When I left Philadelphia on January 24th, I hoped that I would not have to see any of that cold, wet, annoying white crap that falls from the sky. Up until yesterday, I was pretty lucky. A few flurries in Atlanta, but nothing else. I also was counting on the weather being much warmer than it's been for the past few days. What the heck?! What is going on this year? Of course, I can't really complain when I see what my Massachusetts friends are dealing with - 100+ inches of snow!!! Ugh! Glad I'm not there. As with Atlanta, I had to laugh about Arkansas's response to a little snow. Little Rock was predicted to have 1-3 inches of snow and they cancelled school. Yeah, that's insane. Little Rock actually got about 1.5 inches of snow yesterday. Oh well, what can you do. The snow did hamper my day a bit. I started the day with a visit to...
The Clinton Presidential Library: I've mentioned before that I have a fascination with politics that has been a fascination for decades. The first election that I was eligible to vote in was the 1984 presidential election. Sad to say, my candidate did not win. Neither did my candidate win in 1988. Both Democratic candidates were not the most exciting of candidates, but I believed they were the better option than the Republican candidates. Oh well, 8 more years of crappy politics. Therefore, when 1992 rolled around, I was ecstatic to find myself presented with a mostly unknown governor from Arkansas as the Democratic nominee. The more I learned about this candidate, the more excited I became, so much that I entered into the fray of campaigning on behalf of
Bill Clinton. I was over the moon with happiness when Clinton was elected the 42nd President of the United States, and despite some of his personal flaws, I still think that Bill Clinton was the best president during my lifetime. Naturally, I had to go visit his library. The museum showcases artifacts from Clinton's two terms as president and includes full-scale replicas of the Clinton-era Oval Office and Cabinet Room, and is filled with ton of memorabilia from the Clinton years in the White House: gifts received, personal items, and so much more. It consists of a 110-foot timeline of each of Clinton's years as President, as well as 14 alcoves featuring various events during Clinton's terms. Nothing is overlooked or missing from the timeline. It's an incredible library and well worth the time to visit.
Because of the snow, everything else I wanted to do was outside or closed due to the inclement weather. I spent the remainder of yesterday in my hotel room, watching TV. Eventually I would head down to the hotel's bar where I would have a couple of beers and chat with a lovely and well-traveled couple. It turned out to be a bit bittersweet. I became a little misty over the fact that this couple had each other with which travel and explore the world. Much I love my travels, it does get lonely. Such is life.
This morning, I woke to make the most of my morning in Little Rock. I headed straight for...
Little Rock Central High School: Founded in 1927, LRCHS is a public high school which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998. "LRCHS was the focal point of the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957. Nine African-American students, known as the
Little Rock Nine, were denied entrance to the school in defiance of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling ordering integration of public schools" (Wikipedia). This is a complicated and involved story that would take up too much space for me to explain, but suffice to say that high school was a national focal point for integration in the public schools. The story includes the Arkansas National Guard blockade, the 101st Airborne Division armed escort, death threats, physical and verbal abuse, and so much more - all in an attempt for 9 students to get a good education. It boggles the mind. Additionally, after the 1957-1958 school year, the Governor of Arkansas closed all the high schools in order to postpone desegregation of the schools, now known as "The Lost Year". 15 and 16 year old Little Rock students (black and white) had no access to local public education for an entire year. Many were forced to leave the state. Some studied to enter college early. Others boarded busses daily to travel miles for classes in other cities. Because LRCHS is still a working school, there are only 2 tours during the day - 9:00am and 1:00pm. Fortunately, I got there for the 9:00am and was shown a portion of the school. This site is definitely worth a visit. The visitors center has a fantastic museum which is filled with photos, interviews, and other information about the desegregation of the LRCHS.
After leaving LRCHS, I drove around a took a couple of photos of houses that I wanted to see. The first was Daisy Bates's house. Daisy Bates was the President of the NAACP during the Little Rock Nine debacle and was instrumental in supporting the nine students. The second house is called The Empress, a B&B located in a beautiful Victorian-style house. The last house I stopped by is the Villa Mare, which is notable for being the exterior shot from the sitcom,
Designing Women - a favorite show of mine.
All photos from Little Rock can be found on my
GART photo site. I am in route to New Orleans, making a pit stop in Vicksburg, MS.
Current travel stats:
Memphis odometer mileage: 96,335
Odometer mileage in Little Rock: 96,521
Miles driven to Little Rock: 186
Total miles driven to date: 3,532
States driven through: Tennessee and Arkansas
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Clinton Library was inspired by the
Long Room at Trinity College in Dublin. |
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