Friday, June 3, 2011

The Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas

Friday, 6/3/11 - We left Sallisaw, OK early this morning so we would arrive in North Little Rock, where we are staying, by noon today. Our park, Downtown Riverside RV Park http://www.northlittlerockriversidervpark.com/ is located right on the Arkansas river. Little Rock is located on the other side of the river. As a matter of fact, we can see the Clinton President Center & downtown Little Rock from our campsite. Not bad for a Passport America park at $9.00 a night!

Last week it was tornado's in OK, this week it's a scorching heat wave in Arkansas,, & the South but as I remind Will, "at least it's not cold!" Will was very uncomfortable and tired when we arrived here today, so I set out this afternoon alone to go sightseeing.

The RV park sells narrated trolley tour tickets for $2.00 and the closest trolley stop was only about 6 blocks away with free parking, so off I went. Actually, its called River Rail Electric Streetcar and its air conditioned, which was certainly worth the price of admission. http://www.cat.org/ After parking the car, the trolley came by in about 5 minutes and it is a wonderful ride through the downtown area and out to the Presidential Library. Because of the heat I decided I would only get off to see the library and just enjoy the sights and narration about the rest of the city.

The Clinton Library is magnificent, http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/ it's a very modern building and actually extends out over the Arkansas River. There was good & bad news when I arrived at the library.....the good news is they were having a special Elvis Presley exhibit at the Library.....the bad news was it opens tomorrow, June 4th. However, the tour of the Library made up for that disappointment. The museum is over 20,000 sq ft and on two levels. It included the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room and a tremendous amount of pictures, gifts and memorabilia.......no, Monica's dress was not part of the exhibit. I wandered around, taking pictures, asking questions and thoroughly enjoying the air conditioning & the exhibits. After leaving the Library, I got back on the trolley and continued the rest of the tour of the city. Getting off at my stop where my car was and letting my GPS take me home.

We had tried to see about a river tour this evening on the Arkansas Queen that has a dinner cruise on Friday night but were never able to get anyone on the telephone and we never did see the boat leave from its docking. There must have been some type of problem. There really is a lot to see here, oh and Roger.....you would have loved touring the submarine they have docked here, the USS Razorback. Tomorrow they are having a Willie Nelson concert in the park right near us at 2:30 pm.....we need to get out of here early as I'm sure it will be mess down here. All in all, this is a great city and I wish we could have had more time to spend here as they have a lot to offer. However, we are off to Memphis, TN tomorrow. Much love to all our family and friends. For more, check out http://www.arkansasatthecenter.com/

1 comment:

Bev said...

Well today I finally caught up with you. I really hated the terrible wind we drove through (I am with you, you know). Honestly you should write that travel guide. All sounds like fun and great experiences. I really, really enjoy reading all about it. Keep up the good writing, and above all BE SAFE.
Bev