Oh, Little Rock!

I returned Saturday night from a wonderful visit to Little Rock, Arkansas for the 2011 NWP Rural Sites Network Conference. Not only was the program great, but the city was fun as well! And, it was great to be around NWP peeps (as usual). Given the current funding circumstances, it was especially great to network and catch up with the teachers from across the country. I would say that people were in good spirits and ready to fight the good fight to try to get NWP funding back into the federal budget. One of the best parts of the conference was hearing Spirit Trickey speak about her work, her life, and her mom (Minnijean Brown Trickey) of the Little Rock Nine). She was very inspiring, and I left feeling really empowered!

Sunset over the Arkansas River
And now, for the fun part. Yes, those are ducks you see swimming in the Peabody Hotel fountain:


Legend has it that the general manager of the original Peabody Hotel in Memphis had a little too much whiskey and left his live decoy ducks in the fountain. The guests loved it and they let them stay. Now days, the ducks are paraded twice a day on the red carpet for all to see:

Source

I took some video of the whole parade, but am working on making it into a movie with fun sounds and stuff. So, I'll post that later. If you ever get the chance to go to Little Rock, I would totally recommend it!