Little Rock, Arkansas
March 26th
The weather got worse on Friday with a steady, cold rain. We drove about 70 miles to Little Rock, the state capital to spend the day inside. It was another tiny state capital like Jackson, Mississippi but there was a pretty good museum at the Old State Capitol. The best part was an exhibit about the reputation of Arkansas/Arkansas being a backwards, hillbilly state. There were plenty of examples of comic strips, movies, skits and songs making fun of Arkansas. What we noticed was that Arkansas was the most “individualistic” or quirky of the southern states we visited and I mean that in a good way.
The main attraction in Little Rock is the Clinton Presidential Library which is very dynamic 3-floor collection of the Clinton Presidency. Inside there was a life-size representation of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. For me the most interesting part was the exhibit of what was going on in the U.S. and the world during the Clinton Administration, 1992-2000, during my teenage years and early adulthood. Ironically, we are dealing with many of the same world issues today (terrorism, unrest in the Middle East, national debt…) On the other hand, the majority of correspondence from that period was written with an old-fashioned typewriter. So we have advanced in some respects. I did notice in the films that Clinton’s accent faded a little bit from his years as governor of Arkansas and when he was president, but he’s still got a little bit of that twang.
On our way back to the campground, we stopped off in Hot Springs for some good BBQ at McClairan’s, a hole in the wall place that apparently was frequented by the former president himself.
Tags: Arkansas FR, BIG TRIP 2011, In English 2005-2006
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