Another Presidential Library

North Little Rock, Arkansas
Downtown Riverside RV Park
Pull Thru #28

The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and there was no wind.  Bill's turn to drive.  Go figure...

We got an early start today for us.  Heading south on US 65, we arrived in North Little Rock and set up by noon.  

As we were passing the turnoff for Yellville, I thought of Linda and David Hatcher who were going to be staying there but I didn't have their phone number to call them and meet for coffee. 

One of the reasons we sort of back tracked was to see the William J. Clinton Presidential Center.  The last time we were here, it was shut down for the sequester.  I had signed up to win two free nights at the RV park last year and won the prize.  The certificate was expiring at the end of the year, so decided to take advantage of it.  

This is a perfect location for seeing the library since you just walk across the pedestrian bridge from the park.  The park is much improved since our last visit.  They were all back ins, back to back and inches separating the coaches.  Now two sites have been converted to one site.  

The back in sites are along the river, but the were all reserved.  We got the last site available.  

We decided to walk across the bridge and visit the library today, so we'd have time for more things tomorrow.  

While we didn't get to visit last year, we had a bonus this year--The Chihuly Exhibit.  The red flames were our first glimpse of his work.  I did learn that these were blown at the Murano Glass in Venice where we have visited.

We watched the video and as we exited it, a docent was ready for a tour.  Only one other couple was in the tour.  

Some interesting facts about the Center is it is green.  They have planted over 9,000 plants on the roof which resulted in 40% energy savings.  We weren't allowed to tour it, because Clinton's residence was there.  He's in Arkansas, but not in Little Rock today, I don't understand why the secret service wouldn't give us just a little peek.  

Here's the Presidential limousine, one of three. 

Needless to say, Bill was interested in the Secret Service portion.  I thought it was strange, they had sunglasses exhibited.  

This Chihuly glass is very unusual.  It extends up to the second floor.

This was a replica of the cabinet room.  I kept feeling like I'd been in that room before.  I was sitting in the vice president's seat.

Oh yes, this room was reproduced at the Ford Museum we visited last year with Don and Sharon Del Rosario.  Bill moved out of the taller chair, which is the president's chair before I could get a photo of him.

There was a large timeline down the center of the building which had archives of his papers.

Something I found interesting was the daily agendas of the President's schedule.  It didn't have a lot of important meetings scheduled in the month I looked at.

All the side walls had alcove exhibits.  

This china was unusual because it didn't have the Presidential seal, instead it had the White House in the center of the plates.  

 There was a reproduction of the Oval office.  What a gorgeous desk, hard to believe a president would put his feet on it.  

The President can choose how to decorate this room to suit himself.  

This was the ceiling of the reproduced Oval Office.

Bill liked his taste in the bronze.

These eggs had presidents faces on one side, and their wives on the other. 

These were eggs from all the different states.  One even had a bird inside it.

Of course Bill was impressed with the gifts that were presented to Clinton.  There were a lot of diamonds, gold and silver objects, but I think he liked the boots best.

This was the bottom half of a Chihuly Christmas tree, because it was too large to exhibit.

Bill and I rode the Clinton Museum shuttle down to the Riverwalk.  I had asked where to get some good catfish when we checked in at the park and the lady said "The Flying Fish."

I spotted it across the street and we went to check it out.  

They are definitely into fish.  Jim Dixon, have you caught this many?  You can drop off a photo of you and your prize catch your next trip through here.

I don't know if you can read the sign, but it says "Liars Wall".  It's photos of fishermen with their catches.  

The framed sign reads "Objects in frames may appeared to be larger than they are in real life."

We would watch tourists walk down the street and try and figure out how to enter the place.  They have an overhead garage door that is open with a small wall across the front and tables lined up in front of it.  

 We're waiting and it is worth the wait!

Nothing fancy, but great catfish!  We split a four piece dinner with fries and hush puppies.  It was huge pieces and reasonable priced.  

We took the shuttle back and walked back across the pedestrian bridge.  

Turtle Safely......