Fogside Pinnacle

Last Saturday was a cold and rainy winter day, which sometimes can make for some interesting pictures. So I headed west towards the Ouachita National Forest, which is just a relatively short drive from Little Rock. Along the way I passed by this old store, abandoned and empty. I'm assuming that Game Room probably used to host some rad Pac-Man games back in the day.



I ended up driving the bumpy dirt road that leads to Flatside Pinnacle, which was transformed into miles of slick mud by all the heavy rains that day. The car slid in a few spots, but managed to get by ok (other than getting completely covered in mud). There were also many stretches where the road disappeared in the thick fog.







Unsurprisingly, there weren't a lot of other people out driving there that day, for some reason.



I made the short hike up to the top of Flatside Pinnacle, which sits at an elevation of about 1,500 feet and was completely blanketed by fog.



Usually this is one of the best views in the state - where you can see miles and miles of wooded hills stretching off into the distance. This was the view the last time I was here:


The rocks along the top of the mountain were covered with a wide variety of mosses and lichen, which glowed a vibrant green against the dull browns of the foggy winter woods.



I started to head home since it was starting to get darker and foggier, but did try to get one last shot along the way (and somehow didn't manage to get stuck in the mud).

There's No Place Like Dome For The Holidays

Streaks of light from cars passing beneath the Arkansas State Capitol, which was decked out in thousands of lights for the holiday season.

Downtown Sunset

I was lucky enough last week to be able to catch a nice little sunset over downtown Little Rock, which was reflected in the still waters of the Arkansas River.



A few months back, the waters weren't quite as still. The river was in a major flood stage, and Riverfront Park in North Little Rock was under several feet of water. You can still see evidence of the flooding - the sidewalks have been repaved after the currents ripped up the concrete. There are still huge mounds of sand and dirt that was deposited by the flood waters.



And one final shot of the skyline, where a few buildings were showing off some Christmas lights.

Riding The Rails

The path that the trolley that runs throughout downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock follows isn't all that long, but it does manage to hit some notable locations. It runs by the River Market, the Clinton Presidential Library, Main Street Argenta, the Old State House, the Historic Arkansas Museum, King Friday's Castle, the Great Oak Tree and even the home of Grandpere Tiger (I may be getting these mixed up with some locations that the trolley from Mr. Rogers visits in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe). But every winter, the trollies are decked out with some Christmas lights and decorations, which do a good job brightening up the streets at night. So I made an attempt at getting a a few shots of some of the trollies as they slowly made their way through downtown Little Rock. This was taken while looking down President Clinton Avenue by the River Market.



A few blocks away, the lights of the trolley were reflected in some buildings along Markham Street near the Old State House.



And then one last shot, with a blur of lights from the streetcar passing by the brightly-lit Old State House.

Capitol Fireworks

We headed out last weekend to see the fireworks show at the State Capitol, which happens right when about 100,000 holiday lights are switched on for the season. This year, the state changed things up and placed fireworks all along the roof of the building and the dome (which burned red and eerily looked like the dome was on fire at times). But we had set up on a hill behind the capitol which usually provides a good view, but this year most of the fireworks seemed to be aimed towards the front. It was still a good little show. Jonah watched and asked to see it again as soon as it ended.