$500K In Cash, Clintons & Hot Tubs! Little Rock Rocked!

Little Rock had been home to Hillary and Bill Clinton for 22 years. That's what put it on the map for us. The Clinton's got married there, have had three homes and Bill was Governor for like a million years there. Actually, he was Governor of Arkansas for five terms between 1979-1981 and then from 1983-1992 before being elected President. After he initiated term limits.

We stayed in North Little Rock on this our second stop in Arkansas.. This one was much more eventful than Van Buren! Our campground and our site were both located directly overseeing the Arkansas River and the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge.

The bridge led to the President Bill Clinton Presidential Library and Museum which we visited our first full day there. It was an impressive display of his lifelong political, personal, and public accomplishments. His 80 million presidential archives were stored there as well as gifts he'd received as president, personal notes from famous people he'd received, along with a replica of his Oval Office (1st pic) and the Cabinet Room (last pic). No, Monica Lewinsky was not under his desk! As far as we could see...haha!

After the visit we drove around town looking for Little Rock Central High School. It wasn't in a very good neighborhood but it was exhilarating looking for it. Little Rock Central High School was the controversial site where the sixties civil rights segregation movement at some point centered on The Little Rock Nine. Nine black high school students who had to be escorted too and from school by the National Guard to protest school segregation.

The High School is still attended and the Little Rock Nine was well chronicled in the National Civil Rights Museum and the statue above was on the Capitol grounds. The Mobil station above was a meeting place by civil right leadership and is a symbol of the movement. Special shout-out to Rick and Jan Menetti for bringing to our attention about the Little Rock Nine and Hot Springs National Park. We took the fifty minute drive to Hot Springs because Jan and Rick mentioned it.

It was a great idea. We got to venture outside the city and we got to visit a National Park that was unique from every other National park we had toured prior. Hot Springs NP is the oldest federally protected natural resource in the NP system. The 134 degree water that naturally pours off the Hot Springs was the centerpiece to the bathhouses that blossomed there in the 1800's. Bathhouse Row consists of nine preserved Bathhouses. Fordyce Bathhouse now is the parks Visitor Center and Museum.

Two of the bathhouse are still in working order and at the end of the day we spent an hour in the Quapaw Bathhouse. Prior, we toured Bathhouse Row, The Grand Promenade and the Mountain Tower.

Back to North Little Rock to the RV. We originally planned on two days at Hot Springs but we covered what we wanted to see in one day. It was a good break to get back to a National Park before Kathy gets tortured with another visit to a state Capitol. Actually, this visit was different than all other Capitol visits because we had an impromptu tour guide who took us all around including to the State Treasury vault. Yes, we got to hold $500,000.00 in cash. Yep, half a mil right in our little hands.

The young lady who took us into the Treasury safe also took us to the Senate and House Chambers, the Governor's War room, the Supreme Court and the Gallery that included a portrait of a very young Governor Bill Clinton. It was an awesome visit, Kathy even agreed.

We had a dinner that we need to mention. It was a Czech and German restaurant that was so outstanding we had to give it kudos. The place was called the Pantry. We started off with truffle deviled eggs and baked bacon wrapped dates. The second course was a grilled romaine heart with shaved parmesan and a Caesar dressing. Kathy had a rustic bowl which was porkbelly wrapped in a roasted pork shoulder. Pork on pork! Brad had a (Sa-Veech-Ko-Vah) which was a Czech roast beef, bread dumplings, with a creamy root vegetable sauce with stewed cranberries. Our waitress gave Brad the inside scoop...put everything on the fork for every bite. He followed suite. Yum! Yumm in the Tum-Tum! Brad's double IPA was a nice addition to the party.

Our last Little Rock visit was to the Old State House Museum which used to be the original State Capitol building. We only had an hour to blow through this one which was perfect for Kathy. The third floor of the museum was all about the music promoted at the State Convention Center next door. We were so rushed to get through that top floor we didn't take any photos but the artists that were celebrated on this floor all played the State Convention Center. The list of musical acts included Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Bad Company, Patti Labelle, Al Green, Smashing Pumpkins and Black Oak Arkansas.

Little Rock did rock! Our next state visit is Tennessee where we do Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. Our next writing will be about our visits to Memphis and Nashville and boy are they going to be action-packed.

Thanks for following our journey. Congratulations to the Houston Astros for winning the World Series. The best team won but additional congratulations to the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. What a great season. What an awesome-awesome run. Brad thanks you for every exhilarating minute. Much Love, Kathy and Brad

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