Hot Springs, AR

Girls Trip 

Hot Springs, AR

 Starting back in 2015, one of my bestie girlfriend's and I decided we are taking a girls trip!  We took off to the beach and had the best time ever!  There should NEVER, I repeat NEVER be any guilt for taking a long weekend with a girlfriend and getting away to relax and recoup!  You will come back refreshed and a better wife and mom!  We have been a few times to San Destin, FL and we always stay in the same Beach House, but 3 times we have taken off to a different place.  This post is all about the time we went to Hot Springs, AR!  You see COVID-19 hit hard in the US in March 2020 and made traveling all but come to a halt until May.  We usually take our girls weekend in the fall, so after checking the rules, regulations and making sure places were open for business, we decided to stay closer to home and venture to Hot Springs for a spa weekend!

Where we stayed:

The Arlington Hotel is a very old and historic hotel right downtown and centrally located to everything.  You can literally walk everywhere!  Now it is an older hotel, so do not have high expectations when it comes to 5 star.  It was clean and the staff was very friendly, and that in my book was enough to make the stay enjoyable.  The only complaint I had was the room we had was on the street side and the windows are single-pane so the street noise was a little loud at times.  Also they has not switched the hotel over to heat yet at the time of our stay and it was getting colder in the evenings already.  However,  the staff was very kind and brought us extra blankets that made up for us being a little chilled at night!  

The restaurant in the Arlington was open, but no buffet was being served.  Their lobby bar was open, and the bar tender was very nice! We did enjoy the Spa in the hotel and did the mineral bath, with the hot towel rest after and the massage!  It is an experience if you've never been before.  It is very nice, relaxing and a total step back in time!  We did book this one over the phone in advance before arriving.  

On the day we arrived we dropped off our bags and went for a stroll down the street to another bathhouse to make our appointment for manicures and pedicures because they were not taking online appointments and no one answered the phone prior to our arrival, so we walked down to make the appointments in person to assure we in fact got one while we were in town.  This was at Buckstaff Bathouse.  They too offer baths here but I wasn't sure so booked ours at Arlington instead.  The baths are a whirlpool mineral bath using the hot springs water and you can get a Swedish massage.  Buckstaff was very neat as well, not updated much and it had an old working elevator that you had a staff member who had to drive the actual elevator for us!  It was so neat!

Day1: arrival

cocktails and appetizers at Hotel Hale Bathhouse (no longer a working bath house but restaurant now)

We had Salty Dogs and chickpea flour flat bread pizza with roasted veggies and it was delicious!

Walked along the streets of downtown and then to the room to freshen up and head out to dinner.  We started the evening with a lemon drop martini at the hotel bar and then ended up at Fat Jack's oyster bar.  We had oysters rockafella and another salty dog.  Both were delicious and did not disappoint.  It was a weeknight when we were at Fat Jack's and it was calm and family friendly, however our server said it can get pretty rowdy on the weekends with the night life!  

Day 2: 

We started our day off with a coffee at The Argentinian Wine Bar, which was not the best coffee really.  But none the less we drank it and then headed to Buckstaff for our Mani/Pedi experience.  They only had one girl doing them that day, so it took quite a long time.  We ended up opting for pedicures only to cut the time in half.  She was a very sweet girl and told us lots about the area as she was born and raised there.  Afterwards we went back to the wine bar and had mimosa's and a charcuterie board for brunch. We shopped up and down the street and landed at a Rolando's Mexican restaurant and had jalapeño margaritas and guacamole casero for lunch.  We then went back to the hotel for our mineral bath and massage!  That took several hours and was so relaxing!  After that,  a little down time in the room and to get ready for dinner.  That night we went to dinner at The Ohio Club (famous place Al Capone used to visit back in the day) and had burgers and fries.  Then we went to a roof top bar at top The Water's Hotel for a night cap glass of wine.  The view from up top was amazing! 

 

Day 3: 

We started the morning at another coffee shop, Kollective Coffee + Tea,  at the end of the strip which had very good coffee and good breakfast options including gluten free and vegan!  After that we took off up the hill behind our hotel and went to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower.  It was a beautiful view and so much history to read about up there!  Then we filled up our water bottles in the hot springs along the side of the road and headed down the road about 30 min to Garvan Botanical Gardens.  We spent the majority of the day in the botanical garden soaking up the beauty that was all around us.  It's defiantly worth the drive over to spend the day there.  They do have a food truck and canteen there that you can get food, however we just packed in snacks since we had a large breakfast.  Back at the hotel, we freshened up again and got ready for dinner.  This was our last night and we wanted to go somewhere really nice.  We landed upon Luna Bella for a fabulous steak dinner!  This is defiantly a must when in Hot Springs!  We then turned in for an early night to watch a movie and have some wine in our hotel room.  

Day 4:

We packed it up and headed home.  It was a great and relaxing girls get a way and not too far of a drive from home.  I highly recommend it if you've never been and are looking for a true, old school, spa treatment like no other!

Blowing Rock, NC

Family Ski Trip

Blowing Rock, NC

Are you a beginner skier or looking to start snow skiing?  If so, keep reading! My family was first exposed to snow skiing in Ober Gatlinburg in December 2018.  We all loved it and wanted to do it again, so after a little research, I discovered Appalachian Ski Mountain.  We first visited here in March 2019 and fell in love with snow skiing and also the quaint little town of Blowing Rock, NC!  

First thing you should know when planning a trip here or to Beech Mountain in Boone, NC or Sugar Mountain in Banner Elk, NC, is that their ski season is November- March.  If you go for spring break in March it's their end of season and prices are discounted for lift tickets, and gear rental! It is also less crowded, however, they are done making snow and so the conditions may or may not be favorable depending on the weather.  On this particular trip it had been raining and was warmer while we were there.  I did notice compared to 2 years previously that the snow wasn't as smooth.  But none the less we still had fun.  We just didn't need all those layers because it was warm and we actually broke a sweat.

Due to COVID and each state having their own regulations and guidelines, be sure to check websites or call to verify they are open and ask what the latest rules are.  NC at the time I am writing this has a mask mandate law and was pretty strictly enforced in most indoor places.  Also I want to note that Appalachian Ski Mountain was the only place you had to reserve your lift ticket and time slot along with rental on line in advance.  Beech and Sugar mountain was based on first come first serve.  The rental equipment is kept very nice and we have never had any issues with it!  You can even rent clothing if you don't want to buy it and it saves space packing as well (clothing includes, pants, or bibs, jacket, gloves). You will however still want to have your own base layer of pants (leggings) and tops, along with some nice warm wool socks.  With equipment rental it includes Skis, ski boots, snowboard, boots, poles, a helmet, and goggles).  If you drive and you have your own ski clothing, I recommend packing all the bulky stuff in one rubber made tote and leaving it in the back of the car.  Saves space in the suitcases and then also in the room because you don't need to put that stuff on until you are at the mountain getting ready to ski.  If it gets really wet you can take it in the room to hang up to dry.  That's just what we do and it works really well!

If this is your first time skiing or you have beginners in your party, I do recommend ski school as well.  I would also recommend booking one day as an all day pass, you can come and go, and then taking the next day off to rest and explore.  If you want to ski again, do it on the 3rd day, so that you aren't so exhausted, especially if you have smaller children.  

Where to stay:

We have stayed both times and will continue to do so, at Chetola Resort & Spa.  We stay in the lodge and book a room with a living room (pull out sofa bed), kitchenette (includes microwave, sink and small fridge), bedroom (2 queen beds) and 2 bathrooms. They have a heated indoor pool, hot tub, and sauna.  They also have a very good restaurant and pub in the lodge as well.  They often have live music and most always an outdoor fire.  We love sitting out there at the end of the day with a glass of wine and chatting with and meeting new people from all over! 

Where to eat:

Speckled Trout is a very good locally owned restaurant with very good locally sourced food.  At the time of our trip they were not taking reservations, but you could do call ahead seating an hour before. They are also closed on Tuesday & Wednesday.  I had the almond and cornmeal crusted trout with turnip green and cheesy grits.  Also the best Bloody Mary ever, which even my husband loved and he is VERY picky about his bloody Mary's!!!

Savannah's Oyster House if you like cooked or raw oysters, or steamed pots of crab legs, crawfish or shrimp.  It was a fun experience in this cute little place.  If you ordered a steamed pot, it came in its own cast-iron kettle with lid!  I got the parmesan, garlic oysters and my hubby got the raw ones.  

Foggy Rock is a place I ate at on our last visit and I honestly can't remember much about the menu but I do remember getting the beet and feta salad for lunch and it was very good!

Sunny Rock is right next door and a great place for brunch.  The menu was full of lots of choices and you could get eggs cooked anyway you want.  If you are like me and are gluten free, they did not have gluten free substitutions, but did have gluten free options.  I had 2 poached eggs, with hash browns and turkey sausage.  

Blowing Rock Brewery had a good looking menu from what I could see.  We only stopped in here for a drink and I do have to say the drink menu was very large and unique.  So if you are a drink connoisseur, you will want to check this place out!  And speaking of drinks... if you are a wine lover...

Sunset & Vine is one to visit as well.  We popped in for a flight of reds and it was a generous pour in each of the 4 glasses for only $10.  Plus the environment was very friendly and cozy as well.  

Timberlake's Restaurant inside Chetola Lodge has a great dinner menu as well.  I had the berry salad with grilled chicken and my husband had the wagu, bison, beef burger and he COULD NOT stop saying how amazing that burger was! We also had breakfast there one morning and both had their omelet with fruit.  Before COVID, they used to have this amazing breakfast buffet but sadly that is no more for right now. 

Mellow Mushroom is one of the only "chain" restaurants I saw in the Main Street, downtown area.  We did grab some pizzas, hotwings and a salad from there one evening when we were all tired and just wanted to dine in the room.  They do have a gluten free menu incase you are wondering.  It was probably my least favorite place we ate at the entire trip, but I'm not a huge pizza fan. 

Camp Coffee is across from Mellow Mushroom and Speckled Trout and is a tiny little local coffee shop that also has some yummy smoothies as well.  They offer alternative milk options, like oat, almond and soy, which made me happy!  I love a good oat milk latte!

On this particular trip we decided to do more than just ski.  We had hoped to snow tube but sadly that did not happen.  Apparently the snow tubing shuts down end of February except at Sugar Mountain which was open for tubing but it didn't look much fun.  You can check out the websites and decide for yourself.  If we are there again from November-February then I would love to check our Hawksnest for tubing or Beech mountain.  But, on this trip we had already driven over to Banner Elk with plans to tube at Sugar Mountain...so while we were there, we found an Alpine Coaster and decided on that instead.  Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster did not disappoint.  I would recommend doing the 3 trip package because 1 ride is not enough for the amount of time you spend standing in line.  If you have 3 rides on your ticket they do not make you get off and get back in line!  So I would say that's the way to go! 

 Also while in Banner Elk, you are not far from The original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis.  It was such a step back in time and even still had an operating post office inside that reminded me of the old mailboxes we had in the basement of the University Center at TN Tech back in 1995!  Worth the stop for an old school soda in a glass bottle and to fill a bag of candy!

Hiking is absolutely a must as well while you are in the area.  A short 15 min drive from Chetola was the Julian Price Memorial Park Trail System. My oldest daughter and I decided not to ski a second day and went to check out some trails.  We did the Boone Fork Trail which is a 5 mile loop.  Now do NOT be deceived by the fact that it is a loop!  The terrain is ever changing and NOT easy.  We did not stop the entire hike and it took us about 3.5 hours to complete the full 5 miles. It was absolutely gorgeous and I loved every minute of it!  I only wish I had on better shoes for hiking (preferably water proof) and a hiking stick.  Also I recommend taking a                 few trail snacks and more than one bottle of water!