Out In The Snow

Enough of the snow had finally melted and I got the car out and tried to get a few pictures. The original plan was to go to Burns Park, but it was gated shut. So instead I went to downtown Little Rock to look around.



The first stop was MacArthur Park and the Museum of Fine Arts. Some bumps in the snow were catching the late afternoon light and creating some interesting shadows.



The museum was open, and it looked like there was a wedding being set up inside. I can't imagine how much stress that bride went through when that much snow dropped right before the wedding.



And then the old Little Rock Arsenal building, surrounded by a blanket of snow:







From there I headed over to the Old State House (The Snowld State House?). It looks like it hadn't opened at all since the snow started, since the sidewalks and grounds hadn't been cleared of snow yet.





I headed down Markham Street and ended up at Union Station, which had a few tracks through the snow in the parking lot.



It was starting to get dark when I got to the State Capitol building.



A path had been cleared on the sidewalk, although it was still icy on the steps (maybe I should have slipped and fallen so I could sue the state for damages!). If you look closely, you can see someone built a little snowman on the steps.



And this is the view from the Capitol, looking down Capitol Avenue towards downtown.



It was starting to get dark, but I made one last stop along Capitol Avenue. This is the view looking back up the street towards the Capitol. The snow has a bit of a yellow tint on it, which is from the sodium vapor street lights (instead of the usual cause of yellow snow).

Snow Day

I didn't really believe the predictions that we'd get much snow last week. I guess I have residual trauma from when I was a kid and winter storms would hit other parts of the state and somehow miss us. It was painful to get up early to watch the local news to see the long list of closed schools scroll across the bottom of the screen, only to see your school name sitting next to the word "OPEN."

So I woke up Friday morning and was a little surprised to see a thick blanket of snow covering our front yard. This is our birdbath, with about 10 inches of snow on it.



And the tall oak trees in the neighbor's yard, coated with snow:



We live in a hilly area, and our street always turns a bit treacherous during winter storms. So usually we try to avoid driving anywhere if we can, but I did get out early that morning and walked through the neighborhood to look at the snow before it got all trampled.

Walked by this fire hydrant, which hadn't had any yellow snow added to it yet by any passing dogs.



A few cars had gotten out, this is the view along Breckenridge Road.



And then I headed down to the neighborhood park, with its old playground equipment. It was kinda funny how the snow decided to take a slide down the slide.









And the diving board at the pool. Will have to remember this photo in a few months when it's a 103 degrees outside.



And I was probably being watched closely by the CCTVs (or the IcyTVs).







And then one last photo, of a small creek that flows through the neighborhood. The snow makes it look a lot prettier than it does the rest of the year:



While the hills make it hard to drive, they do make for some good sledding. The rest of the day was spent watching the kids sled, making an attempt at building a snowman, and then sitting inside in the heat (luckily it wasn't an ice storm and the power didn't go out).

Downtown Snow

After a few days of below-freezing temperatures, it finally warmed up enough for all of the massive amounts of snow to start melting. When enough of it had melted to allow my little car to traverse our hilly street, I headed out to take a few pictures downtown. The first stop that night was at MacArthur Park and the old Little Rock Arsenal Building.



The Arsenal Building was built in 1840 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.





The old Arsenal Building is now home to the Arkansas Museum of Military History. It shares MacArthur Park with the newly rebranded Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, which is currently undergoing a massive restoration. The construction site looked like it had been busy, even with all of the recent snows.



I headed back to the car and then drove around downtown, eventually parking along Second Street by the US Bankruptcy Courthouse. The courthouse was built in 1881 and originally served as Little Rock's courthouse and post office.



I walked over to the Old State House, which is also one of the oldest buildings in the city (it dates back to the 1830s). Although a lot of the snow had already melted, there was still a nice carpet of snow coating the grounds of the museum.





I slid a little in the snow and ice that remained on the sidewalk in front of the Old State House, which made it interesting to set up a tripod.



Around this time it began raining. Since I forgot an umbrella and it was also starting to get late, I decided to head home. As I got closer to home, the falling rain mixed with the snow on the ground and created a neat but eerie fog that hung low to the ground.

Snow!

Well what a difference a week makes. Today it was sunny with a high near 70 degrees. But last week the temperatures dropped down to Zero, and two back-to-back storms dumped about 15 inches of snow on Little Rock. In my lifetime of growing up in central Arkansas, we've had quite a few memorable winter storms (among the best was the one in the late 80s that caused school to be out for like two weeks), but this was by far the most snow that has fallen here in many decades.





My car is not great at handling icy conditions, and we also live in a hilly area, so I didn't really try to get out and drive. But one night I did take a little walk out into the snow to take a few pictures around the neighborhood.



I went by the small neighborhood park, where the snow fell steadily on the playground.





And for some reason no one seemed too interested in eating at the picnic tables...



Thick snow had already piled up around the neighborhood pool, and I pointed the camera through the fence for a few pictures. About a foot of snow had fallen on the diving board.



And snow covered the pool chairs where during the summer people sat and worked on their tans.



As I walked along the fence I stopped to get a few pictures of the shadows spreading across the snow...



And then a few other pictures from the park...





Jonah, who just turned five, did enjoy building a snowman and doing some sledding. But I think he got tired of the snow after a few days (and having to dress in about 10 layers of clothes to go outside). Elliott, who just turned six months old, had been very fussy with what turned out to be an ear infection. Of course, due to the weather, the pediatrician's office was closed (and we couldn't have driven out anyways). Luckily the doctor did a virtual appointment, and we were able to get some medicine for him. But having to work from home, with one sick baby and one energetic five year old, defintely made this a memorable winter storm. Here is a shot of me and Jonah, before we made an attempt at sledding. Hopefully Jonah got some happy memories from this week of snow and ice.



Eventually the snow started melting, which made some interesting patterns under the tree in our front yard.