Two popular travel vloggers visited the Spa City on Friday to document local tourist attractions.
It was the second stop on a two-week road trip for Jacob the Carpetbagger and Jon from "Exploration Unknown."
After a stop in Memphis to donate a Big Mouth Billy Bass to the Billy Bass Adoption Center, the two traveled to Hot Springs. Jacob films a lot of roadside attractions from bygone eras, so they visited Maxwell Blade's Odditorium and Curiosities Museum. They also toured the Fordyce Bath House, The Galaxy Connection and The Gangster Museum of America. The Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum and the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo were also on the schedule.
Jacob also frequently checks in on Zoltar and the Man in Outhouse in his videos, and his stop at Hot Springs was no different. With both located outside National Park Gifts, Jacob caught up with the two animatronics.
Both men had nothing but positive things to say about the city. Jacob called the Odditorium amazing and both described how beautiful they found the Fordyce to be. One thing Jacob said he liked about the bath house was the old gym. He said he was imagining old men with huge mustaches working out.
For this trip, Jon said the two picked a handful of must-stop places on the route, but they will also be looking for hidden gems that lie between. They will head for Dallas after leaving Hot Springs.
Jacob has been vlogging for five years, and for over a year he has made this his full-time job. Jon recently decided to go full-time, too, making this his job since December. The two have found success with Jacob's channel on YouTube having over 180,000 subscribers and "Exploration Unknown" having right under 90,000. Jon called his decision to go full-time scary, but it has also been the best thing he has ever done.
The appeal of seeking out these attractions, Jacob said, is that he likes seeing "bits of history that are slowly vanishing." These include old theme parks, abandoned buildings and wax museums. He said one of his goals is to visit every wax museum in the country. He said he believes there are only two or three left that he hasn't been to.
Jon, on the other hand, likes to explore abandoned buildings more. When asked if exploring an abandoned building is scary, the two had different answers. Jacob said that when he is filming, he is in the moment. It is not until he is editing the footage that he finds the experience scary. Jon, however, called urban exploring terrifying.
"People ask 'Are you scared of ghosts?'" Jon said. His answer is that while he has gotten spooked, he is more afraid of finding living people in the buildings than spirits. He also said he is more scared of bad floors. His most recent video uploaded to his channel is titled "*FAIL* I Fell Through the Floor of an Old Abandoned House." He said he was in a bedroom when he heard the floor crack and he fell through. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt.
That said, Jon also said that he gets a real thrill when he is walking through these places. He said that some people get their thrills by jumping out of an airplane. Exploring buildings, Jon said, is where he gets that thrill from.
This was Jacob's second time visiting Hot Springs, but this was the first time he filmed here. His last visit was six years ago, before he started vlogging. For Jon, this was his first time.
Local on 03/30/2019