Arkansas - Land of Adventure!

As if the butterflies of attending the first ever Garden2Blog event with P. Allen Smith weren't enough, Mother Nature decided to provide us with some of her best today. As some of the 20 garden bloggers attempted to make their way to Little Rock, planes were delayed, flights were canceled and little did we know that the day would end with some drama.

Personally, my flights from Ft. Wayne to Chicago to Little Rock were uneventful, other than a warning from the pilot on the way to Little Rock that we were expecting a rough flight at some point. I've flown in worse, but the text messages I was receiving let me know that others were having a much different experience.

Jenny Peterson, who was coming from Austin and was supposed to be my roommate tonight, ended up being stuck in Dallas. Laura Mathews, coming from Pennsylvania, was supposed to share a ride from the airport with me. Her flight was canceled and she finally arrived at the hotel around 9:00.

"We hope we all arrived safely at our destination."
~pilot on Laura Mathews' flight

I arrived at the Capital Hotel in downtown Little Rock around 4:30 and as I tweeted and checked in on Foursquare, "P. Allen Smith sure knows how to treat a girl."  The hotel is an historic one and is by far the nicest hotel I've stayed in. Oozing with class and charm, I could spend an entire day just exploring its halls and architecture and sipping delicious lemonade (provided fresh daily in the lobby) on the covered balcony on the second floor.

Second floor balcony

I got a personal tour of the kitchen and bakery by the Director of Rooms Division, Nick Bradley-Hole. Seeing the pristine kitchen and the staff in action was a treat. As he was showing me the wine cellar, Shirley Bovshow, from Garden World Report magically appeared. It was great to meet up with her and after the tour concluded, I joined her in her room for some catching up on our respective lives.

 

We met others in the lobby at 7:00 - Jean Ann van Krevelen, Mary Ellen Pyle, Melinda Jones, Mike Lieberman, Jackie D'Elia and Teresa O'Connor. The weather outside was pretty ominous and certainly captured everyone's attentions, but we went in the hotel's Capital Bar & Grill to get something to eat.

Under a tornado warning from the time I'd arrived, it was thundering and lightening at a pretty good rate outside and the rain was coming down in sheets. Lights were flickering and we no sooner got our food when the staff told us to leave everything, as we were being taken to shelter in the ballroom. The tornado sirens were wailing and the room filled up with guests, diners, and staff.

Front row: Robin Horton, Teresa O'Connor, me, Jean Ann van Krevelen
Back row: Shirley Bovshow, Jackie D'Elia, and Mike Lieberman

It was somewhat of a party atmosphere, if you can imagine that. We were perhaps in the room for half an hour when we were allowed to return to our previous activities. The meal was finished without incident and our dining party eventually grew to include others - Chris Sabbarese from Corona Tool, Robin Horton, Kerry Michaels, and Laura Mathews.

We spent the evening eating, drinking and generally being merry, talking about the weather, blogging, the event, and what shoes we were going to wear the next day. We're looking forward to another eventful two days - just not of the weather variety.