ARKANSAS

YEAR VISITED: 2018

FAVORITE CITIES AND EXPERIENCES: In 2018 our family’s road trip ended in Little Rock. While it is hard to describe a 1,700 (one way) road trip as the ‘smaller one’, within our family, that is exactly what it has become known as since we completed a 12,000 mile (total) road trip in 2020. Our reasoning for traveling to Arkansas was simply, ‘because we had never been there.’ While we only spent a handful of nights in the city, as always we maximized our time. The weather was overcast and hot and humid. Our first evening in the hotel we were treated to a lightening storm that was so intense it shook the windows. However before that, our first stop was Maddie’s Place. We discovered the restaurant on yelp and since this is the name of my youngest daughter, we decided this was a must stop. According to Maddie’s webpage they are a, “New Orleans style restaurant that specializes in Po Boy’s and Jambalaya.” We all ordered Po Boy’s and loved every bite. While I do not remember exactly why, I do remember we all had the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing. Even though we made our decision to visit based solely on the name, we fell in love with the food and had a fantastic southern experience.

After lunch we headed across town to Little Rock Central High School – the school made famous by the Little Rock Nine. While the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools was unconstitutional, Arkansas refused to abide by the ruling. In 1957 nine African American students attempted to attend school but were turned away. It wasn’t until President Eisenhower sent in the National Guard that the Little Rock Nine were allowed in. There is a picture of this school in seemingly every high school history book and I was excited to see it in person. I was amazed to find that this is still an active school. As we were walking around the outside there was a class reunion taking place.

The following day we toured the William J Clinton Presidential Presidential Museum. Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States and his presidential library is the largest ever built.

It was opened in 2004 and contains two million photographs, eighty million pages of documents, and 79,000 artifacts. Highlights were seeing the Presidential Limousine, sitting in the President’s chair in the Cabinet Room, and seeing his extensive collection of saxophones.

STADIUMS AND/ORSPORTING EVENTS: We didn’t see any games or tour any stadiums in Arkansas. However, we were able to tour the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Bailey and I walked around the outside of Razorback Football Stadium that has a capacity of 76,000. Maddie took a picture with the fearsome looking Razorback statue and then we concluded our tour outside of the baseball facility.

ADVENTURE(S): We did not take any tours.

NOTABLE DESTINATIONS & STOPS: When in the south a must do experience is the Waffle House. We have been to a handful of the famous southern establishments and we have always had a positive experience. In Arkansas, we ate at the Waffle House in Fayetteville.