Arkansas and Tennessee

These two states were bookended by full days of travel.

We woke up this day in Little Rock, within view of the President Clinton Library. A just wanted to run around, but the rest of us enjoyed the replicas of the Cabinet Room and Oval Office, pictures, interactive exhibits on policy, and gifts from around the world that the First Family received.

Z also got a kick out of the St. Louis Cardinals exhibit and had to have his picture taken with the World Series trophy.

The library overlooks the Arkansas River, and H took quite a few portraits of the kids on the bridge.

                                      

Once we arrived in Memphis, we went to Beale Street and ate at, essentially, a bar. With the kids. Feel free to judge. It wasn't busy, though, and we sat by a window at a table, not on a barstool. It did have GREAT barbecue, though... remember me, the b'bque snob? LOVED it, and so did the whole family who kept asking for more from my plate!
                                    
Memphis is very different from what I imagined. The trolley-only Main Street, the buildings... beautiful, and pretty peaceful for a city. I hope this isn't the last time I'm here!
                               
We found out a couple months ago that we planned Graceland for the first day of Elvis Week, so we bought our tickets in advance. There were definitely a lot of people there, but nothing like what I imagined. We got a parking spot pretty close to the entrance, didn't have to wait terribly long for the shuttle, and didn't get pushed through the mansion (B would tell you that it was NOT a mansion, but I'm going to argue that in the 50s, it was).

The kids (all) had a blast with the audio tour headphones. There's something about Graceland, even from someone who likes Elvis but is nowhere near the world's biggest fan. The house itself was nice, but what really impacted me was the room in the raquetball building that had a huge room with his awards from just the 70s ALL over the walls. A.MAZ.ING.
                                         

One of Elvis' first big concerts was in Richmond in 1956!

After dinner, J took Z to a Memphis Redbirds game, which is apparently the nicest AAA stadium ever.

So, we started the day with a president and ended it with a king. How often do you have the chance to do that?