On our other mini-getaways, or weekend breaks, or whatever you’d like to call them, we tend to get one or two attractions done per day, on this trip, we did three-per-day, and while I’d love to think my improved fitness from my recently taking up a new ‘hellish hobby’ of walking played a large part in it, I think there’s just less to do in AR.  Or at least, less for US to do.  There’s lots of art museums, an Arkansas entertainers hall of fame, an Arkansas sports hall of fame, Heiffer international and any number of attractions (both inside and outside the 5mile radius that the hotel shuttle will take you to) that we didn’t go and visit, but our to-do list of ‘McMaster’ attractions had about seven main things on it, eight if we’d run out, and we managed to do six, all in the first two days of our trip.

For a Capitol-city, it’s unusual that there’s zero sports here at all.  This reeeeeally cramped our style (ha! we got style!), and we, as sports lovers, really missed not having an evening event to go see.  So much so, that we were tempted to watch some of the girls high school volleyball tournament that was in-town this weekend.  Yes, we were really that desperate.

Let me tell you about the six attractions we did, cause they were pretty cool and kept us out of mischief (or boredom) and all are very easily walkable to from the Double Tree, or any of the downtown based hotels in the area.

Day 1

Old State House (Capitol)

Monday – Saturday 9am – 5pm, Sunday 1pm – 5pm

Free Admission

It’s the oldest surviving state capitol building west of the Mississippi, and with this being right next door to the Double Tree, we kind of had no choice but to nip-in.  We went straight here after we dropped our bags in the room and unpacked.  With free admission, it’d have been rude not to visit.  Once we got inside, we were asked to sign the guest book and got a-talkin’ to some really nice members of staff.  One bearded-dude in particular, who did everything he could to prepare us for our visit in Little Rock.

He told us about a city-wide event that was happening that night in a number of the museums.  They join together to do called the, ‘2nd Friday art night’, where each of the participating museums open their doors, provide snacks and drinks and in many cases musicians and have a right ole knees-up, alright, maybe not a knees up, but a string quarted from the Arkansas symphony orchestra is nothing to sneeze at.

He gave us information on both the area and the building and provided me with specific leaflets for our trip – he didn’t just grab a ton and throw them at me!

The building itself was interesting, and gorgeous.  It took us around an hour to an hour and a half to poke around in here.  You got to see where the old Senate and House reps used to work, the bottom floor is about the building itself, what it’s made of, how it was made etc, while the top floor is about Bill Clinton and ‘others’ who used it.

Be sure to get a picture on the steps out front, that’s the exact spot from which Bill Clinton announced his intention to run for the Presidency in 1991, he stated that to him, the Old State house embodies both a reverence for the past and a hope for the future.

Also – don’t worry about the creaking stairs, they’re grand…I think! LOL!

State Capitol building

This is probably our least favourite state capitol building so far, it’s pretty to look at on the outside, and many who worked there were quite friendly and said hello, there’s also not a heck of a lot to look at by way of exhibits and what not, like they normally have in other capitol buildings.

It was worth the walk and photo-op though, in spite of the lack of things to look at.  We were probably in there around 45 minutes to an hour tops.

William J. Clinton Presidential Center

Monday – Saturday 9am – 5pm, Sunday 1pm – 5pm

Admission $7

This was our third Presidential library to visit.  We started our Presidential library campaign in 2009, right after we got married in the court house and went on our mini-moon to Austin, TX.  We hit up the LBJ library in Austin, TX and then went to Bush ’41’s library in College Station, TX, so this isn’t my first rodeo – and given that Bill Clinton was within my ‘memorable’ life time (meaning I was old enough to have a clue about who the heck he was), and that he’d done so much for Northern Ireland, this was one of the primary reasons we had come to Little Rock on our Bill-grimage.

Unfortunately, however, it was quite disappointing as Presidential libraries go.  In the two we’d previously been to, I ended up an inspired, crying mess, from the into-videos from (and about) the Presidents, we were both moved by them.  Bill’s, however, was not like that, it was ‘kitchy’ and the only time I got vaguely emotional was when I saw the footage of Northern Ireland on there (and heard the bone-cutting accents! LOL!)

There was a lot to look at, but it was mostly gifts from foreign dignitaries and books about his day-to-day schedules.  Don’t get me wrong, it was good, it just wasn’t the BEST – which you’d expect with the most recent Presidential libarary around.  We spent around 2hours here, as opposed to our ‘usual’ 3-4.5 hours in the previous two.

They do offer a free shuttle from the Center to the gift shop which is a short walk down the street, and the building itself is huge, modern and right next door to Heiffer international – which, I’m told, is a great attraction for kids and families.

Day 2

Curran Hall

Monday – Saturday 9am – 5pm, Sunday 1pm – 5pm

Free Admission

This was an unexpected find (as opposed to pre-scouted and ‘on my list’) and probably wouldn’t have interested us, had my maiden name not been Curran.  But seeing my name on a brocheure, I knew that I had to do my family justice and have a nosy.

Curran Hall is one of the few remaining Greek Revival homes in Little Rock.  Built in 1942, it currently serves as the Little Rock visitors center, but the house and gardens are pretty cool to look at their website – and, if it’s a nice day, chill out in their rocking chairs (BYOB cause there’s no coffee shop on-site, which it really could be doing with!!) You can also check out Drake’s 7 Dees here. who are capable of recreating and inventing new designs to make your backyard into a paradise.

Curran Hall has city maps, guides and a bunch of other information for travellers to Little Rock, so if you haven’t planned your trip to Little Rock before you get there (shame on you!!) you should drop in and pick up some leaflets.

MacArthur park and Military museum

Tuesday – Friday 9am – 4pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm, Sunday 1pm – 4pm

Free Admission

This was inevitable, though I kind of wish it wasn’t, cause it left Col singing that stupid MacArthur park song for DAYS.  You’ll notice that this museum has a crap-ton of chairs, they are needed, there’s LOTS to look at, lots to read, and if you have a VERY interested hubby – like me – you’ll need smart-phone breaks from the history overload!

That said, the history overload was very interesting, with lots to look at, my favourite room was the photography room, where they’d framed pictures from the war and put captions with them.  It was a powerful room, yet very minimal at the same time.

Col probably could have spent all day here, but I gently coaxed him out after around 2 hours of reading, we paid a quick visit to the neighbouring Korean War memorial before moving along.

Tram/Trolley tour – $1 bills only!

$1 single

$2 day pass

Green line – looped the downtown area

Blue line – did a loop of downtown but also ventured over the bridge to North Little Rock (which just so happens to be a separate city).

This was, again, an accidental find.  We expected to use this trolley as a mode of transport, but, when we boarded, we found ourselves getting a 50 minute tour of the city, for only $2!!!! (or, if we’d gotten a single, $1!)

I loved it, it was probably my favourite part of the trip.  It was informative, the weather was perfect and it was lots of fun.  Once you get to the Presidential library, that’s the ‘end’ of the first leg of the tour, you get to reverse the direction of your seats and off you go.  While we were reversing the direction of our seats, the dude told us that you can hire the tram carriage for $175 per hour, and you can also use a bar they bring in too – I think it’d be a very fun place for a party!!

Do this tour, even if it’s raining! It provides local information about the city and some pretty good views as you cross the bridge.

Left undone…

The other activities on our list that we didn’t get to accomplish were,

USS Razorback submarine maritime museum

Friday and Saturday 10am – 4.30pm,  Sunday 1pm – 4pm

Admission $6

This is just a short-hop across the bridge, but it was closed on Saturday by the time we got done with our other stuffs, Sunday was raining pretty hard and we couldn’t justify venturing out in the elements for the sub.  But it was on our list, it looked good as we went past it on the tram and reviews are good.

National Guard museum

Monday – Friday 8am – 3pm

Free Admission

This wasn’t for any major reason, it’s what I call a ‘filler’, if we had time to fill and needed an attraction, it’s free and it sounds interesting.  But it was outside of the 5 mile shuttle-radius and wasn’t open on Sundays, otherwise we’d have done here and the Razorback (above) together.

Like I mentioned in the last post, this city is sorely lacking in sporting events, basketball, baseball, hockey…anything! or even a Comedy Sportz match (heck a paddleboat tour of the river like they had over in NOLA).  They have a few piano bars, but none that gets great reviews so we opted not to bother, but the evening activities aren’t so plentifull in this city, especially since the whole place goes to sleep on Sundays.  Now that we’ve ‘done’ Little Rock, neither of us feel like we have an overwhelming urge to come back, or to finish anything.  It’s done for sure and 3 days, 2 nights, instead of 4 days, 3 nights would have probably been enough to complete this place, but don’t let my grumbling at being stuck in the airport for over 7 hours put you off, this place has lots of charm, history and culture and we had a really great, cheap weekend break here.  If we were planning this trip over, we’d definitely still come to Little Rock, AR on our travels for sure!

Check out the ‘General information‘ and ‘Where to eat‘ in Little Rock, Arkansas…