Summer Road Trip 2010 - Day 1

Well it is summer time so we along with countless other American families hit the road to see what there is to see. I have been pondering how to share these memories and thanks to a friend's inspiration I have decided to share them one little nugget/day at a time.

Our first day of driving landed us in our neighboring state of Arkansas and one of our first "official" destinations. The Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. Honestly the kids weren't to excited about this stop but I made the decision this could be to their future benefit (I love being a mom). I had never been to a presidential library before so I wasn't sure what to expect at first. It seems that these libraries are more museum than library. They specifically focus on the years that president was in office and the specific president's life and family.


The architecture of this library is artistically supposed to represent building a bridge to our future. While my picture doesn't do it justice I hope you can see how it looks to be an unfinished bridge.


This black looking slab here is really a fountain. When we first arrived I thought maybe it was a reflecting pool or something. While we were walking by it I told my kids that "Oh I wish I was about 4 years old right now." I would have taken off and climbed on top and proceeded to have a blast the water was only a few inches deep and looked to be so refreshing. The temperature that day felt like 100 and that water was soooo tempting. Notice my daughter is even running her hand through it.




Inside the largest hall were these dividers. Each one was dedicated to a specific years events. Under each divider were the binders like the ones you see the people holding. They contained the president's agenda for each day.

This is a closer look at 1995 do you see the Oklahoma connection.


China patterns almost always interest me and this is a formal setting I would have enjoyed if I had been invited to the white house.



I was surprised to see a display of Chihuly glass. Living in Oklahoma I had seen the large display at the Oklahoma City Art Museum.



They also had a display of various Christmas ornaments. These were a couple of my favorites. The first one is woven from wheat. The second is a ballet slipper that has been transformed into a Nutcracker scene.


Given that I have my own little ballerina I enjoyed this little case about Chelsea Clinton.


While visiting the Presidential library probably wasn't the most thrilling stop on our journey it was very informative. I hope the kids picked up on a little bit of the history it provided. Our next stop for the evening was the hotel with a pool so the kids quickly forgave me for the educational stop.