rangers clearly state that the expectation of visitors is to be respectful, to refrain from photography within the school.

• I highly recommend checking out the accounts of the events of 1957 in Warrior’s Don’t Cry (affiliate link) or Simple Not Easy (affiliate link), books that were written by two of the Little Rock Nine (Melba Pattillo Beals and Terrence Roberts).  The stirring accounts of the events written retrospectively add to the overall experience of the visit.
• Plan to stick around to watch the park video about the projects that students at Little Rock Central High School do to remember the momentous events that took place at their school.

• Plan to spend some extra time exploring the displays in the Visitor Center. There is beautiful artwork and multi-media experiences to learn about this chapter (and others) from the Civil Rights movement.  One of my personal favorite parts of the displays was a section that hearkened to some of the different revolutions and promotions of Civil Rights in different places around the world – student sit-ins, farm workers movement, the struggle for women’s rights and fight for enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Check out the NPS site for more information.

Arkansas Post National Memorial

Arkansas Post National Memorial is located about two and a half hours from Hot Springs National Park.  We didn’t spend too much time here because when we went, this stop was the last on our packed route from Vicksburg, Mississippi to Poverty Point, Louisiana, and then to Arkansas Post (with our final destination being Hot Springs), and we arrived JUST in the nick of time!

We followed the directions on our GPS that estimated that we would make it with about 10 minutes to run in and get our passports stamped, but were caught off guard when our GPS took us down a portion of unpaved roadway to the Visitor Center (tip: do NOT do this – there is a paved entrance to the park, and if your GPS has you on Old Post Road for more than a tenth of a mile, ignore your GPS and follow the signs when you get close to the site).

Not estimating for the impact of the unpaved road, Jason dropped me off in front of the Visitor Center to run in and get our stamps.  We had resigned ourselves that we were going to just miss out on the official day-of cancellation, as we arrived right as the park Visitor Center was closing.  The lights were literally being turned off when I entered the building.

Fortunately, the Park Ranger (dressed up like a frontiersman for the earlier musket demonstration) took the time to speak to me and welcomed me to get my stamps.  He also shared that he had spent some time in our home state of Ohio while serving in the Air Force.  Super nice Ranger!  We are so appreciative that he let us in to get our stamps!

We then spent some time walking to some of the beautiful waterways and read some of the displays.  I would love to visit Arkansas Post again to go fishing.  It also seemed to be a great place for having a cookout or gathering as the grounds were beautiful and open.

Check out the NPS site for more information.

State Parks of Arkansas (Lake Ouachita, Lake Catherine, Lake Hamilton)

Arkansas has some beautifully kept state parks and lakes!  While we were visiting Hot Springs, we were able to visit three of these lakes – Lake Ouachita, Lake Catherine, and Lake Hamilton.

Lake Ouachita was only a short (less than 30-minute) drive from Hot Springs National Park.  This beautiful park had an abundance to charm, from crystal clear waters great for fishing and boating, to beautiful hiking trails, lodging, etc.

We visited the park twice – the first day, we entered the park Visitor Center to inquire about fishing and to see if we could secure a fishing license.  It was a windy day, but we had our tackle and poles together and were ready to get busy.  We were not successful in getting a license there.  In fact, fishing licenses were not for sale at all at the park.  The lady at the receptionist desk informed us (rather rudely) that she didn’t know anything about fishing licenses, and that we would have to go to the bait and tackle shop on the water to see about getting a license.

We ventured to the bait and tackle shop – a floating shop on the lake itself, and found the friendliest attendant.  He informed us that we would have to get a license from Wal-Mart (back in town), or that we could get a license online (super easy and convenient by following the directions at this link).  He also proceeded to tell us some fishing tips on the lake, complete with pictures and personal stories of large catches of crappie, striper bass, and walleye.

We returned to the hotel in Hot Springs, and decided that we would go back the next day (with fishing licenses in tow) to cast our poles into the sparkling Lake Ouachita waters.

The next day was absolutely beautiful!  The air was warm, and the wind had diminished to a light and refreshing reminder that we were in nature and that we should slow to take the time to breathe deeply.

Our first location, from the shores of the Lake, not too far from the bait and tackle shop that we had visited the day before was unsuccessful.  We then ventured to another location at the end of the lake near hiking trails and the Three Sister Springs region of the park (which was a nice place to take a leisurely stroll.  We were unsuccessful there as well.  We then went to a shallow area down a hillside off of a pull of near the entrance of the park.  Again, no success!

Finally, we ended up venturing a few miles away to a dam.  The water was flowing quickly and deeply, and we could literally see fish leaping out of the water.  No other fishermen were there, it was our chance to catch something grand.

But again, no bites!

With the hours passing by, we grew discouraged and eventually resigned ourselves to the reality that, while beautiful, Lake Ouachita’s waters were too clear and the waters bred fish that were too aware.  We packed up our gear, and decided to call it a day.

One thing about Jason and me – we may get frustrated, but we’re not ones to give up too quickly.  While driving, we discovered that we were not far from Lake Catherine and Lake Hamilton, two other state parks.  We decided to explore Lake Catherine to see if we would have any better luck.

We couldn’t find any public places to pull off at Lake Catherine – this lake was much more populated and had a lot of private accesses to the shoreline by houses and hotels.  That being said, we ventured a bit further to find our last hope – Lake Hamilton.

Before I tell you about Lake Hamilton, let me just say that, even though it was later in the day, and even though we were a little tired, I am so happy that we kept on.  In the time that we were at Lake Hamilton, we caught our first Arkansas fishes, met some awesome local fishermen, and even saw the start to an amateur Bass Fishing tournament!