I started laughing uncontrollably while bathing in a porcelain tub filled with thermal mineral waters of the hot springs; the whirlpool bubbles, meant to be relaxing, only increased my laughter. Enjoyable? Quite. What was particularly humorous was that while I bathed in the ladies bath, my husband, who dislikes whirlpools and doesn’t really have a hankering for spas, had taken his loofa mitt and headed off to the men’s traditional bath. Plus here we were on a 100-degree day in Hot Springs Arkansas, sitting in HOT water! My laughter bubbled forth with even more gusto, as I sat in the vapor cabinet.
Literally a metal cabinet with just my neck sticking out, hot steam encasing my entire body. Rivulets of sweat poured down my back and arms. I was even hotter now than I had been walking along the promenade above bathhouse row in the noonday sun.Between each bathing element (tub bath, sitz bath, vapor cabinet, hot packs and needle shower), my bathing attendant BJ would tell me to “stand with your back to me, arms up,” and I was swathed in a full-length sheet wrapped around me like a toga. At $30 including the loofa mitt for an hour traditional thermal bathing experience, the Buckstaff Experience is a good value. Hey, and if you can’t picture your husband at a spa, bring him along too and you’ll get in a healthy dose of laughter.
All laughter and thoughts left my mind as I lay with thermal water hot packs on my back and limbs, a cool clothe on my forehead. Here I could fall asleep. And my last thought before I drifted into a semi-doze was that perhaps my husband too would get in a short nap before we headed out of Arkansas and on to points west.
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