My Bath

Marcus made me......well talked me into getting a "bath" at BuckStaff, a local bathhouse. Apparently it is the only continuously operating bathhouse left on bathhouse row (that's the nickname for the area with all the bathhouses). I was quite reluctant to experiencing this. Marcus insisted and even agreed to keep the kids. Well I guess that's obvious, who else would have kept them. He was so sweet about the whole thing, he never once complained and insisted that he would be fine with the kids. He listened to all my last minute instructions and advice and happily walked me in. Here's what happened after that.

I was taken upstairs on an old timey elevator you know the kind that they moved the lever from side to side and they have to pull the metal door closed by hand. I was led into a changing room, and given a stall with a curtain door and a locker inside. I was told to take off all my clothes, place them in the locker, lock the locker, put the key on my wrist, and then turn my back to the curtain. When i was ready another lady came, opened my curtain, and asked me to raise my hands over my head. She wrapped a white sheet around me "Roman Style" and led me to my bath attendant. Ms. Maddie, a sweet little old black lady took me to my next destination, my bath stall. I had NO IDEA what was going to happen. She began asking all the usual questions "Is this your first time at our bathhouse? Have you ever been to Hot Springs?" Then she explained how it was all going to work. I was scheduled for the Deluxe Bathing Package ***hold on let me just skip back to the night before for a second....my dad called to make sure we arrived safely, and Marcus told him that I was getting a bath the next day. Dad offered to pay for my bath, how sweet of my dad! I wasn't keen on the idea of the bath, but after some encouraging words from Marcus and my dad offering to pay for any package I picked, we decided I was going to get the Deluxe Package. Ok, jump back to my private bath stall standing there in my white sheet with Ms. Maddie wondering what the heck Marcus got me into***

Ms. Maddie instructs me to raise my arms again, after taking my sheet off she tells me to climb into the tub. My package included a loofa mitt scrub so Ms. Maddie proceeds to scrub my back, legs, and arms with my very own loofa mitt (I even got to take it home with me afterwards). She then takes a board and slides it into the water behind me so I can recline in the old style tub. She took a towel, rolled it up, placed it under my neck for comfort, gave me two glasses of warm mineral water to sip on, and then she left my stall pulling the curtain door behind her. I sat there for 30 minutes in my comfortable warm 104° bath thinking. People really do this on a regular basis. People have been doing this for 97 years at this VERY SAME bathhouse, probably in the very same tubs. Then I look down at my fingers and realize that they are not pruny. You know how your fingers get pruny after being in the tub too long. I had been in the tub for 30 minutes and not the slightest bit pruny. You could feel the difference in the mineral water, they were right these waters were FABULOUS!

After my bath time was up, Ms. Maddie returned and brought my sheet. Once again I was wrapped Roman style and led to another area of the Bathhouse. It was time for my 10 minute Sitz bath. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this, and I swear it worked because I had ZERO lower back pain and my back didn't pop for the next couple of nights. After my Sitz bath, was the steam cabinet. This I was dreading and even considered skipping, I hate saunas and steam. I cant breathe when there is too much steam, it just isn't my idea of enjoyment, and the thought of being put in a cabinet with steam just didn't sound so good. Ms. Maddie took me to the cabinet and placed me in, I sat on a bench and she lowered the 2 sides that had a cut out for my head. So here I was with my entire body soaking up the steam and cleaning out my pores and my head was not affected at all. It was just the way I liked it, and I could have stayed in there longer, but Ms. Maddie came, once again, to take me to the next part of my bath. Wrapped in my sheet, she led me to a room with rows and rows of beds, and asked me what parts of my body were achy. I told her my back and shoulders. She put these STEAMING hot towels strategically down on the table and instructed me to lay on them. It felt so good! Then she places 2 more hot towels over my legs, a cold towel around my face, and handed me a cup of ice cubes to suck on. I swear Ms. Maddie knew exactly what I wanted before I even asked. She made my bath experience so great, but I still was not finished. I laid there on my hot towels for I don't even know how long, and fell asleep. When Ms. Maddie came to wake me I wasn't too keen on getting up to move on to the next step. I was taken to a 2' X 2' shower stall with 8 shower heads and got rinsed off. Then I was ready for my Swedish massage, which felt SO relaxing, I nearly fell asleep during that too. The final step of my deluxe package was the paraffin wax treatment. This part took place near the front of the building, and with the windows open I could hear Ainslee SCREAMING! I told the lady's that that was my daughter screaming, the one lady assured me that everything was OK. She told me that Marcus had the girls outside and she had just started crying. I finished my treatment and was led downstairs where Marcus, Kaylee, and Ainslee greeted me.

This was TRULY a memorable experience! And I will DEFINITELY be doing it again the next time we go to Hot Springs. $66 for 1.75 hours, I think it was quite a deal (even if my dad didnt pay for it)! I swear those waters really are therapeutic! I could feel the water as it softened my skin, it was AMAZING! And the staff was great, I never felt uncomfortable or nervous, even after standing sporting only my birthday suit in front of perfect strangers. I HIGHLY recommend this to everyone out there!!! Maybe I can talk Marcus into doing it too.