Tuesday, February 19, 2008

day 10: little rock part 2

Today started off on an unexpectedly sad note for me. My grandpa Glynn Alford (whom we affectionately called "Get-Get"), died this morning. For the past 10 years, he'd been suffering from senile dementia and had slowly lost his memory, verbal skills, and physical ability. Get-Get was a great man, and I am proud that he was my grandfather. Plus, he taught me how to pronounce "Mississippi," when I used to say "Mithithippi." I'm glad that he's in a better place right now where he can talk, walk, and laugh again!

I think we finally got out of the house around 1pm today. Juli's uncle had a plethora of suggestions to satisfy our tourist urges, and our first stop was a place called Pinnacle Mountain. (Coming from Colorado, whenever anyone mentions the word "mountain," I'm glad they quickly follow with the explanation: "well, they aren't like your mountains." I'm not going to lie that we Coloradans can be quite snobby with the definition of a mountain.) Anyway, the weather was quite warm, and we proceeded to hike up (sometimes jumping up on big rocks) and enjoy the views.

Our next stop was the River Market District, right along the Arkansas River. Little Rock certainly surprised me with its English pubs, trolleys, fair-trade shops, and art galleries. Oh, not to mention the Bill Clinton Museum Store, filled with "I miss Bill" on everything imaginable. What was even more surprising to me is that not a single woman could be found walking around outside. The only one we saw was our waitress... where were all the females hiding? And why were all the men wearing polo shirts? Quite strange...

Our favorite quote of the day happened just as we were leaving: noticing our Colorado license plates, a guy stopped Dann and Reid and asked them where in Colorado we were from. After saying "Boulder," the guy replied, "Wow, so you're really in a big city now." ? Little Rock? Really?

Driving home, we made ourselves laugh by belting out "Time After Time" in the worst harmonies ever, followed by "Rootless Tree." We may have caught it all on video... to maybe appear someday somewhere. ;)

What we should have captured was Dann trying to cure Tifah of her hiccups. After his drinking-water-from-a-washcloth trick didn't work, he proceeded to jump out numerous times from behind the couches and scare her. Which also didn't work, because we all just laughed hysterically. Reid tried to contribute by punching her in the stomach, but (surprise) that didn't work either. After a few hours, I'm happy to report she is cured!

(Oh, and I am keeping my lips sealed about the movie from last night. I think it's funny that you're so curious... maybe it should be a contest, and whoever guesses correctly will win something from some band called The Autumn Film...?!)

6 comments:

Terese Cox said...

Sorry to hear about your grandpa, Aubs. I will certainly be praying for you and your fam.

Your stories of Little Rock made my heart smile...going to LR from Arkadelphia was certainly going to the "big city" for us! There's no place quite like Arkansas (written in a serious, yet sarcastic tone)! Ahh, memories!

Moving Rushmore said...

My Gram had Alzheimer's for close to 10 years. Hard stuff. As for worst movie ever, do we get a genre to guess in?

Kim for the Kings said...

Thanks for sharing, Aubs. Praying for you and your fam. Can't wait to have you here in the fall!!!

Shutterbugg02 said...

Sweet Ga-Ga... or Get-Get as your family called him. So funny how we had such similar, but different names for the same person... :-)

There IS a cure for hiccups... however, it sounds boring compared to your methods... It's hard to explain, but it WORKS. :-)

Andy McCullough said...

Sad to read about your grandfather's passing. Hard I am sure for you being on the road too. But glad he is in a better place for sure.

mandy said...

I love you very very much, sweet friend.