Dogtown

A few weeks back, some massive storms brought some heavy rains to the state. In between the rounds of storms, I managed to find time to head out and try to take a few pictures. I drove over to North Little Rock, and went through Burns Park. The first stop was the old pioneer cabin, which was built before the Civil War.



Across the street from the cabin is a concrete path that heads up a hill to a small cemetery.



A little bit of fog began to develop, slightly obscuring the vibrant green of the tree's new Spring leaves.



And then I headed down to the old covered bridge:





I grew up in North Little Rock, so I felt it was my civic duty to make a visit to The Old Mill. I arrived and was a little surprised to see that there wasn't anyone else there. I guess the heavy storms kept everyone else away, but it was a little strange to have the entire place to myself. The only other creatures there were some ducks, who lazily drifted about in the water.



My grandparents used to live in Lakewood, just a few blocks away from the Old Mill. So I've made tons of trips to the Old Mill over the years, and I don't think I've ever seen this much water flowing over the waterfall here.





And from there I headed to the edge of North Little Rock, where the city meets the flat lands of the Arkansas Delta. Sitting in a field is an old house, slowly collapsing away.





A guard dog approached and barked a few times and then headed over to the field and posed for a few pictures by the old house.

Burns Park

I drove through Burns Park the other day, the first time I've been there since the park reopened after last year's tornado. The damage there was immense. The little Funland amusement park was completely destroyed. Many of the park's pavilions were damaged, along with the RV Park and the soccer fields. But the most notable change is the trees - or the lack of them. The tornado took down over 20,000 trees in just Burns Park alone. You can easily trace the path of the tornado through the park, following the long gash where it looks like the forest was mercilessly clear-cut.

But the tornado just narrowly missed a few of the park's most notable landmarks. The old pioneer cabin, built in the 1850s, was just outside the tornado's path.





Luckily a lot of the park's forest remain undamaged:





And the Burns Park covered bridge was undamaged by the storm as well.



Which is good, since all residents of North Little Rock are contractually obligated to get at least one portrait taken at either the Old Mill or the Burns Park covered bridge (I say as a native of Dogtown).





It'll be interesting to see how the park changes, as new growth replaces the lost trees and a new Funland is built.

Burns Park

Last weekend we took the kids to Burns Park in North Little Rock to visit a few playgrounds and burn off some energy. We stopped and had a little picnic at this spot, which while not as exciting as the Rocket Slide did look kinda neat with the infrared camera:

North Little Rock

As a proud native of North Little Rock, I was pleased to head back to my Dogtown roots and check out a few places in my hometown that were showing off some good fall colors a few weeks back. My first stop was The Old Mill, which I know is a popular spot but it's one of my favorite places to drop in for pictures. My grandparents used to live just a few blocks away, so I have made many visits to this landmark over the years. On this visit, it was surprisingly empty of people (probably because it was pouring rain). In fact there were more ducks here than people, and they didn't seem to mind me trying to take a few pictures.





From there I headed over to Burns Park, where I stopped to get a few pictures in the rain. This path actually lead to a small cemetery.



The person buried in the small cemetery actually lived in the small cabin the sits nearby, which was built before the Civil War. I think this humble little cabin is actually the oldest building in all of the North Little Rock.



I drove a bit down the road and stopped to get this shot. Luckily there wasn't much traffic that day.



I headed over to the covered bridge, where a strong wind had picked up and created a sort of "leaf-fall," where the trees shedded their leaves in mass and sent them falling down in a sort of cascade. You can kind of see it in this shot, where the leaves created a few brownish-orange streaks against the red of the bridge.



And one last shot from Burns Park, from inside the covered bridge showing off the fall colors that were there before the wind knocked them all of the trees....