Wall Doxey State Park, MS
We really took our time this morning getting on the road. It felt quite luxurious to hang out for several hours and just enjoy the quiet time in the campground. We were about an hour and a half from Little Rock our first destination of the day and not in any hurry to get there.
Our original plan was to view the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum at noon, but it turns out it didn't open til one. No problema. Six years ago when we first visited Little Rock we had taken a short bike ride on the River Trail. It was just taking shape and apparently had great plans. Well, six years later it looks great! Even though it was a bit cool, in the low 60's, and overcast we took our chances on no rain and decided to go for an hour ride on the trail.
I love Little Rock. It ranks up there with one of my top 10 cities. It's a beautiful river city, with a brew pub on each block, and the people are super friendly. It seems as if there's always something going on here too. Today was some kind of film festival and the city was getting ready for their big Memorial Weekend River Music Festival. Flags were flying, tents were being set up and policeman on horseback were roaming about. Unfortunately, the River Trail was closed in some spots due to all this activity, so we just rode through the heart of town over a bridge and enjoyed the River Trail on the other side of the Arkansas River. It was fantastic! We ended up crossing back on an awesome bridge right next to the Presidential Library. Perf.
Aesthetically, the architecture of the Clinton Library is stunning. It overlooks the river and the park grounds are beautiful with walkways that take you around ponds and lots of foliage. The building is also a Premium LEED status. Once inside we toured 3 floors. I love history and politics so this was especially fun for me. Clinton's Presidential Limo was on display, there was a re-creation of his Cabinet room and the Oval Office. We also really enjoyed the movie, the timeline of events during his presidency and memorabilia. One of my favorite things was also seeing all the cool gifts that were received during his presidency. Many of the anecdotes and stories were really fun too. One of my fave was about when President Jiang from China visited. Clinton was giving a tour of the White House to President Jiang and showed him the Gettysburg Address, whereupon President Jiang recited it from memory! Who knew?!
Today was also the first day of the Dale Chihuly Glass Exhibit. Wow - his glass sculptures are breathtaking. It was fun to see his preliminary sketches and how he transformed his ideas into glass.
After hanging out with President No. 42 for several hours, we had to mosey on into Mississippi. We took backroads to get there, enjoyed crossing over the Mississippi River and connecting with our trip last year. For those of you following our route, we took highway 4 across Mississippi to Wall Doxey State Park. This little background was gorgeous. You really feel like you are in the Deep South. Lots of green foliage, kuzdo vine climbing up trees and taking over abandoned barns and pastures of newly planted rice, wheat and corn. Dang I love this part of the country!
We finally arrived at this charming State Park close to 8. It's appears to have lots of CCC stone structures, thickly wooded campsites and best of all a washer and dryer!!
As I write this blog we are doing are first load of laundry of the trip (wine time for me, beer for Ned.) Kinda luxurious to have 3G connection and do laundry while camping. Things sure have changed since I started blogging our trips 6 years ago. It's such a joy not to have to drive around in search of pirating wifi. Fun day, but then again it's always fun hanging out with Ned and doing stuff.
