The deep south: day 3 (8/15)
LITTLE ROCK - After a quick tour of Louisiana Tech's athletic facilities and a quick gas-up, it was off to breakfast at the Daylight Donuts of Ruston. While not as comprehensive as Dunkin', Daylight did have combo meals(?!), of which I took advantage: two plain donuts and a kolache (ham and cheese in a pastry wrap).
From there on, it was a three-hour straight shot up US 167 into Little Rock, where we checked in to our room just after noon. The Red Roof is under some hard-core renovation - currently the first floor - so we may have spooked the front desk into giving us a second-floor room that housekeeping hadn't yet cleaned. Apologies flew from both sides as I moved the luggage down the hall.
For lunch, Chad was happy that his favorite West Coast franchise (previous stops: WA, UT) made it over the Rockies: the Black Bear Diner. So he went directly for the Bear Claw French Toast.
We headed back across the Arkansas River to the Central High School historical site, a still-active high school which showed a great country what racism looked like. We also did some drive-by tourism of the state capitol and the Clinton Library & Museum before returning to the hotel to veg.
I had wanted to go to the Agasi 7 Rooftop Bar downtown for dinner before the game, but I couldn't drag Chad out of his afternoon nap soon enough. So instead, we took the early trip to Dickey-Stephens Park, picked up our tickets, and then split up for dinner: him to the concourse, me to Reno's several blocks away on Main Street.
The Arkansas Travelers are named after the state song (the tune of "I'm Bringing Home A Baby Bumblebee") and are the longest-tenured team in the Texas League (1963), but tonight they had to play the neighbors to the northwest, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. (Not creative, but, meh.) Sadly, the home team couldn't get the offensive gears grinding, as the Naturals won 5-2.
From there on, it was a three-hour straight shot up US 167 into Little Rock, where we checked in to our room just after noon. The Red Roof is under some hard-core renovation - currently the first floor - so we may have spooked the front desk into giving us a second-floor room that housekeeping hadn't yet cleaned. Apologies flew from both sides as I moved the luggage down the hall.
For lunch, Chad was happy that his favorite West Coast franchise (previous stops: WA, UT) made it over the Rockies: the Black Bear Diner. So he went directly for the Bear Claw French Toast.
We headed back across the Arkansas River to the Central High School historical site, a still-active high school which showed a great country what racism looked like. We also did some drive-by tourism of the state capitol and the Clinton Library & Museum before returning to the hotel to veg.
I had wanted to go to the Agasi 7 Rooftop Bar downtown for dinner before the game, but I couldn't drag Chad out of his afternoon nap soon enough. So instead, we took the early trip to Dickey-Stephens Park, picked up our tickets, and then split up for dinner: him to the concourse, me to Reno's several blocks away on Main Street.
The Arkansas Travelers are named after the state song (the tune of "I'm Bringing Home A Baby Bumblebee") and are the longest-tenured team in the Texas League (1963), but tonight they had to play the neighbors to the northwest, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. (Not creative, but, meh.) Sadly, the home team couldn't get the offensive gears grinding, as the Naturals won 5-2.