Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): More than a little fun in Little Rock

Thursday, July 18, 2013

More than a little fun in Little Rock

Just a few more photos of the gorgeous Maumelle Corps of Engineers park in Little Rock ~ I still can not get over how truly awesome this park is! The HUGE sites, the calmness, the price ... a treasure for sure!

While we were in Little Rock we went to the Clinton Library.

Some of the President's saxophones

Below is Dale Chihuly's "Crystal Tree of Light" that was in the White House in 2000. I am a HUGE fan of his work (much to Rick's dismay, he truly can't understand what I see/appreciate in this .... )

Also while we were in Little Rock we were given tickets to an Arkansas Travelers game. The travelers have been the Class AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since 2001. We just love our minor league teams, they are so much fun to watch and such a "great bang for the buck"!!

On our way home from the game we drove by the capital, which was so pretty at night!

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Our plan was to leave the next day (Saturday), but when we got up the trailer had been blocked in by boat trailers (OH NO not that!) so we had to extend our stay and rather than worry about a repeat on Sunday morning we extended until Monday.

What's one of my favorite ways to spend a few hours on a Saturday, wherever I am???? Right, Farmers Market!! What a great one Little Rock has ...

Another field trip we did in the area was a ride to Pinnacle Mountain State Park. No camping here but a lovely, and free, area. Word has it from our friends Marsha and Paul Weaver that there are great hiking trails here ~ being that hiking requires copious amounts of energy we will take their word for it!

Gorgeous views from the overlook area of the
Arkansas River

and a shot of Pinnacle Mountain

not to mention this cute guy having the best of both
worlds,cooling off in the water when he wants
and lazing in the sun!

We continued heading north when we left this meca on Monday and stayed at two campgrounds in Missouri (post to follow .... gotta load pictures!!).

We arrived at the fairgrounds in Sioux Falls today for SIX weeks ... really painful for me to be here at this spot without Arlo ... Everywhere I look I have memories, yes wonderful memories of him running and playing and trying like hell to figure out how to get these gophers out of their hiding places ... I love Sioux Falls, just not this campground anymore. And six weeks ~ UGH for licensing requirements I just don't want to ... I want to be in parts unknown!!

Stay tuned....

1 comment:

Paul and Marsha Weaver OCT. 17, 2009 said...: Pretty header photo.

We LOVED that campground also. I told Paul that we didn't need to do any sightseeing because this park is too beautiful to leave. But I lost.

Thanks for the shout out on Pinnacle Mt. You two are young and full of energy. You could have hiked just like us...you lazy bums...lol But we are glad you got to see the awesome views.

We visited the Capitol in the day. The night version looks lovely.

I am sure it saddens you my friend to be in that area without Arlo, but try to focus on all the wonderful times he had there. I sometimes put human characteristics to animals and in this case, I am sure he would want you to enjoy yourself with all the beauty surrounding you and not focus on his loss. Peace be with you. Love you.; July 19, 2013 at 4:55 AM

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

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