William Jefferson Clinton (5/8/25)

 Paul and I have never been ones to have a specific “bucket list” of places we want to visit- we don’t need to get to all the states, or all the national parks, or all the presidential libraries- but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy visiting all of the above.   The last time we came through Little Rock, our focus was on Hot Springs National Park ( my least favorite national park, by the way). Since I felt no need to re-visit, we could focus on the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

The library has a fair amount of information about both Bill and Hilary, starting from their childhoods.

Hillary grew up in the Chicago area, the oldest of 3. Even as a young child, she wanted to make a difference- a copy of her handwritten paper is on display and reads (in part)

                                                            My Future

When I grow up I want to have had the best education I could have possibly obtained.  If I obtain this I will probably be able to get a very good job. I want to either be a teacher or a nuclear physics scientist. Sometimes people as  me why I would want to be a teacher. The way I figure it though, is that the government  and adults are always talking about how the children of today are the citizens of tomorrow. With this thought in mind you have to have teachers to train the young citizens…

She attended Wellesley College for her undergraduate degree in Political Science, and received her  law degree from Yale in 1973. Soon thereafter she was appointed to the Impeachment Inquiry staff, in Washington DC, which advised the house committee regarding impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

When Bill was elected president, she was the first professional woman to serve as First Lady, and the first First Lady to have her own office in the West Wing.

After his presidency she became the first First Lady to launch her own campaign for an elected office, which she won, in 2001, becoming Senator Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton’s childhood was completely different. He was born William Jefferson Blythe III in 1946. His father, William J Blythe, died before he was born and his mother later married Roger Clinton.

As a teen, Bill officially changed his last name to Clinton, in part so that everyone in the household would have the same last name (he has a younger half brother).

After receiving his bachelors degree from Georgetown University, he went on to receive his law degree from Yale, where he met Hillary Rodham, the future Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He started his political career as the Arkansas Attorney General, and by 1978 had become one of the youngest ever governors of Arkansas.

In 1992 he ran for, and won, the election for U.S. President, against George  H. W. Bush and Ross Perot.

Of course, many of the displays detail his political career, especially his presidency. Walking through the halls of photos and information plaques, I was reminded that there was much to like about Bill Clinton as a president. I suppose that is also why he easily won re-election. As a man, he certainly isn’t perfect, but I feel like he accomplished so much as the leader of our country.

Some of my favorite accomplishments of his:

The first bill he ever signed into law was the Family and Medical Leave Act.

In 2000 he established Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. I have hiked here many times- including our recent trip to hike the Wave. It is fantastic that this place is protected.

He worked on Welfare reform- his goal- ending Welfare as we know it,  and decreasing dependence on government subsidies.

He was the first president in decades to commit to a balanced budget. It took years but in 1998, for the first time in a generation, the federal deficit officially hit Zero.  We have not had a balanced budget or surplus since Clinton left office.

This is so huge to me- an amazing feat and yet once he accomplished it we perhaps should have insisted upon it from that point on?

Each president gets to decorate the Oval Office any way they want, which of course would make it more personal and comfortable for them.

The same is not true of the Cabinet Room. Taking a short break, Paul and I sat at the table in the cabinet room replica,  and were soon joined by a volunteer who was extremely informative.

The room has remained essentially the same for decades- with two exceptions. In 1970, President Nixon gifted a new table to the administration. The old table was rectangular, making it difficult for everyone to be seen by all others at the table. The oval shape works much better.

Also, each president can decide which two portraits hang on the wall.

Cabinet meetings are held an average of once a week, more if necessary. The record was during the Bay of Pigs, when President Kennedy held cabinet meetings daily, and sometimes twice a day.

The protocol of who sits where is not determined by seniority, at least, not seniority of the individual at the table- it is decided by seniority of the position. So, for example, the Secretary of State sits next to the President even if he has held the position for a week because the Secretary of State position is the oldest.

All along the corridor are displays of gifts given to President Clinton.  You might think that there would be rules against our President accepting gifts from foreign leaders, but it was George Washington who decided it was virtually impossible to say no to every gift that was offered by a head of state.

Instead, he decided that these gifts would be gifts to the American people. Most of them are housed in the National Archives, or in Presidential Libraries. (gift from Chihuly)

There were many more displays than I can describe here. These were the ones that were highlights for me.

As a side note, there is a kiosk where you can call up any date during Clinton’s presidency, and a picture will pop up with his schedule for that date. It was kind of  fun looking at random dates and also makes you realize how scheduled they can be….

We had a second day to spend in the Little Rock area and after spending an entire day inside, we headed for Pinnacle Mountain State Park. There is a 3 mile loop to a peak that can be done from two different sides. They both reach the pinnacle, but one is harder going down ( always more of a challenge).

Well, we chose wrong and spent a long but doable 1.5 miles going up to the pinnacle. The trail is mostly bouldering, which is fun, if it isn’t too steep. It was slow but fine on the way up.

The views from the top made it all worthwhile …

But of course the more difficult route was going down. Making sure we were not going to fall can be a challenge on a trail like this.

Ah well, all in all it was fun.

Moving into Arkansas (5/1/25)

 At this point in our travels we have decided several things- we want to go to the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, and we really want to stop at the new National Park- New River Gorge National Park. Our “bookend” is our two week stay in Laurel Springs NC, to visit good friends that we haven’t seen in a long time. Our stay there begins May 14  so we have some time to see things along the way.

Our next stop was barely over the Arkansas border, in the small town of Fort Smith. I really liked this town, and the RV park we stayed in was new, and very well thought out.

In addition to housekeeping, we found time to visit the U.S. Marshal’s Museum.

The U.S. Marshal's Office is the oldest Federal law enforcement agency in the country.

 It was created in 1789 by George Washington when he signed the Judiciary Act of 1789.

 Their function was, and is, to support the federal courts and enforce the laws of the United States. Each judicial district has one Marshal, and however many deputy marshals are deemed necessary (some of them are even temporary).

Although one of their more noticeable jobs is to transport federal prisoners, it is just a small part of what they do. 

They are also responsible for apprehending fugitives, by whatever means they can. In 1985 Operation Flagship was put into play. Letters were sent out to 3000 fugitives, congratulating them on winning tickets to a football game. All they had to do was show up at a specific day and time to collect their tickets. Of course, once the fugitives were all assembled, they were placed under arrest. 144 fugitives were apprehended in this sting.

In the early days, there were also special marshals, called Frontier Marshals. As the name implies, they worked mostly out west where life was rougher and many of our states were just territories. Probably one of the most famous Frontier Marshals was Bass Reeves (apparently there is a TV show about him). Born into slavery, he escaped, and eventually became the first black deputy marshal west of the Mississippi. By some accounts he was responsible for capturing over 3000 fugitives. His intelligence and ingenuity seemed to be his most important weapons.

As more territories became states, the frontier was declared closed. So after 30 years as a deputy marshal, Reeves was out of a job. He finished out his career with the Muskogee Police Department.

Prohibition and desegregation were just two of the many areas where marshals played a huge role. In 1960 they were responsible for the safety of Ruby Bridges, a six year old black girl, as she attended an all white elementary school. They were also on hand to protect the first black man to attend a white university. Nothing was easy for these kids, so I give them a ton of credit for standing up. Ruby became an honorary marshal much later in her life.

The museum is very well done with several interactive displays – it’s  high on our list of best museums.

Leaving Fort Smith, our next 3 day stop was Compton Arkansas, in the Ozark mountains. No museum here, just hiking- and gorgeous sunsets.

This is the area where Buffalo River flows but its a bit early in the year to be on or in the water.

 

Our first hike was ok- 3 miles round trip to Hemmed in Hollow. If we had kept going we would have gotten a better view of the waterfall, but since we wanted to do another hike, we chose to turn back.

The second hike was much better- 3 miles round trip to “ Lost Valley”. This is a popular hike so we were certainly not alone.

The trail entailed crossing over a stream several times but luckily the water wasn’t too high.

The payoff for the hike was a couple of decent waterfalls and some cool rock formations.

Sometimes its better to have a person in the picture, to get some perspective.

Now it's on to Little Rock.

S '23, Ep. 6 Leadville, CO (08-05-23)

 At 10,152 feet, Leadville is the highest city in Colorado. I was a little nervous about staying at that high an elevation, but we both did pretty good. Once in a while, for no apparent reason, we would feel short of breath, but it passed pretty fast.

Leadville is surrounded by the highest peaks in Colorado- Mount Elbert and Mount Massive. A local woman was telling me that her friends from Washington are surprised the mountains aren’t taller- they seem shorter than the peaks in Washington. To which she replied “Ah yes, but we are already standing at over 10,000 feet, and still looking up”.

We started out slowly by heading to the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. With such a small town having a mining museum, it gives an indication as to the origins of the town.

Indeed, gold was discovered in Leadville in 1860, but the town came into being during the silver boom of the 1870s. The population grew to a record 30,000 (compared to 3000 right now). Many of the people living here today are descendants of the original families.

Before the California, or even the Colorado Gold Rush, the southeastern states were producing gold at such a fast rate that the Philadelphia Mint couldn’t handle it all, and 3 other Mints had to be created to turn all the gold into coins. Even so, when large deposits of gold were discovered in California, The California Gold Rush became the greatest mass migration in United States history.

The first section of the museum focused on industrial minerals- the every day minerals that we don’t think about.

Another section of the museum was similar to a fun house, in my mind.

 I walked through a tunnel , staying “on the tracks” and it took me through a “mine”, showing what I presumed I would see if I was in a real mine. It was actually well done.

There is a “fun facts” display that insists that nearly all of the gold found in the last 6000 years is still in use, and that an ounce of gold can be hammered into a 100 square foot sheet. Obviously gold is very malleable, so it can spread itself very thin but I guess that explains why it can be used in printed circuit boards.

Our first hike in the area took us to the back side of nearby Turquoise Lake. I admit I was excited to see this lake in the sunshine, so it could “light up”, but it turns out it got its name from the fact that there are so many turquoise deposits nearby. The lake was pretty, but certainly not turquoise.

Our hike took us past the ruins of Douglass City, an old, abandoned mining town, to the Hagerman Tunnel.

Along the way we passed by pretty ponds, and several small waterfalls. The hike was a good one, about 6 miles long and 700 ft of gain.

I did not venture into the tunnel- I was happy to sun myself on a nearby rock while I waited for Paul. As it turns out, he didn’t go too far into the tunnel because the entrance is a sheet of ice. Good Call.

Of course, the major history of the area is mining, so we looked for things we could do related to that. We had already toured the nearby Molly Kathleen Mine (one of my favorite mine tours) but Tripadvisor says that the Capital Prize Gold Mine tour is one of the best. It’s in Georgetown, about an hour drive from where we are staying, so, off we went.

The entrance to the property gave me a sinking feeling about the quality of the tour because it was basically a yard full of old cars and junk that no one bothered to get rid of. The entrance to the mine is barely noticeable. However, the tour itself was really good. It was different from any other mine tour we had taken.

 

Our guide is from Slovakia, and comes from a long line of miners. She was personable, knowledgeable, and fun. 

This is what is called an “active mine”. I assumed that meant they are fully mining and are making money at it. What it actually means is that there is definitely gold here, and they are actively looking for “the mother lode”. If they had already found it, it would be a “producing mine”. So, now I know.

Putting on our helmets, we went underground- our first stop being the “Shaker Table”. It is actually one of the last steps once gold ore is found. After being crushed, the gold containing rock is shaken. The heavier minerals settle out on the bottom, leaving everything else behind. Gold “nuggets” would not be found in this environment- they would be found in a stream, where small pieces of gold sink and because they are so soft, adhere to other pieces of gold, creating a nugget.

I learned a lot on this tour ( and wrote an appropriate review) in a way that was anything but boring. One of the things I learned was the differences between an Adit, a tunnel, and a shaft. A tunnel has an opening at both ends, an Adit goes horizontally into a hill, and a shaft is vertical.

As we walked further into the mine, we passed by a shaft and she asked us how deep it looked. After we all gave our answers, she laughed and said its about 2 feet deep. The effect is done with mirrors.

One of the “fun facts” we learned is that the “honey wagon” was brought in on the same rail tracks that loaded the ore and took it out. Because the tracks were put in at a slope to make it easier for full ore cars to leave the mine, a chain was put across the tracks to keep the cars in place. As a joke, sometimes someone would “remove/yank” the chain, and the car would move down the track. Not great for the person who was using it as a commode. So, the term “don’t yank my chain” was coined. True story- look it up.

As we walked further into the mine, we were able to see veins that contain a lot of gold in them.

After our tour, and lunch, we continued up the scenic drive high up above Georgetown to Guanella Pass. We got out and admired the scenery several times, but this wasn’t our day for hiking.

The other hike we Did do, was a trail around Turquoise Lake. There are several, and its a big lake, so our goal was to hike 2 or so miles to the historic lodge and then turn around- and that’s what we did. By the time we finished the sky was spitting out water, so we were glad we hadn’t gone further.

Apparently we did a lot of things in Leadville, because I am not finished.

There is a train ride you can take from Leadville –it calls itself a scenic ride, and it was.

It didn’t feel like it had the historic value of other train rides we have taken, but once in a while the scenery was good.

We were glad were sitting inside when the heavens opened on our way back. I admit, I walked outside just to see what the hail felt like.

Being a historic town, we of course wanted to walk the historic downtown. The Silver Dollar Saloon opened in 1875 and still serves drinks, but we decided to pass.

As we walked along the boardwalk, we passed a store called Melanzana Outdoor Clothing. This is a custom made clothing store- all of the clothes are made here in Leadville. When we entered, we were assured that they were happy to show us around, but there is nothing we can buy. Literally nothing. The way it works is that you make an appointment for a fitting. At that time you are allowed to order two articles of clothing. They specialize in hoodies, and inner/outer layers. The next available appointment? January. I said Kudos to them for finding a niche.

Along the same quirky lines was the restaurant we chose for dinner, Quincy Steak and Spirits. As we entered and requested a table for 2, the hostess replied “certainly…and are you familiar with our menu?”  We were. The menu has 3 entrees on it. Filet Mignon (3 sizes), lasagna, and Mac and Cheese. There is no choice of vegetable- you get a salad. The meal also comes with a baked potato- no other choice.

The meal was incredible, as was the ambiance. Comfortable seating in a lounge type setting. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

In our downtime in Leadville, we made friends with the mountain bikers who were here for a race, and we sat by the fire while watching the hail and rain fall.

As a side note- driving around this area of Colorado, we several times drove north or south on Rte 9. This area has taken part in a wildlife study since 2016.. Along the highway, a variety of escape routes and wildlife overpasses and underpasses were created. This area had a large amount of wildlife-vehicle collisions, mostly involving deer, but also elk and moose etc. Over the course of the study they determined that there was a 96% reduction in collisions.

In addition to deer, at least 15 other species, including bears and  mountain lions, have been recorded using the overpasses.