Our next stop was Little Rock where we camped at the very impressive Burns County Park in or just outside North Little Rock. It had athletic fields including a very extensive soccer complex, a pool, playgrounds, a golf course, three dog play areas, picnic areas, bicycle trails which connected to the 14 mile Little Rock River Walk and of course a campground. We walked on the bicycle trail and the River walk including a walk at the beginning in Little Rock itself, where we saw the submarine "Razorback" for some reason Arkansans are called "Razorbacks".
We also visited the awesome Clinton Museum and Library as well as the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
While driving to (one of our stops) we had listened to some of the speech including Clinton's at the opening of his library and we both believed that the accomplishments of the Clinton Presidency were an embarrassment to George W. Once inside the museum I commented to Debby that I wondered how long before had the museum is "taken out" because it was an indictment of his presidency. Later I read where Sidney Blumenthal was standing next to Bush who was looking out the window commenting that Arkansas River was so close to the museum that there was a risk from a torpedo. Blumenthal thought Bush was thinking of terrorists, you decide.(the numbers at the top of the percentage columns are 1992 and 2000 respectivly, the begining and end of the Clinton Administration)
The Clinton Museum and Library which houses all the non classified papers of the Clinton Presidency is built to look like a bridge to the 21st century.
The displays feature biographical information about Bill and Hillary as well as highlights of his administration. They even deal with the impeachment and treat it as the Republican which hunt that it was. I was most impressed by the lighted display boards with a listing of his accomplishments (above).
The visitor center of the Little Rock Central High National Historic Site is located in a building that had been a gas station back in 1957 when 9 black students came to integrate the school. The school itself and the National Historic Site is still a functioning Little Rock Magnet High School which by law must remain integrated. In case you don't remember or aren't old enough to have witnessed this yourself.In September 1957, 9 black students tried to enter with school board approval, none the less there was a lot of objections and Governor Orval E. Faubus called out the National Guard to block their entrance. After three weeks of failed negotiations President Dwight David Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne division to escort the children into school. Visitors can not actually enter the school but can look at it from the visitors center or commemorative garden. The school itself has an enviable academic reputation and sends many graduates to college.
We hung around Little Rock for several days and availed ourselves of parts of their 14 mile river trail.