Little Rock

After a couple of days in Arkansas and Missouri, we spent the last 24 hours of our trip in Arkansas's capital city, Little Rock. We really didn't know much about the city other than it being home to the Clintons, so we were excited to check it out. Paul booked a really nice hotel right in downtown (the Capital Hotel) which opened in 1870, with President U.S. Grant staying as a guest not long thereafter. The hotel opened with indoor plumbing and heating and introduced the country’s first “magnetic annunciator” to call room service. The Capital served as President Bill Clinton’s local headquarters during his tenure as President. It was a really fun historic place to stay. As for the city itself, there's really nothing much going on in downtown Little Rock, especially on a Sunday evening, so we ended up eating in the hotel restaurant.

Lobby of the Capital Hotel. Splendidly maintained.

A very stately building.

The Arkansas River near our hotel.

The old state capitol was across the street. It had a cute fence.

Unfortunately, most of Little Rock looks like this. This tall building was surrounded by surface parking lots on all sides...

There were some nice older buildings around downtown though!

The Capital Hotel restaurant had nice cocktails...

...and decent food.

The next morning we got up early and took a stroll around downtown. We started at the Historic Arkansas Museum, which had some nice exhibits on state history including a fantastic exhibit on the impact of settlers and US policy on native culture that held no punches. The museum includes some outdoor historic buildings which we were unfortunately unable to visit because they were closed for restoration. We walked over to the Clinton Presidential Library, which has neat architecture and a nice setting along the river adjacent to downtown. It had a few neat exhibits, but it's mostly an advertisement for Bill Clinton that doesn't go in to detail about any of the tough spots of his presidency or life. 

Our hotel from the street. It has a cast iron facade.

Yummy nearby donut shop!

David with some donuts.

There's an old trolley running through parts of downtown Little Rock.

An old map in the Historic Arkansas Museum, drawn by a school student.

Exhibits on territorial Arkansas life.

The museum also featured some old cabins - this is all still in downtown Little Rock.

There are a few cool streets-capes in Little Rock.

The park near the Clinton Presidential Library, with an epic bridge in the background.

The library looks a bit like an ark ready to put into the river.

There was an art exhibit on plastic in the oceans at the Library.

Yikes!

Garbage art!

Some of Clinton's memorabilia, including an Atlanta Olympics jacket.

After visiting the Clinton Presidential Library, we took the Arkansas River Trail along the river back towards downtown to visit the Old State House Museum. This museum features exhibits about the State of Arkansas since about the early 1800s. The building itself was constructed in the 1830s, around the time Arkansas received statehood. During the Civil War, when Little Rock was captured by Union troops, the building was used as their headquarters for the state. The building was used for State functions until the new capitol was completed in 1911. Since then the building has served as the Arkansas War Memorial, became the first home of the Arkansas State Police, and held the offices of a number of statewide patriotic organizations.

Scooting down the Arkansas River Trail.

Old Statehouse Museum.

The exhibits were... interesting.

Some rooms are made to look as they did when used by governors in the middle to late 1800s.

After visiting the State House Museum, we collected our car from the hotel and went to the Heights neighborhood for lunch at Heights Taco and Tamale Company. The food here was pretty good and they also had a big cocktail menu. This neighborhood is about five miles from downtown Little Rock and seemed a bit more lively with a slight hipster influence.

After lunch we wrapped up our time in Little Rock by visiting the current State Capitol (something we always do when visiting new capital cities) and then went to Central Little Rock High School to visit the National Park Site commemorating the 1957 crisis over desegregation of public schools.The museum seemed recently updated and housed really excellent exhibits on segregation, civil rights and the events that lead to the 1957 crisis. 

The Heights street scene. Reminds us of the Virginia Highland neighborhood in Atlanta.

Over-the-top cocktail.

Solid texmex food. 

Current Arkansas Capitol - built in 1911.

Looks like the capitol in DC.

Rotunda

Lots of marble (and fake marble).

The Arkansas House.

The NPS site commemorating integration and the Little Rock Nine.

Little Rock has a few interesting sights, but overall is a sleepy capital city. It's easy enough to combine it with Hot Springs for a nice weekend trip.

Arkansas and Missouri - Hot Springs and Coasters

This fall we decided to take a long weekend trip to Arkansas to ride some roller coasters, visit a national park, and explore some cities we'd never been to. We planned a route that would take us to Little Rock, Hot Springs, and over the border in Missouri to Branson. The first half of our trip was a lot of driving and roller coasters, with some history and natural beauty in between.

We arrived in the evening at the Bill and Hillary Clinton airport in Little Rock, which locals call the Hill-Billy airport (Ha!). We immediately hit the road for the 3.5 hour drive up to Branson, Missouri, home to Silver Dollar City. We got in after midnight, and woke up early to get to the park before 9AM opening.

Silver Dollar City is easily one of the best amusement parks in the US. It's beautifully wooded, and sits on top of a huge cave, which you can tour. It has a wide variety of attractions, including a few world-class roller coasters. We spent a few hours riding and enjoying the park, before leaving and getting the two other alpine coaster credits in the area. Branson might be a giant tacky tourist trap, but Silver Dollar City is a star attraction and worth the trip.

Dramatic Ozark setting for the roller coasters.

All gussied-up for halloween!

Paul at the best ride in the park, Outlaw Run.

A wild mullet sighting. Voluminous. 

David thought this shirt perfectly describes Paul.

Pawnee harvest festival! Where's Lil Sebastian?

Famous cinnamon bread! You can get this at Dollywood too.

They have elaborate decorations for every holiday.

The nearby alpine coaster at Branson Sawmill features two lift hills.

And another credit, the Runaway Mountain Coaster. One of the best I've ridden!

Surprisingly good tamales at the Pickin Porch Grill.

After leaving Branson, we made our way Southwest back in to Arkansas. We stopped in Eureka Springs, a cute historic town with a nice touristy downtown. They have a shuttle route system, so we parked our car just outside of town at the visitor center and hopped aboard. The city surprised us. It has a lot of historic homes and a compact hilly downtown. We did a little shopping and walked around a bit before going back to our car and continuing south. We arrived in Hot Springs in the evening, and had dinner at Superior Bathhouse Brewery, which is inside a historic bathhouse from 1916.

David in downtown Eureka Springs.

Sunset views in the Ozark National Forest.

Superior Bathhouse Brewery.

The next morning, we explored downtown Hot Springs and the national park. It's a really unique and slightly odd place to visit. The national park runs along the main street through town, and incorporates a series of historic bathhouses fed by the springs. Behind the bathhouses is a forested hill with paths and hiking trails. On the other side of the road are early 20th century commercial buildings with shopping and restaurants. People used to visit the town for the "healing" properties of the hot springs. An entire luxury industry sprung up around spa treatments to mimic contemporary European style and sophistication... but in rural Arkansas.

Trail through Hot Springs National Park.

You can see some spots where the water still bubbles up.

Misty

Paul checking out the Springs.

Art deco buildings in downtown. Unfortunately the biggest one is empty.

The National Park Service retained a couple of the old spas as historic monuments to Hot Spring's past. The ones they control have been mostly left as they were - with only minor modifications to protect the property. There are a couple spas still in operation today that cater to tourists. These are supposedly more modern on the inside. We only toured one of the historic NPS baths, so they may seem a little grimy. The exhibits paint a picture of sophistication and wealth from early 20th century patrons. Overall, an interesting National Park worth checking out if you're in Arkansas (it's not far from Little Rock).

Bathhouse row.

Medieval torture chamber or early 20th century shower? You decide.

It may look gross now, but at one point it was posh.

One of the historic bath houses.

A salon for resting between treatments.

The Medical Arts building is magnificent, but no longer occupied. It would make a great hotel.

The town of Hot Springs has some random interesting street art.

In the afternoon we went to Magic Springs, an amusement park just outside of town. It's a mid-sized park that was better than expected, but doesn't have any particularly noteworthy coasters. Paul was still happy to mark it off his list, as it was one of the larger coaster count parks remaining in North America.

Jello shots in an amusement park? That's a first.

Pacman Halloween decorations!

X-coaster was Paul's 750th roller coaster.

Obligatory Paul on kiddie coaster photo.

Magic Spring's main lake. It's a pretty nice park overall.

After leaving Magic Springs we had lunch at a music-themed pizzeria and brewpub called SQZBX. The beer was nothing special, but the food was good. We made a quick stop back at Magic Springs to ride a coaster that doesn't open until later in the day, and then drove south to Garven Woodland Gardens, a botanical garden on a peninsula in the Ouachita river. We didn't actually go in to the gardens, but instead visited Anthony Chapel, a spectacular building in the woods.

Craft beer in Arkansas was pretty meh...

...the pizza was good though!

Anthony Chapel.

Interior shot. We had a short window of time to look inside between events.

The lighting here was really great.

The chapel's bell-tower was also fantastic.

After visiting the chapel, we hit the road for Little Rock, where we spent about 24 hours before our flight home to Atlanta. We'll cover that in the next post.