10-28-2018

This is not the most visually appealing structure or picture, but it was the only picture I took today. It's Sunday, meaning it's time to go home :(

There was a couple sitting next to my mom and I in the airport. The girl looked over at my journal with Chinese characters (although I was actually trying to learn some Spanish from my mom) and asked what language it was. And the conversation floodgates were opened. Upon learning we were from a big city in Texas they responded, "Ah, yeah, so not much in Little Rock, right?" Which...is true I guess, but I feel like people are so quick to dismiss small cities. 

Anyways, they were a young couple, around my age. They had just married and were leaving on their honeymoon. I don't remember where exactly they were going, but some typical out-of-country beach destination. I don't think it was Mexico? But it was definitely somewhere Spanish-speaking, because the girl mentioned that she took Spanish in school but doesn't remember any of it.

10-27-2018

In all honesty, I spent most of my time today at the Arkansas State Capitol Building. It took me about 30 minutes to walk here from my hotel. My mom would have disapproved if she saw the route I had to take to get there. But walking is cheaper than Uber, and I haven't walked a lot in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed my time.

Actually, when I first got to the capitol, I guess something was going on, perhaps some sort of charity event? There were people dressed as superheroes standing outside of the capitol building, and there were a decent amount of kids getting their pictures taken with them.

The side of the building. That's another thing - it's actually a very beautiful building for being in the 'boonies', by more urban American standards.

Looking up to the ceiling on the inside. The building has four floors.

I wonder what it would be like to come to this building every day for work. Everything just looks so...important.

The bridge in the background goes over the Arkansas River. This was taken on my walk back to the hotel. I took a slightly different route than I did in the morning, and this stretch was even sketchier than where I walked earlier. Mom would very much have disapproved.

10-26-2018

My flight from Austin to Dallas yesterday was at 6:15am. I also live an hour away from the airport. So I woke up at about 4am yesterday, and didn't get to bed until maybe 10pm-12am. I was very tired, so I slept in this morning. My mom had to go to a meeting this morning, but we decided to meet during her lunch break and go to a purse museum nearby.

I know that sounds weird, but it was pretty cool, and my mom enjoyed it despite not being a huge museum person. They had exhibit containers displaying handbags by the decade, as well as items which would have been in the handbags.

One point I kept hearing is that this is one of three purse museums in the world - there is one in Seoul, and one in Amsterdam.

After our museum break, my mom had to go back to her meeting. So I walked down the street to the Museum of Discovery, which is a science-based museum aimed at providing activities for kids. Before I went inside, I saw the peanut mobile sitting outside. Funny story about this - if you know my mom, you know that she loves to keep up with the news. Usually she reads newspapers, but she had the news channel turned on in our hotel room yesterday afternoon. The news reporter was talking about how the peanut mobile would be going around to some downtown destinations on Friday (today). So, yup, just happened to run into it. 

Inside the Museum of Discovery. There were actually some pretty cool exhibits. It's pretty interactive too, which is nice cause I assume most kids don't have the patience to be quiet and read things.

View of Little Rock from our hotel room. The river that you can see on the right is the Arkansas River.

10-25-2018

It's been rainy and dreary and awful in Texas for the past two months. (Unfortunately, the weather was the same when I arrived in Little Rock.) I looked out the window for almost the whole flight from Austin to Dallas (a short flight - probably about 40 minutes) and the picture above was the only break in the clouds that I saw)

My mom and I made it to Little Rock, Arkansas! She's here for a board meeting. I'm here for no particular reason - just wanted to travel and get away from my office. The organization holding the board meeting paid for her room, so I only had to pay for my flight.

The last time I was on a plane was about two years ago, when I visited a friend after returning to the US from China. I forgot how much I love flying, especially if I have the window seat. (Although I hate to be THAT person who puts the window all the way up in an otherwise darkened plane cabin.) Some people say take-off and landing are the worst parts - I love all of it. Unless the person next to me is sick. Also, I don't care for flights longer than about 3 hours because it is hard for me to sleep on planes. And when I do sleep, it's usually in short intervals, no more than an hour at a time.

Anyways, my mom flew from San Antonio to Dallas and I flew from Austin to Dallas. Then, from Dallas to Little Rock, we were on the same flight. It will be the same on the way home.

Two things about Little Rock you may or may not know: 1. They actually have fall, that season where leaves change into pretty colors instead of turning brown and dying!

2. The 42nd President of the United States, William (Bill) Clinton, is originally from Arkansas. He isn't actually from Little Rock, but I assume he spent a decent amount of time here while holding other political positions since Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas. So there's a lot of Clinton stuff here. My mom and I don't care so much about political divides, and we kept joking about how my dad would hate this place.

There is a museum dedicated to the Clintons inside of the Clinton Presidential Library! My mom and I got here about an hour before they closed, so we didn't get to go through everything, but it was still really cool.