Our Two Weeks in Little Rock AR

Well I'm late on this post again. Do you see a pattern here. We are actually staying an extra day in Hot Springs just to write this blog. Of course we are watching football at the same time. "SUNDAY" However the Bear Detroit game is not on here but we can watch the Pack and then Denver so not a wasted day. Well on with the blog.

We started writing down our daily schedule. Nothing detailed. Just something to jog the memory when we write. We arrived in North Little Rock and are staying at "Downtown Riverside RV Park". We backed into our site. Set up. Looked at the view and walked back to the office and extended our stay for a 2nd week.  This was our view.

 Our home from the walking bridge that led to the Clinton Library and Market Street in Little Rock. (W
e're the second trlr from the right)

The view at night.

The first weekend we spent doing our housekeeping chores. Laundry, cleaning, and shopping. We also took advantage of this down time to visit with our friends Faith and Jeff White and their beautiful little girl Alaska.

See I didn't lie. 

On Friday we were at their house and on Sunday they came out to our house. It was a nice relaxing start to our time here. 

Our first venture out was to the Clinton Library and Heifer International World Headquarters. The Clinton Library was the first Presidential library that both Lynn and I have been to. Overall impression: It was interesting. You forget what they do during the terms in office. Also getting to see his reproduction of the Oval Office. Very cool. 

The Heifer Int. Headquarters was interesting as well. Lynn has been donating to them for years through her church back in Sheboygan. Heifer Intl. is a charitable organization that helps feed the 3rd world countries by purchasing livestock such as chickens, sheep, cattle, pigs, etc.  It has a beautiful headquarters here in Little Rock, one its buildings is rated "Green", a worthwhile tour for sure.  

The next day we went to Pinnacle Mountain State Park. This is a really nice park. The visitors center overlooks the Arkansas River and is part of the "Trail of Tears". But the thing to do is to hike to the top of Pinnacle Mountain. There are two trails. The east summit and West Summit trails. We took the West trail. Yes it is the easier of the two. Both are 1 1/2 miles long. Both go from 300 ft. to 1011 ft. in elevation. This was a beautiful hike. Harder then it should of been because we took the more difficult branch of this trail. But it was worth it. The view was fabulous and well worth the effort. A must do if your in the area. Here are a few pictures.

 Yep, that's the trail.

 Great views on the way up.

 

 
 Yes this is the trail. See the yellow trail marker paint.  This was our wrong turn.

 

 We reached the top and what a view it was.

 My best Rocky pose. Or Jimmy Cagney in White Heat" "Look Ma I'm on top of the world." 

 
 Please note that on the way up we took the trail to the right.

 Shari this rock is for you. Since I can't collect them anymore I left it for you to pick up. Please note that the tree on the right is about 8 to 10" in diameter.

As we were leaving the park we stopped at Maumelle Park. It is an Army Corps of Engineers park. It was really nice. The next time we are in the area we will stay there. We highly recommend it.

The next day we visited the Arkansas Arts Center. Another place you need to visit. The special exhibits they had were fantastic. One was a collection of artist self portraits. From serious to whimsical. Very enjoyable. The other was called Face to Face. 5 different artists in 5 different mediums. Some of the work here was unbelievable.  Some ......eh. But worth seeing.

That afternoon we had lunch at Vinos Pizza and Brewery. Another good choice. I should mention that for the majority of our restaurant choices come from the ratings on TripAdviser. They have yet to steer us wrong. We also ask the locals that we run into and the majority of the time TripAdvisor has the same choices.

After Lunch we went to "Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and Visitor Center".  Having grown up in this era it brought back a lot of memories. All though I was only 6 when the "Little Rock Nine" went to school there and the nation was glued to their TV's watching the coverage. The repercussions effected everyone after that. The Center not only covered what happened at the school but also what happened before and after in the civil rights movement. We weren't planning on going there but after visiting the site we were very glad that I we did.

The next day we stayed around the house/trlr. It rained on and off but we took a walk along the river anyway. We try to average 5 miles a day but we only hit that number maybe 3 to 4 days a week. We got new neighbors at the park. Anna Lee and Jerry from California. Prior to them being our neighbors we had Vicki and Ray from Ohio. For some reason, and I can't explain why, we run into the nicest people on the road. Now don't get me wrong. Not everyone we run into is nice. Some are jerks but they seem to be the ones who are only at the campground for the weekend. Then then go back home. So they aren't full timers or snowbirds. It isn't their lifestyle. To the right are pictures of the Arkansas River Trail. The trail crosses the river at 3 different places and has signs along the way talking about the history of the area.

 Not like the painted flood wall in Paducah but nice none the less.








Well that was the end of our first week. Now some of you know that my phone was acting up. Luckily there was a good size Verizon store not far from us. It took two visits. The second to get my new phone and it seems that this one is working well. But I do need to upload all of my apps again which is a pain but Verizon took good care of me.

On Friday we went to "Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park". I won't go into very many details other to say that it was educational and very interesting and worth a visit if your into that sort of thing.

One of the best things that happened in the park was meeting the Ranger who worked there. After a nice conversation about the park and that we were full timers I asked if he had any restaurant suggestions. Not only did he direct us to a great place for lunch, he also emailed me a list of BBQ restaurants across the US that he has compiled from recommendations he has gotten over the years.  SCORE! (Do you see a theme here) And the place he suggested for lunch was "Cotham's Mercantile" in Scott AR. Home of the Hubcap Cheeseburger. This is a 17oz patty of deliciousness. (They also have one with Jalapenos) We of course split this burger and it was more then enough food. A high point of the food we have had this trip. 

 They had Adolf's Mustache. Really they did.

After that we needed a walk so we went back home and started a walk along the riverfront. Not far from the

 RV Park is the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum. The highlight of which is the USS Razorback Submarine. The Razorback was launched in 1944 and served during WW2 and was in Tokyo Bay in 1945 for the surrender of Japan. It then served in the Vietnam war, was sold to Turkey in 1970 and was bought by the city of Little Rock in 2004. It's interesting to see all of the upgrades it went through over the years. And if you ever wanted to spend the night in a submarine, well here is your chance. You get a tour of the sub, sleep in the crew quarters and a breakfast in the crews mess. Only $30.00 per person with a 10 person min. Make your reservations now.

We visited with Faith, Jeff and Alaska again at the Two River Bridge Park. Very nice place for either walking or biking. Later that night cocktails on the Riverboat not far from our park. A very nice relaxing evening. 

We had brunch at Faith and Jeff's on Sunday and afterward went on the Riverboat tour on the River.  It was a nice relaxing day. 

On Monday we visited one of the highlights of our stay in North Little Rock. The Old Mill. I'll let the pictures do the talking here. 

For the rest of the week we took it easy. Lynn read and I went to see Enders Game. We got the trlr ready for the road, took walks and had some good food at Fantastic China. On one walk we went to the Verizon Arena. While there we met Shawn Brown. He is part of the administration. Not only was he one of the nicest people we met but he gave us VIP treatment. He took us into the arena on the main floor. Two steps from the stage that Jimmy Buffett will be performing on. We got a tour of the office with all the photo's of the stars that have played there and the original design posters for those shows. He then went in the back office and come out with several posters for us. Unbelievable. Here is a photo of most of them. 

Well that's it for Little Rock. We really enjoyed our stay and will definitely be back.  Hope you enjoy the blog. Please sign up and comment. We love hearing from you.