I took the scenic drive on the way home from Collins Creek, which followed a few different country roads. And along those roads there were a few barns, which I dutifully stopped to get pictures of.
This old barn is in the small town of Pangburn, just across the street from a Dollar General and an abandoned building that used to house a "Tobacco and Tackle" store.
Just south of Searcy I stopped by this field again, and got a few more pictures:
It's finally prime waterfall season here in Arkansas. But there's just one problem - we've barely had any rain this year. Most of the state has been classified as being under a drought, which isn't ideal for waterfalls. But luckily there is a place that is guaranteed to have water running year-round, even in the most driest of conditions. So a few weeks ago, I headed up for a quick visit to Collins Creek.
Along the way there were some neat barns, so of course I had to pull over and try to get a few pictures:
And then I finally made it to Collins Creek, which runs year-round because water is piped in from nearby Greers Ferry Lake. The constant flow of water helps serve as a habitat for trout, and as a playground for landscape photographers.
One the way out, I stopped by the overlook by the dam that creates the lake. The concrete dam was completed in 1962 and was dedicated by President Kennedy in October of 1963, one of his last major public appearances. The park here is named in his honor.
And one last shot, of a bridge passing over the Little Red River. There were a few people out fishing in the river nearby.
We had spent the day in Searcy visiting family, and it was time to head back home. But we didn't make it very far, I had to pull the car over just south of town as the sky erupted in the golden colors of sunset. Of course I didn't have my big camera with me, but the cell phone camera did a fairly good job at capturing it all.
It's easy to spot the Tindall Dryer as you drive south from Stuttgart, as it prominently stands tall against the flat lands of the Delta.
I was there with Deepak Kumar, a photographer who excels at astrophotography. While we were waiting for it to get dark, I had some time to take a quick peek inside the old rice dryer. The interior was filled with the random flotsam that seems to accumulate in places like this - haphazardly stacked pieces of wood, plastic buckets and broken glass. Next to a window sat this old cash register, completely covered with a layer of rust.
The rice dryer was probably built sometime around the 1950s. And it worked by somehow drying....the rice? OK I admit I'm not an expert on it. But it must have been a really busy spot at harvest time for several decades. And it probably stopped being used as more modern rice facilities were built in Stuttgart.
A bunch of wildflowers were already growing in the grass surrounding the dryer:
On the way home we stopped to get pictures at another old rice dryer, which was lit only by the light of the full moon. We weren't the only ones out there, we were quickly surrounded by a swarm of mosquitoes (it seemed too early in the year to have to be dealing with mosquitoes!).
If you travel north from downtown St. Louis it fees like you're heading into a different city. The fancy stadiums and ballparks are far in the rearview mirror. Gone are the manicured grounds of the Gateway Arch. Instead you see blocks of abandoned homes and lots that are home to nothing but piles or rubble or grass.
I was passing through and had to pull over and stop at the remains of this old church - The St. Augustine Catholic Church. It was built in 1896, but closed in 1982 as the congregation dwindled. The church was sold and used by a different congregations for a few years. But then the church would be permanently closed, and left abandoned. The building would suffer several fires and was almost entirely torn down in 2024, except for the steeple. It still stands as a reminder of the historic church that once stood here for over a century.
At one point, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country and had a population of over 800,000 people. But now the city has a population of around 300,000. The drop in population seems to have hit the neighborhoods of north St. Louis the hardest.
I'm not an expert on St. Louis by any means, and I've been trying to do some research on this area. According to the website "Built St. Louis," this area declined for several reasons - like unemployment, middle-class flight, racism, population loss, housing age, highway construction, redlining and negative perceptions.
It's surprising to see so many abandoned homes, especially in an area so close to downtown. It seems like it would be an ideal place for redevelopment.
It was sad and eerie, but it makes you wonder what these neighborhoods were like in the past. Back when the streets weren't quiet and empty. Back when the abandoned homes weren't empty and crumbling. When this area was filled with people and life.
One of the things that you are contractually obligated to do when you’re in St. Louis is go to the top of the Arch, so we of course took the kids over to the massive monument along the Mississippi River. I was eager to take a few pictures from the top, trying out a few different lenses (primarily the fisheye). I carried my big camera bag with me through downtown, through the park, through security, and into the tiny little elevator that goes to the top. When we finally arrived at the observation area, I got my camera out and turned it on. Or tried to turn it on. Turns out that I forgot something – the battery. It was sitting on the charger, back in our hotel room. Whoops.
The amount of time you have at the top is short – only about ten minutes. I managed to get a few pictures with my cell phone before we were herded back into the elevators and sent back down to the ground.
Later on the trip we got a bit of a different view of downtown, this time from the St. Louis Wheel. The Ferris wheel sits by Union Station, and stands 200 feet tall.
Our hotel was right by Union Station, the massive old train station that sits on the edge of downtown St. Louis. The station was built in 1894, and was the largest and busiest train station in the world when it opened.
Ridership at the station peaked in the 1940s, when it saw over 100,000 passengers per day. But by the 1970s, rail travel had declined significantly. The last Amtrak train left the station in 1978, and the once-grand station fell into disrepair. A few scenes for Escape From New York were filmed inside the empty station, like this scene filmed in the Great Hall:
A few years later, the station underwent a massive renovation and was converted into a fancy hotel and an indoor mall.
And here you can see the lights on the wheel, reflected in the windows of a hotel across the street.
From there I headed closer to the river, and ended up at the top of a parking deck that provided a pretty nice view of the Old Court House and the Gateway Arch.
I had to pay $4 to drive around the parking deck and get these shots...
From the Old Courthouse I headed a few blocks over to the Old Cathedral (formally called the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France). And the Old Cathedral is indeed old, dating back to 1834.
And then I headed back over to the Arch for a few pictures (and this time I remembered to bring the camera battery).
It was a cold night, and the park grounds were quiet and devoid of other tourists and people. Except for a park ranger who drove by, I was the only person out there.
It was starting to get late and I needed to get back to the hotel, but I stopped by one of the ponds in the park for one last shot of the Arch. There wasn't much wind, and the Arch was perfectly reflected in the still waters.
