After a walk through the gardens, you could find lots to meditate about. You will identify with Ralph Waldo Emerson, who noted that "the Earth laughs in flowers;" and also with Henry David Thoreau, who wrote, "the wilderness is the preservation of the world." Garvan Woodland Gardens is a perfect blend of those ideas, with an abundance of both structure and wildness.

You can find some of that same feeling on the nature trail at the Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. The nature trail pays tribute to Arkansas woodlands. Inside the museum, you'll find that your imagination blooms, as you adventure through "Underground Arkansas," see the world's largest Tesla coil and enjoy more than a hundred other hands-on exhibits.

There's plenty to see and do anytime you visit Hot Springs, but the town also does special occasions with exceptional flair.

For example, the Hot Springs Music Festival takes place during the first two weeks of June. Some 200 "pre-professionals" on the verge of musical careers are invited to work with 30 mentors from top orchestras and teaching institutions. They study and perform together. Visitors can attend rehearsals (more than 250), meet the artists and attend concerts (more than 20) featuring orchestral, chamber, solo recital, vocal choral and chamber opera performances.

In September, jazz takes over, with the Hot Springs Jazz Festival, a three-day marathon that brings regional, national and international jazz performers to town.

In October, there's the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, now in its 16th season. The 10-day event features screenings of some 90 films, chosen from more than a thousand submitted by filmmakers from all over the world. They are shown at the historic Malco Theater from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. It's one of four preliminary screening sites for the Academy Awards, and is the only one in the country dedicated to screening "top docs."

Even if the festival is not going on, you might catch some documentaries at the theater; they are screened off and on throughout the year.

For all the fine arts you find in Hot Springs, you also find the town doesn't take itself too seriously. Hot Springs proudly boasts "The World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade," one that runs the 48-foot length of Bridge Street each year.

And then there's the "Stueart Pennington Running of the Tubs' Bathtub Race," which takes place on May 12 this year.

The race consists of five-member teams pushing bathtubs — on wheels — the length of Bathhouse Row. (Any team that wants to push a tub without wheels may apply for a special "moron waiver.") Other strict rules apply, and teams who violate them will be banned until another native of Arkansas becomes U.S. president. After all, Bill Clinton grew up in this town.

Fun. Relaxation. Beauty. Adventure. Artistic endeavor. How can you not leave a little piece of your heart with a town that does all that?

Carma Wadley visited Hot Springs as a guest, in part, of the Hot Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau. For more information, contact them at 800-922-6478 or visit www.hotsprings.org.

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com