6-30-09 Tuesday (Donna Summer Hit)

Goodbye to Texas and hello to Arkansas. 

I mentioned a diamond mine yesterday.  Scratch that; it never happened.  It was Crater of Diamonds State Park.  Upon further research, we read: Tools are not necessary for diamond searching. A good way to search for diamonds is to walk up and down the rows looking for diamonds lying on top of the ground. However, most visitors like to dig in the soil. Therefore, you have the options of bringing your own tools from home, or you may purchase or rent tools here.  Here’s the accompanying picture:

Well, it’s HOT and it’s physical labor.  2 strikes.

We arrived at the Little Rock North KOA.  I like that it’s thick treed but Dasher will certainly miss the jumbo dog park.  This place has more of a dog pen.

After we set up, and walked Dasher, it started pouring rain!  Just pouring!  The plus side is by the evening, it dropped to 75 degrees – almost time get the jackets out again.  Yeah, not quite that severe.  The downside is that rain is wet.

We went to dinner in the River Market area using our 2 for 1 coupon at The Underground Pub.  It was OK.  A limited menu.  Burgers, sandwiches, fish and chips.  They didn’t even have Shepherd's Pie.  Service wasn’t good.

Once again, parking is an issue.  $5 to park.  Ugh.  We found a spot on the street for $0.

Since we skipped diamond hunting, we opted for Little Rock hunting after dinner.  Jim read about where the “Little Rock” namesake was.  We couldn’t find it.  No signs, not much information.  As I look it up tonight, I find that it’s a good possibility that we saw it and didn’t know it.  The website photo:

Yeah, I know it’s a little rock but really, is that all?  Whatever.  Here’s some photos of the Riverfront Park.

Above/Below: Taken from the top of Junction Bridge which crosses the Arkansas River.

 

Above: I didn’t take that many photos but there are a lot of children’s areas throughout Riverfront Park.  Some of the play areas had squishy grounds and lots of fun things to climb on.  No, we didn’t climb.  We were too busy looking for “Little Rock.”

 

Above: 3 fountains.  Adult, child, pet.  I love it.

Jim had to see the Sugarbaker’s house from Designing Women:

Next, we drove to MacArthur Park. 

Above: What’s that wet thing on the left top of the sign?

Someone left a cake out – in the rain:

Fortunately, I was able to eat the cake twin and all was right with the world.

 

Above: It’s a nice picture is all.

 

On our way back home, we stopped at the Big Dam Bridge.  No really.  Click the link if you don’t believe me.

 

It was a nice way to enjoy sunset.  We walked part of it.  I wasn’t footwear prepared to walk the bridge.  I was wearing flip-flops.