Old State House | Reginadettra.com

Yesterday, I shared our first stop for the annual trip downtown. Central High was an awesome experience. I hope you check out yesterday’s post and read all about it.

We spent 2 hours at Central and we were famished. We headed to the Clinton Presidential Library lawn for our picnic lunch. Remember our downtown trip is a cheap trip. Our goal is to spend as little as possible and still have a great time exploring Little Rock.

Of course after a great lunch, what is more fun than a giant hill to run down??? The lawn is built next to the Arkansas river bank.

After a few minutes of running up and down the giant hill, we began our adventure along the Sculptural Promenade. Here’s a few of the sculptures we found:

Then of course we had to visit the Nature Center. It is free and there’s live animals! The kids love it!! I don’t care for the snakes!

I spent $2.25 on souvenirs. The girls got tiny bugs and the young man of our group got a bird whistle. I couldn’t resist.

We left the Nature Center and went down to the playground. The girls made comments like, “We are too big for most of the stuff.” ((sniff)) My girls are grown up!! Don’t like it!! Now our little guy loved climbing and sliding and having a ball.

We walked down to the Old State House. But we had to cross a creepy old (wooden) walk bridge over 4 lanes of traffic. It was a little scary!!

The Old State House was the first capital building in Arkansas. It was the headquarters for Bill Clinton’s election night. The girls had fun. They even pretended to be Representatives. My little guy got creeped out and begged me to go back downstairs by the door. He said he didn’t like the place. So the girls explored and we checked out the gift shop.. by the front door.

Next stop… The Peabody Hotel. They rode the elevator and escalators.

The kids were tired and hungry by this time. So we walked to the River Market and had ice cream. Ahem.. they did anyway. I gave up such luxuries for lent.

We spent $7.50 for the cones. Yikes I know… but worth every bite… so I’m told.

And you won’t believe this! We were walking to the River Market and ran into fellow Sardis peeps!!

So after the ice cream, we had to ride the trolley! It is a 30 minute ride through the River Market area and North Little Rock. It is air conditioned and a great place to rest tired feet. Tickets for the trolley were $4.50.

And that is when the batteries died in my camera. But we visited the public library and then headed home. Another great year downtown!! The conversation on the ride home made me smile:

Friend: I can’t believe people told me that downtown is boring.

Daughter: Yeah. They just don’t know how to have fun.

Friend: It is fun friends that make it great!

Daughter: You’re so right!

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Friend: I was asked how much money I was taking to Little Rock today. When I told them none, we did free stuff. They laughed at me and said I couldn’t have fun without spending a lot of money seeing things.

Me: It isn’t the money spent but how the day is spent.

Friend: Yeah, you’re right. I love how we spend it together!

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Little Guy: Mom, I’m hungry! What’s for dinner?

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It was a wonderful day. Full of good memories and BIG smiles!!