Thunder Mountain Camp

Attractions at Hot Springs (50 minutes’ drive) include the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo, and the Gangster Museum of America, with displays on notorious mid-20th-century outlaws like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, who were frequent visitors to the casinos of this spa town. Admire views of Lake Ouachita and surrounding forests from Hickory Nut Mountain Vista (50 minutes). The ragged banks of the lake, the state’s largest, are popular with hikers, watersports enthusiasts and anglers, who come to catch bream and catfish. On the north shore is the Jessieville Shooting Range. In Little Rock (one and three quarter hours), MacArthur Park has a military history museum and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, with works by Diego Rivera and Paul Signac, and sculptures by Barbara Hepworth. On the Arkansas River, the William J. Clinton Library and Museum documents the life and times of the 42nd President of the United States.