Little Rock surprised us—we didn’t expect to find so much to do or find the city so appealing. However, the highlight was the Robinwood Bed and Breakfast. We have stayed at many bed and breakfasts and this one was outstanding in every measure! The hosts, Karen and Miriam, are fabulously welcoming while still providing us with ample privacy.
Another surprise—the accents we heard were quite mild and in some cases non-existent —no strong southern drawls here. In addition Little Rock hasn’t been hit hard by the recession. Their housing market was never driven up to unsupportable rates, so there hasn’t been a huge downturn. With beautiful, architecturally mixed neighborhoods minutes from downtown, Little Rock is a very pleasant place to live. Our hosts told us about their neighborhood progressive dinners. It turns out that the governor’s mansion is right in the neighborhood, so the current governor is invited and attends the dinners! Apparently he is well-liked, as was Clinton. Huckabee turns out wasn’t much of a neighbor and few, if any, compliments were made of his administration by our hosts.
From the free parking lots to the proximity of the residential area to the small main street, Little Rock is more like a small town than a capital city.
After getting nourishment (we are three meal a day travelers regardless of where we are visiting), we toured the Clinton Presidential Library. Okay, not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a really cool building architecturally and perhaps my photo of the replica of the Oval Office can pass as the real thing. The letters to and from the Clinton’s were particularly cool—inspired me to start writing to the White House occupants and who knows, maybe my letters will show up in a future presidential library.One great way to get to know a city is through geocaches. So we set off in search of our first (and as it turned out, only) geocache in Arkansas. Having arrived from the rain-drenched northeast we were eager to dry out walking in 100 degree sunshine. Apparently, the locals didn’t see the appeal in walking in the heat and we had the route to ourselves.
Once we had replaced rain moisture with sweat moisture, we made our first daily stop for a milkshake and headed to visit the Little Rock Nine National Historic Site. This NHS is across from Central High School where the nine black students attended in 1957 in an effort to initiate desegregation in Little Rock.
I was particularly moved by the comments of one of the parents of the black students, sending their children into a hateful environment on a daily basis. One student recalled how her parents had told her to keep her emotions in check and not to take the taunts personally; it wasn’t about her, it was about race. How hard for the parents to take such stand in order to better the education of all of the children who would follow in the footsteps of these brave first few.Tomorrow on to Hot Springs to continue our tour of this very appealing state.
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