A LITTLE ROCK WEEKEND October 5-7, 2012

   There was so much more to see and do in the northwestern part of Arkansas but I had made reservations to see the Beatles Classical Tour with the Little Rock Symphony for Saturday night which I didn’t want to miss...so we made a pretty crazy decision. We would spend the weekend in Little Rock and then return to the Fayetteville area on Monday to see the rest. Lots of extra driving but that’s the joy of our traveling life. 

The drive south on I-540 was beautiful with the trees just beginning to show their fall colors. The weather was crisp and chilly but warmed up as we got closer to LR.  Our stay for the next 3 nights was the North Little Rock Riverside RV Park, a Passport America stay for only $11 a night.  It was the best for seeing all the sights of LR right across the river! 

Little Rock was so different from what I expected. It is small for a capital city with a renovated river front area that is anchored by the Clinton Presidential Library on the east, the capital building to the west with lots restaurants and historical buildings in between. 

Within about an hour the weather made a big change, I guess that’s normal for this part of the country.  The temp dropped about 20 degrees, rain clouds came in and the warm sunny afternoon disappeared. We drove across the river to see the River Market District that’s filled with galleries, shops and eateries. The rain was coming down pretty heavy so we stopped at the Flying Saucer Brewery for a bite to eat and to warm up. How can heavy rain come on so fast????

Saturday was even wetter and so much colder than any we have had all along the trip, but there was so much to see in the city. There is a darling trolley that circles from North Little Rock across the river and into Little Rock about every 25 min, the trolley conductor tells the history of the buildings and the 2 cities as it goes along. A fun ride to get a feeling for the area.  

Our first visit was to the Old State House Museum, beautiful Greek Revival architecture built in 1833. 

The House includes both chambers of the legislature and has been beautifully restored and furnished. But, we only saw half of the museum before it was time to hurry next door to the Peabody Hotel to catch the 11:00 Duck Walk to the lobby and the fountain where they spend the day.  Too funny, a Grand Marshall and John Phillip Souza march playing as 5 ducks come down on an elevator and follow the red carpet to the water.

This Nun was chosen as the Dignitary of the Day to lead the ducks into the lobby

They rounded the corner, walked straight up a ramp and into the water of the fountain.

We went back to finish touring the Old State House then time for lunch at a local favorite, The Flying Fish. 

 Fried catfish and gumbo, a perfect meal for the cold day outside. Our whole afternoon was spent at the Clinton Library a dramatic glass building that cantilevers out over the Arkansas River. (my photo is terrible, I know...it's much more stunning to see in person!)

State of the art exhibits showcase the President’s eight years with videos, displays and collections of gifts the Clintons received during his presidency. One wonderful display was the complete and full scale reproduction of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.  

The room also includes a replica of the desk used by most Presidents while in office with the little storage area where John Kennedy Jr. poked his head out in that famous photo!

We had just enough time to return to the motorhome to take Foster for a walk, change, and head to dinner. We decided to have dinner at the nearby Riverside Steakhouse, a wonderful meal then to our evening at the Symphony. Such a fantastic performance by the Little Rock Symphony.  I didn’t realize that there really was going to be a Beatles Band performing with the symphony, making the evening just amazing! I loved the evening so much I almost went again the next day to the second performance, but I've learned that I can never recapture the feeling of a given moment, no matter how much I want to.

Sunday morning we started with brunch at the Arkansas Art Center 

This is an amazing ceramic sculpture by Marilyn Levine, so real it was hard to realize you weren't looking at leather. 

then toured all the galleries ending with one very special collection. It’s called 50 for Arkansas, a gift from Herb and Dorothy Vogel.  They are the most unusual collectors who lived very simply in NYC. Dorothy was a librarian, Herb was a postal worker and they both loved art. 

 They began collecting from new, young artists and in their lifetime collected over 4000 pieces of art; all of which they kept in every nook and cranny of their tiny apartment. As they grew older, they decided to donate 50 pieces of art to each of the 50 states.  The museum in Little Rock houses the Arkansas collection. Quite the story!

When we came out of the museum the sky had cleared to a beautiful bright blue and warm once again. Something I didn't want to miss seeing while in Little Rock was the Central High School National Historic Site, the scene of the battle to desegregate the public schools in Arkansas, 1957. 

The high school is still a working school but is also a historic site with a fantastic visitor center retelling the events of that painful period in the Civil Rights movement.  

Across the street from the Visitor Center is the restored gas station with a pay phone where reporters would call in their stories to papers around the country.

Though we couldn’t tour the Capitol on Sunday afternoon we did drive around it to see. A beautiful structure we’ll have to see on our next trip. 

Another missed tour was the Historic Arkansas Museum which has 5 restored early 19th-century buildings. The museum closed at 4 on Sunday, and we had saved it for last, so next time. 

We walked around the exterior areas to get a glimpse of the buildings.



 Then back to the Flying Fish for another great southern meal and a tasty beer.

We walked along the river front area and took photos looking across the river to where our motorhome was parked. The bridge in this photo is part of the pedestrian and bike path that runs for 7 miles along both sides of the river. 

The sky was getting pretty dark again so we finished our day with a walk through these red gates to see the H. U. Lee International Garden dedicated to the spirit of Taekwondo

Paul practicing...

Our weekend ended early Modnay morning as we set off once again for that lovely northwestern part of the state, 3 hours away. This was the view of Little Rock as we said good bye at 7AM with the sun just waking up the city.