Day 11: Little Rock
Little Rock was a two night stop. We’d been past here, but never really visited the city. I will say, as we were driving in through Tennessee and we looked at the things to do in Little Rock, we started to get cold feet! We wanted to visit the Clinton library but the art museum was closed for remodeling and there wasn’t much else on the list that moved us. But we decided to press on with plan A. That was pretty easy as there really was not much of a plan B. We had to be home at the end of day 12 and Little Rock is a reasonable distance.
Once we committed, we then chose the hotel by again using the internet and reading reviews. The Capitol Hotel sounded like the one, so we booked it. It was about the same price as the Holiday Inn Express!
We also made contact with relatives we hadn’t seen in over 25 years and had a great visit and dinner with them. So in the end, the visit to Little Rock was all good and we got to see what the place looked like.
The lobby of the Capitol Hotel. It was a great place to stay. Great service, large room and comfortable bed. Location was good too.
We were just a couple blocks away from the riverfront district, which has shops and restaurants, etc. On Saturdays they have a nice farmer’s market.
The Clinton Presidential library was a well done museum. A lot goes on over eight years of a president’s terms. It was all laid out here. The staff was knowledgeable and very helpful.
The Esse Purse Museum was a great little museum. I offered to let MB see the place alone while I walked around outside, but the manager said I should try it and if I didn’t like it, I could get a refund of my $8. So I went in and it was ok, and very well done. There were glass cases for each decade of the last century and a nice writeup that helped you remember the features of those decades and then how fashion and purses tied in. The items in the museum are the collection of one woman.
Little Rock Central High School, the scene of the 1957 national guard enabled school desegregation, is a National Park Historic Site. There is a visitor center, but it closed before we could visit. The school is also still a fully functioning school. And the place is a huge beautiful building that was built in the 1920s. I has even won architectural awards.