ARE WE THERE YET?

Spa City sites to see besides Oaklawn's ponies

The Bill Clinton Boyhood Home, in Tudor Revival style, is where the future 42nd president lived from 1954 to 1961.
The Bill Clinton Boyhood Home, in Tudor Revival style, is where the future 42nd president lived from 1954 to 1961.

HOT SPRINGS -- Racing at Oaklawn is winter's headline act in Hot Springs, which has showcased an array of allures -- legal and otherwise -- for visitors since the middle of the 19th century.

A full afternoon of fun can be focused this time of year on the thoroughbreds competing at one of America's most successful tracks. Oaklawn's famed corned beef sandwiches are lagniappe to the thrills (and frequent heartache) of wagering.

That leaves mornings free to dabble in other Spa City diversions. Here are some suggestions that may not quickly leap to mind. They're not heart-stopping, but all are pleasant enough.

• National Park Aquarium, 209 Central Ave., (501) 624-3474. Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Admission $6 (visitors 60 and up $4.75, children 4-12 $4.25).

This little water world near the Arlington Hotel is privately owned. Several dozen tanks and cages contain a surprisingly varied potpourri of fish, amphibians and reptiles from around the world.

The aquarium's signature resident, Slowpoke, is an African spur-thighed tortoise about the size of a small suitcase. The 30-year-old reptile is allowed to roam the floor but often can be found napping near her straw-lined crib.

• Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery, 329 Central Ave., (501) 624-2337. Open noon-8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Beverage and food menu.

For folks who consider morning too early for a beer or ale, a nonalcoholic option of merit is the root beer made at this former bathhouse. It's delicious straight up or even tastier as a root beer float.

Touted as the nation's first brewery located in a national park, Superior uses water that arrives from a local hot spring at 144 degrees and is untainted by sulfur or other natural thermal substances.

• Arkansas Historic Wine Museum, 1503 Central Ave., (501) 623-9463. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Free.

Tucked behind the tasting room at the Winery of Hot Springs, this pint-size showcase of Arkansas oenology is a branch of the larger museum at Cowie Wine Cellars near Paris in Logan County.

The Hot Springs museum and winery occupy the last home of Joseph Bachman, a Swiss immigrant who became a renowned wine authority before his death in 1928. A display of antique wine-making equipment is a highlight.

• The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs, 626 Central Ave., (501) 624-0489. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. Free.

A nonprofit site operated by volunteers, the Fine Arts Center is about as close to being refined as an attraction comes in the Spa City.

Its several galleries feature a half-dozen exhibits each year of works by its 60 members. On display through Saturday is "Countless Threads," a fiber-arts show. Opening Feb. 5 is "Interior Dimension," art inspired by inner living and public spaces.

• Hot Springs Mountain Tower. 401 Hot Springs Mountain Drive, (501) 623-6035. Open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. Admission $7 (visitors 65 and up $6, kids 5-11 $4).

Towering 216 feet above Hot Springs Mountain, this is the third lookout tower erected here since 1877. The first, a wood structure called Woolman Observatory, was destroyed by fire. Rix Tower, made of steel, stood from 1906 until deemed unsafe and torn down in 1971.

The present tower went up in 1983. Having taken the elevator to its top deck, visitors on a blue-sky day can survey a panorama of Hot Springs, area lakes and the Ouachita Mountains.

• Bill Clinton's Boyhood Home, 1011 Park Ave.

Signs on roads entering Hot Springs proudly proclaim it "The Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton." But visitors have to settle for a drive-by viewing of the Tudor Revival house where he lived from 1954 to 1961.

A private residence, the house has a "No Tours" sign in the front yard, where an American flag flies. A plaque on a sapling carries a dedication to the 42nd president's mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley. Photos can be taken, but presumably you should stay off the grass.

More information on these and other Hot Springs attractions can be found at hotsprings.org.

Weekend on 01/28/2016

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