Little Rock Part Dos

First of all, valet parking makes me nervous.

I get so anxious and concerned that did something wrong.
I'm not sure if there is a true incorrect way to get out of your car unless you fall out of it or climb through the window, but I always think I did something wrong.
Miles before we reach the hotel, I have to have all the contents of my purse inside my purse and not spilled out and strewn between the front and back seats. I have to dispose of candy wrappers, Starbucks bottles, casserole dishes, cake pans and all the other snacking material we bring on 5 hour trips.
Then there is the moment where you have to make a quick desicion about who is going to get the luggage, my make-up/getting-ready tote bag, and the mass of pillows we bring.
I don't want to be the only idiot carrying her own possessions. This is a classy joint.

So we made it through check-in just fine.

The Peabody had more than just ducks in the lobby.

They like soap in the shape of a duck.

Pictures of ducks on the coasters.

Ducks on the notepad.

And even..

These telephones were scattered all over the common areas.

And all of them had a personalized note just for us next to them.

Yeah, right.

We were 4th floor guests.

They don't do that sort of thing for mere 4th floor guests.

The views of the river were great.

However, we were forbidden not allowed directly discouraged from exploring all the view-points.

The Little Rock River Festival was going on the same weekend we were there.

The rude lady that told us we couldn't walk around the hotel we had paid to stay in direct lady informed us that some people tried to go through the hotel grounds and attend the festival without paying.

We informed her that wasn't a problem with us, because we didn't want to attend the festival, we just wanted to take pictures.

She repeated her statement about it being 'off limits'.

We again assured her we had no interest in going to the River Festival but would like to go down a few levels of the hotel's outside balconies.

She then repeated the same statement.

We tried to convey to her not only our lack of desire to attend the festival, but also how we loathed crowds and it was entirely too hot to be in one, but she didn't budge.

We got our pictures though.

The next morning while I was snoozing because I was in a king sized bed with about 12 pillows, the hotel had a late check out, the air conditioner was set on 65, and the curtains blocked 99% of the blinding sunlight, Mr. Z went down and took some early morning shots.

Because most of the roads were closed down around the hotel for River Fest, we had to walk most anywhere we wanted to go in the vacinity of the hotel. There is some great architecture and great restaurants around.

Mr. Z did his research before he booked the hotel to find us the most accessible places.

We didn't quite get this.

I will let you draw your own conclusions.

We found a couple of restaurants that weren't too far from the hotel (if we drove) that we thought we would try. We picked up our car from the valet (no catastrophe), and headed to go eat mexican. Something we have both longed for since we left Texas. Due to roads being blocked off, we couldn't park close to the restaurant without paying to park in a parking lot. So we headed back to the hotel, and took off hiking.

We used the maps app for walking directions.

After a few new blisters and sweat damp clothes we were ready for some tea and fajitas.

Apparently we are not alone in our loathing of crowds.

They were closed.

Ok. We can handle this we told one another.

We will not break through the windows and raid their coolers.

We found another place we wanted to try.

0.3 miles away.

Bigger blisters and a little sweatier and much wearier, closed.

We remembered we had passed a little joint way back right next to the hotel that was open.

The Hop Diner.

As we walked through the door, we noticed several hand written signs.

One of which read: "This is not a fast food restaurant Please allow us time to make your food fresh"

You could tell it was written with a little attitude.

Immediately I liked this place.

Near the register there was another sign that read: "If you do not have time to put away your cell phone, we do not have time to serve you"

Maybe 4 minutes after we sat down one of the ladies that had obviously been there since the early shift walked over and put up the closed sign.

When the waitress came over she sat down at the table with us and asked if she could sit for a minute.

We welcomed her to our table and told her she could hide there for a while.

The crowd had hit them hard.

The food was great! Simple diner food.

With a water and sweet tea.

That's a great time.