Entries about springs

We went to visit the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge centre in Arkansas, next to Eureka Springs. The centre aims to rescue any big cats from zoos or private owners in order to avoid them being put down.

The centre has 2 sections, the first one which is the one you see when you arrive is the "waiting" area, where the cats are placed when they are received in the centre. The enclosures are quite small and I first I thought "oh my god this is tiny!!!"....

But what happens is that they are put there first so they can get used to their new environment and so that a close look can be kept on them... Then the centre tries to raise some funds to build them each an enclosure and let me tell you that this costs about $20000 to $25000 for a bob cat (as they are good climbers)... so that could take up to 2 years to get...

They have 120 cats and half of them are now in their permanent enclosures which are large and beautiful.... and the others are waiting for funds to get their houses built. They have a good idea for the permanent houses as they basically share a big outside space with 2 concrete shelters so cats can be "out" every other day ... It is amazing that with their territoriality the animals are happy to share with others of their specie but it works if they have been together previously or are brothers and sisters.

Most animals have a sad story behind them... some are here because their previous zoo could not afford to keep them any longer. Some have been found as kitten ; there are many bob cats across Arkansas and it is not unusual for a baby to be found.. people take them in thinking they will adapt to domestic life and they, through dramatic events they decide they can no longer cope.

Some of the animals were inbred by their previous owners and they present some genetical defects such as cross eyes, flat nose, blindness... These animals will never be able to go anywhere else but here and this is now their home.

Here are some pictures of the cats....
actually this is one of the brown bear they have.

One of the bob cat got the visit of a non venomous snake in its enclosure which created chaos throughout the park.

This is the welcoming bird you see in the shop that greets the customers...

These are some of the big cats... absolutely beautiful creatures.

We arrived in Hot Springs, Bill Clinton's town and went straight to the observation tower on top of the hill...

Then we walked the Promenade, a 30 minutes walk along the Bathouse Row and took some pictures of this pretty town... There are 8 bathouses remaining from the original 20... Some are shut like Maurice and Lamar. The rest do not allow kids under 14 to come in and all offer packages with access to the thermal bath as well as some treatments... highly recommended... Fordyce bathhouse gives children a Hot Springs National Park Junior Ranger activity Book which is very informative and fun at the same time...

This is the town where you find the Gangster Museum (we did not visit this) hence this great car parked in front of one of the hotels

This is inside a shop dedicated to Mountain View a local spring source that sells water all over the country...

You can drink hot or cold water throughout the town from fountains and it is really healthy as you can imagine... the temperature of the water is about 63 degrees Celsius so nice and warm!!!

We went to the bath with the children and the only place where they allowed kids under 14 was at the Arlington hotel.... boys and girls go separately so I had some time to myself!!! We all did a mud bath, followed by some hot towel wrapped around your body and I also had a steam cabinet which is so hot you think you are going to pass out!! Good fun and the kids enjoyed it... after fishy feet in Bali I think they will be high maintenance those kids ... watch out ladies!!!!

And I thought the mural in front of the cinema was cool.

We decided to do a nice little tour of one of the few remaining bathouses in Hot Springs... and went to visit the Fordyce one... this has been converted into a museum and it is an awesome and most interesting visit.

All rooms have been preserved in their original state.. you just realise how advanced they were at the time or how much some of the thermal treatments have not evolved...

The building is just beautiful and here are some views of the different rooms and levels.

Basement, the machinery room and the springs...

You can either use the lift or the stairs:

Ground floor treatment rooms, colonic irrigation, sweat box, power showers... you name it

1st floor, ladies room, gymnasium

Top floor is a specific treatment room and the music room:

Some interesting artwork and features:

This is a well worthwhile visit, it is free, most interesting and does really give you a great insight to how the bathouses were functioning at the time...

Today we devoted the day to the kids so we decided to do a duck tour of the town, followed by a laser quest and a mini golf... and some wine tasting for daddy!!!

We only did that as we met a family on our little tour and they told us about the offer of $30 for the tour and mini golf, wine tasting, wax museum, gambling museum and laser quest (we could not do go kart as the kids were too small)....

This is the duck bus/boat

So we went on the tour of the city and here are some shots of ourselves!!!!

And here are some shots of the city....

This are some views of lake Hamilton, one of the 3 lakes in the surroundings of Hot Springs with Lake Catherine and Lake Washington...

This is the photo of our laser quest

Today it was Teo’s day to organise and he wanted to go to the hot spring in the moutains.. so we set off in our little car and went through some pretty country lanes with traditional houses and it was very nice to see a more quiet and traditional part of Bali…

We got there for 11…paid 3000 rupiahs for parking and only 5000 per adult and 3000 per kid… so cheap unbelievable..

It was heaven.. a lot of Balinese all mixed with tourist in that lovely picturesque idyllic little place with a nice café… so lovely that we stayed there until 4.45….

We had an all day there playing in the 3 different pools … the largest one is the coolest one at about 38 celsius and is a rusty kind of colour due to the sulphur I believe.. you can stand under some lion’s head where the water is cascading from the above pool. .That pool is smaller and just very hot .. but funny enough it is kind of refreshing nonetheless…The last pool is small and has only 3 waterfalls but they come from quite high up so it is a great massage… taking about massage you could get one there too ..

I just said heaven for a family as it is nice and hot and kids can play without getting cold…Lunch in the café was nice and I had for desert a pancake with coconut and palm sugar which was just delicious..