We arrived yesterday in Little Rock and met up with Jill's mom, Suzanne, and then went to meet her sister, Anita, whom I'd not met before. Our trip here was relatively uneventful.Today we headed out to hit some of the biggest attractions in Little Rock: The Clinton Library, downtown and my first plate (er...platter?) of good hearty Southern food. We also drove past the Capitol - which is a mini-version of the actual Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (did you know that? I didn't either).
We ate at Mama's Kitchen, a favorite hang out of Bill Clinton's campaign team, and a hot lunch spot. While at first it appears a dingy walk-up-and-order kinda place, three letters: O.M.G. It was so good - all the southern favorites were on hand, including mashed potatoes, creamed corn, collards, beans and more beans, meatloaf, "baked" chicken (it was fried), and the most amazing yeast rolls (which reminded me of a place where I went to college). It was fantastic - my lap-band was on my side and I was glad for it, but it was fun to get to try a few things.
The Clinton Library was fantastic - it of course made me really miss Bill. The Library catalogs his life, and his presidency. It also talks a lot about general White House life. For example, you can enter any date and see the President's (insanely busy) schedule. There is a lot of focus on Clinton's work internationally - and how respected he (and the USA) was during his presidency... Aside from that, there was a really cool exhibit of Choppers - art motorcycles comprised of pieces of "chopped" up bikes - which were really cool. Not only was each one really unique, but it was a piece of subculture I was totally unaware of until now. Have a look at them here.
From there, we walked through downtown and visited some local shops, picking up a few local items - pecans and honey. Evening was spent just chilling out at home. Some pics from the day:
