Little Rock, Arkansas

Part of our goal is to visit all the state capitals, so while in Arkansas we scheduled a visit to Little Rock. Having lived all my life in Sacramento, California, I am familiar with the feel of a Capital City. Little Rock did, indeed, remind me of Sacramento in a lot of ways, but on a much smaller scale. The similarity is even more noticeable with Little Rock being situated on the Arkansas River, and Sacramento being situated on both the American and Sacramento Rivers. The capital buildings are also similar, and the look and feel of downtown Little Rock reminded me a lot of Sacramento as well. However, Sacramento has a population of 467,343 whereas Little Rock has only 204,370 people. Sacramento is the 7th most populous city in California, and Little Rock is the most populous city in Arkansas.

We took the scenic drive over, avoiding the main Interstate, opting instead for the small two lane highway that wound through some of the most beautiful parts of the country I’ve ever seen. We drove through rolling green hills, beautiful farms, and the gorgeous Ouachita National Forest. The first thing we did when we got to Little Rock was stop at the Murray Lock and Dam where the “Big Dam Bridge” is located. Comprising 4,226 linear feet, the bridge over the Corps of Engineers' Murray Lock and Dam is the longest bridge built specifically for pedestrians and bicyclists in the world (the longest in the United States is the Chain of Rocks Bridge on the north edge of St. Louis, Missouri at 5,350 linear feet, but it was originally a highway bridge).

Next, we went to the Capital building and took pictures, including the memorial to The Little Rock Nine. In the summer of 1957, the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, made plans to desegregate its public schools. Within a week of the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision striking down racial segregation in public schools, Arkansas was one of two Southern states to announce it would begin immediately to take steps to comply with the new "law of the land." The year that followed was one in which the eyes of the world were focused on America as Little Rock Central High School went through its first year of integration, ending on May 27, 1958, with commencement ceremonies for 601 graduating seniors, including Ernest Green, the school's first black graduate.

We couldn’t visit Little Rock without touring the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, and I’m really glad we did! It not only gave me a greater appreciation for Bill Clinton as a man and our president, but also for the office of the presidency in general. From there, we took a walking tour of downtown Little Rock, the

MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History (very sobering), shopped in the River Market District, had a wonderful vegan sandwich at the Boulevard Bread Company, and finally drove by Central High School on our way back to Van Buren.

It was a really nice visit. The city is small enough that we were able to walk to most of the attractions, the weather was beautiful, and we expanded our knowledge in geography and history while getting a feel for how people live in this part of the world.