Civil Rights, Clinton, Crater, and Creole

We arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, on a cold day, and headed to the famous Central High School.  The school was huge, and still is a school.  We saw a mural of the famous nine at the National Visitors Center across the street.

 

Next, we toured the Clinton Library.  It was very informative with lots of history from the '90s

and many displays about his administration.

the Clinton Cabinet room

the formal dining set

the Oval Office

His limo

We stopped at Crater of Diamonds State Park next.  There are diamonds found often there. We looked in the museum to see what raw diamonds look like, watched a training video, and walked around the crater.  We didn't find a diamond, although we did find some other gem stones.  There were people digging, sifting, and looking for diamonds and gems.

Then we headed to Texarkana.  They have the only Post Office that serves two states,

and is on the state line, which runs through the middle of town.

see the sign with the two states?

Heading south into Louisiana, we stopped in Natchitoches for lunch, where we had delicious cajun meat pies.  One was stuffed with crawfish, the other beef and pork,

and they both were delicious!

Driving through bayous and swamps, we finally got to New Orleans, and were ready to eat what this city has to offer!  We started our day in the French Quarter with cafe au lait and beignets,

 then headed down Decatur St.with its musicians playing, and street performers attracting attention to Johnny's where we savored over a fully dressed fried shrimp po' boy,

 and some red beans and rice with garlic bread.

 

We stopped to get some souvenirs at a couple of very interesting shops, where we also got some pecan pralines, and an alligator/beef stick. After heading down Canal St. and Bourbon St.,

 

we also picked up a roast beef debris po'boy, fried green tomatoes, and some jambalaya for lunch.

Later, we enjoyed our dinner of leftovers with a muffeleta. Oh what fun we had enjoying those delicious, tasty foods! 

 

The WWII Museum was a wonderful place to start our next day.  This museum covered all the conflicts in both Europe and the Pacific in great detail.  There were some fascinating mementos and personal stories to help tell the story.  They also had a 4-D movie on the history of the war that was really fantastic.   It was a great museum.

a Sherman tank

a German air raid bunker

visual display of army size at the beginning of WWII

We headed west through more bayous and swamps and stopped at an old Rice Mill.  They showed the process of milling rice, had some delicious samples, and lots of products in their store.  We bought some Artichoke Rice, and some Pecan Rice.  We also bought a bottle of sweet pepper sauce that was really good.

Before we left Louisiana, we had to get some of their signature chips.  So we tried two flavors, regular, and Voodoo (which was a very different mix of flavors and vinegar).