A Weekend in the Life

We went to Hot Springs, Arkansas for our anniversary.

This is West Memphis, AR. Yeah. Whatever. On to the good stuff.

This is our bed at the Arlington Hotel.

Hallway.

Chris waits for the elevator.

The Arlington was built in 1875, but the original structure was destroyed by fire in 1923.They rebuilt it, obviously.

Across from the hotel.

Bathhouse row. Only one of the bathhouses is still operational.

More bathhouses.

On the way to the Gangster Museum of America.

Gangster Museum gift shop. The man at the podium behind me ran the tour and the gift shop. It was not a big operation.

Hot Springs used to be a gangster hideout/vacation spot. Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Bonnie & Clyde and a bunch of other folks used to go there for the restorative waters.

Al Capone. He watched us while we watched the last (ahem, badly edited) video presentation. The whole thing was cool but unintentionally hilarious. I was the inappropriate snickerer.

Maxine's. Maxine was a Hot Springs madam in the gangster era. Quote from her: "I'd rather meet up with a hit man than a politician because at least with a hit man you know what you'll get." Or something like that.

We stopped for a cocktail at a little Italian restaurant

called Bella Arte.

My dirty martini.

Chris' perfect Manhattan.

We walked back down Central Ave. There was a gallery walk going on but apparently I didn't take any pictures of that.

We should do this next time.

We ate here the first time we went to Hot Springs.

We stopped in at the Ohio club for another cocktail. It had been a casino until a bunch of do-gooders took charge in Hot Springs and shut everything down. At one time there were over 300 gambling venues in Hot Springs.

Being in Hot Springs is like being in another time. I like that.

Wax museum.

This hotel is across from the Arlington. It looks kinda chintzy but it has a cool sign.

We stop in at Rolando's for some Cuban food.

Chris makes a dinner decision. I think he had enchiladas.

We go back to the hotel and prepare for a nightcap in the lobby bar.

The lobby bar is very cool.

Who is in charge of lightbulb upkeep? That must be a fairly involved job.

This little old man was a dancing fool and kind of a player.

He spies new prey.

Captured!

My partner in crime.

This is detail of the murals in the lobby. I'm thinking this + some hallucinogenics would make for a mesmerizing good time.

It's kind of like being on the set of a Wes Anderson movie.

It was raining so we turned in for the night.

Saturday morning.

This is a view of the pools and the hot tub from our room. The hot tub is massive and is fed with hot spring water.

Water.

I attempt to make myself presentable for breakfast.

huh.

The maids were doing their thing.

Dining room.

I had cream cheese on half of my bagel and peanut butter and jelly on the other half.

Elevator.

This is the view to the right of the hotel.

This is the Aristocrat. See? It looks kinda chintzy but I bet it was cool once.

We shopped at the Savory Pantry, which is full of delicious.

It is next to the Pancake Shop, which is also full of delicious. We would have eaten there, but our hotel package included free breakfast at the hotel.

Hot Springs is up in the mountains to you see a lot of this.

We go back to the hotel because we needed warmer clothes. This is the lobby from above.

More shopping

at this place.

Actually I think the quote is :"The South is a place; North, East & West are merely directions." It's from  Lewis Grizzard or Roy Blount or someone.

The z in cheezy mean it's good, but we didn't have any.

This is the one working bathhouse. We went there the first time we went to Hot Springs. It's a little too public for me.

Now you know where to get glitter tattoos and hair crystalz.

The bartender at the Bella Arte Ristorante thought I was the lead singer for Vintage.

We went back to the hotel for our spa appointment. You can't really take camera in there on account of it's a bath house, but it's really really cool. All the fixtures are very old.

I was scrubbed with this. The 2:15 is the time of my massage appointment.

We hiked up the mountain after our baths.

This is the hotel from the lower promenade.

And we hiked and we hiked. This picture makes me dizzy.

We reached the top.

We rested for a while.

The way back down. This is the Happy Hollow Motel.

We went to the hot tub. I was unconcerned about getting my face in the shot.

We dressed for dinner. I feel like I had some sort of gun moll motif.

This is where we ate. The bartender was from Memphis.

Back to the hotel to prepare to go out again.

We go to Maxine's to see John Paul Keith and the 145's play. They're a Memphis band. Maxine's had some cool photographs.

The opening band was kinda dull.

There was cool art in the bathroom, too.

Yay! John Paul Keith!

He's really good.

The next morning we realized that housekeeping had neglected to stock new coffee cups.

We rinsed out our Starbucks cups from the day before and used them.

Breakfast. I love toast.

We wait for our car in the parking garage.

Goodbye, Arlington.