I have the perfect girls trip weekend getaway spot in Arkansas! It’s so great that Mary Ellen and I have now gone twice. Hot Springs is a special spot for us to go to for a quick trip because it was the first place we visited after all the COVID lockdowns. The wineries up there are known for their sweeter wines. We loved their wine so much that we had to come back up here again this year to restock all of our favorites!
I got to the point where I needed a getaway from work and an opportunity to relax for a few days. Work had been insane with a new restaurant opening and the end of the holiday season. When Mary Ellen suggested going back to Hot Springs for a few days at the beginning of March, I jumped on the opportunity.
The first time we came to Hot Springs we hit all of the tourist spots like the The Arlington Hotel, the hot springs themselves and the trails around the national park, the Garvan Gardens, and the bath houses. If you want to see what we did during our first trip to Hot Springs, check out my Instagram stories in this highlight here. Things were different this time around. We focused more on relaxing, and we utilized our DFW (down for whatever) mentality that we had developed on our Disney trip.
We both drove up early Sunday morning with a goal of arriving in the city by noon. For both of us, it’s a pretty easy drive up there passing the time either listening to an audiobook or a fun playlist through our Spotify accounts. Once we arrived, we found some public parking downtown and headed over to the Greenway Trail. This is a man made concrete trail that is 5 and a half miles long following the Hot Springs Creek. We really enjoyed this trail because there was no elevation change and there was less traffic. There were tons of great spots to stop and take pictures or to take in the nature and beauty of the area. We saw people riding bikes, playing with their dogs, and just laying out on a blanket and enjoying the warm sunny March day.
After finishing the hike, we were famished. We hoped to find a casual dining spot that was close to where the entrance of the trail is, and we decided on an Irish pub called the Old Copper Penny. The pub had some delicious food and appetizers that we shared, but the real winner here was the local cider they had. They have a set list of local ciders available along with a seasonal option. At the time of us being there the seasonal cider was blackberry flavored. It was delicious and definitely a winner. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready for a second round, they had run out of the blackberry cider, so we switched over to the hibiscus cider, which our server recommended. It was delicious, too!
After our stop at the pub, it was around 4 PM and we were able to check in and get settled at our AirBnB (pictures of our condo can be found at the end of this post). We rented a condo for the trip that was on Lake Hamilton. This condo was so cute and the perfect size for us to hang out in. It had a fantastic balcony space that we spent most of our time at during the daytime, either reading or listening to our daily podcasts. We spent the evening in the condo eating homemade pizza and watching the Star Wars movies, which I actually hadn’t seen all the way through before. Now this could be controversial to most, but because I had already seen Episode IV and V, we decided to go in chronological order of the films this time and start with Episode I, The Phantom Menace.
We both wanted to sleep in the next day, but unfortunately for us our internal clocks were not having it; we were both up by 7:30 AM. We enjoyed a lazy morning on the balcony before heading down to the dock to lay out by the lake. The water was still cold and it was also slightly chilly outside. Loaded up with our towels, Stanley cups full of water, and a book of our choice (I was working my way through the beast that is A Court of Mist and Fury), we spent a couple relaxing hours down by the water.
Around noon we started to get hungry and slightly chilly, so we made our way back up to the condo where we got ready for the rest of our day. Ready to go, we decided to head to the Ohio Club to get burgers and fries before enjoying the wine tastings at the two wineries. The Ohio Club had a real cool 1920s vibe to it and is located in the main strip of downtown, right across the street from The Arlington Hotel. I got the Hawaiian Burger which is topped with Grilled Pineapple, Bacon and Teriyaki Sauce. It was so delicious and definitely a burger I would want to eat again.
From lunch we walked down to Bathhouse Row Winery before driving down to The Winery of Hot Springs to restock on our favorite wines and try out any new ones. The tastings themselves were nothing special. Both wineries let us taste all the wines that they offer (for free!), but the employee at Bathhouse Row Winery did ask us our preferences first and had us taste what she thought we would like best before trying the rest of the wines. After both tastings, I ended up leaving with seven bottles – five for myself and two reds for my boyfriend to try. Mary Ellen walked out with six bottles herself, including one rosé that she was excited to bring on her spring break beach trip.
Feeling refreshed from lunch and wine tastings, we decided to have some fun and go to the mini golf course, Pirates Cove Adventure Golf. This golf course has two pirate-themed 18 hole courses – one being more challenging than the other. For $15 you can do both courses, so we choose that option. The mini golf course was a lot of fun and the more difficult course was definitely challenging at times, but we had a lot of good laughs throughout our games. Unfortunately, we ended up tying in wins! Mary Ellen won the first course and I won the second one. I guess we’ll have to find another mini golf course somewhere for the tie breaker. Hopefully our cruise ship this summer will have a course we can play!
Since we were super close to the condo we were staying at, we went back to continue watching Episode II (Attack of the Clones) of Star Wars before we got hungry for dinner. Again, relaxation was the main priority of our trip, and I think we had done it well so far. For some reason, a soft pretzel was on our minds when we were deciding where to eat dinner, so we decided to go to Superior Bathhouse Brewery. The restaurant is pretty cool because it was originally one of the main bathhouses on the row before it was shut down in 1983. After 30 years of the building sitting empty, the current owner transformed the old bath house into a brewery and restaurant. Most of the traditional architecture is still intact. What makes them stand out nationally is that they are the only brewery to use thermal spring water in their beer and they are also the only brewery to be inside of a National Park.
Neither of us were in the mood to try a beer, so we ordered hard ciders instead which were delicious. We would’ve loved to have more of them, but they had run out of the cider we wanted by the time we ordered our second round. What we did learn after our trip is that the cider is from a local brewery in Austin and there are some Tom Thumbs that sell the ciders in stores. Next time I’m near a Tom Thumb, I’ll have to purchase some! For food, we split the Bavarian Soft Pretzel with mustard and beer cheese. It was everything we were hoping it would be. I also ordered a House Salad and added some bacon to it. It was the perfect size salad to pair with the pretzel. Mary Ellen had a Caesar salad that she really enjoyed.
We had a sweet tooth when we left dinner, so we went down to the only ice cream shop in town that was still open. I don’t want to name where we went because we didn’t have a great experience there. You could tell they were short staffed that night and a large group of high school students had walked in right before we did, so they were definitely overwhelmed. We left feeling disappointed and frustrated with our experience, but tried to stay positive about it because we understand the stress that service employees are under when large crowds of people, especially high school kids that keep moving around and changing spots in line, come in.
We went back to the condo and finished our night watching the rest of Episode II and then watching a Disney on Broadway concert experience that was filmed in London a few years ago. It was such a fun time listening and singing along to our favorite Disney songs. We also had some fun making plans for our cruise this summer.
We had to be out of our AirBnB by 10AM the next morning. After getting up around the same time as the day before, we got everything packed up and the condo back in place for check out. Then, we headed back to the downtown area for breakfast before going our separate ways to drive back home. We went to a famous breakfast place called The Pancake Shop. Known for the size of their pancakes and the diner feel, this place was definitely popular. We came in at the perfect time and were immediately seated, but they were on a wait shortly after we walked in. I ordered the chocolate chip pancake with a side of bacon and both were delicious. The pancakes were very light and fluffy. The waitress recommended we start by cutting a small hole out of the middle of the pancake before pouring syrup on it. That helped prevent a big mess from happening on the plate and table and made it easier to eat. I only ate half of my pancakes and took the rest home with me.
It seemed like our trip started just as quick as it ended. Soon we were on our way back to our jobs and our normal lives. These weekend trips always leave me wanting more, but are so good for my mind, especially after a busy season at work. We definitely want to plan more small weekend trips in the future and continue to explore more small towns near where we both live. Maybe I could also convince my boyfriend to take some weekend trips with me too. But for now, my trips are done until my big trip to NYC with my mom for Mother’s Day. I can’t wait to take y’all along!
Here are pictures of our AirBnB:
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