Buffalo River

This has been a strange year for fall colors. It was really wet and cool in the summer, which made me hopeful that we would have a spectacular fall color season here. But then in late September and early October, it got hot and we didn’t get any rain. As a drought set in, many leaves started to turn a lackluster brown. The oak trees were hit the hardest, and most of them never recovered. It looked pretty doubtful that we’d have any fall colors again this year, just like last year.

But lo and behold, some trees really popped with color last week. So to take advantage of the colors, I met up with Zack and made a trip up to the Buffalo River. Zack has spent the past year driving around the country in his converted school bus, but is back home in Arkansas for a bit. We met up and headed north, and eventually ended up driving down this dirt road that ran deep into the woods by the Buffalo River.



We then headed to an overlook on Red Bluff, which provided a spectacular view of a horseshoe bend on the Buffalo River. Unfortunately, I think we were just a few days past the peak of fall color here.



We tried to be really careful here, since the overlook is not very big and a fall would result in an unhappy descent of about 200 feet through the trees and into the river. I tried to get a few pictures without getting too close to edge. This is the view looking downstream, with some bushes and trees along the river exploding in bright color.



And the view looking upstream. There was some strange moss or lichen growing on the trees here, which looked more like Spanish Moss.



From there we headed over to Tyler Bend and made another visit to the Buffalo River, but this time without any danger of falling off a bluff. Luckily there was still some good fall color along the river.



And one last shot from Tyler Bend, showing the bluffs along the river. We took a few pictures here and enjoyed the view before heading back towards home.

The Old Mill

Last Saturday, I made a quick trip over to The Old Mill in North Little Rock to check out the fall colors there. It was a cloudy and rainy day, and I was surprised that there weren't very many people there. Usually this place is packed with people, since it is a pretty little spot right in the middle of the city. And the fall colors were looking pretty good there.

Pensacola

From New Orleans, we then drove east into Florida to spend the rest of our vacation in Pensacola. It was a nice way to spend a few days, the beaches weren't very crowded and it wasn't very hot outside. The view from the hotel room wasn't too shabby either. This was the view one morning at sunrise.



And then the same view at night. This is about two hours of star trails above the Gulf of Mexico, with streaks of light on the beach from people walking around.



One day we headed out onto the beach around sunset, and while Jonah played I got a few pictures around the Pensacola Beach Pier. The pier runs 1,470 feet out into the Gulf of Mexico.







These shots were taken right after sunset, so I had to have the camera set up on a tripod. Since I live in the hopelessly landlocked state of Arkansas, I don't have much experience taking pictures on beaches. So many of the pictures from here were messed up by waves coming in and shifting the sand beneath the tripod.



On our last morning there, we woke up to this great sunset over the beach.



And then we packed up the car and tried to make the long drive back home, which would take about ten hours and cross through four states. We were worried about the drive since we had a toddler with us, but he napped for a good chunk of the drive. We also tried to keep him entertained, which meant letting him watch some TV. By the time we made it home, we were too familiar with his current favorite TV shows - Sesame Street (especially any episode with lots of Elmo) and Teletubbies. But he really did great riding in the car, only starting to get fussy right at the end when we finally made it into Little Rock (on the other hand, I started to get fussy when it seemed like it was taking forever to drive through Mississippi).

New Orleans

After a small delay while getting a tire fixed, we finally made it into New Orleans. After checking into the hotel (and awkwardly handing the valet the keys to a car covered in dirt from driving the dirt roads around Rodney earlier that day) we then walked into the French Quarter for dinner. I've only been to New Orleans once before, but that was way back in the olden days when I was still in college. So it was nice to make another visit to New Orleans, which is really one of the most historic and unique cities in the country. Of course the food there is amazing, and we started our visit with some amazing muffulettas from the famous Napoleon House.

To burn off all the calories from dinner, we continued walking to Jackson Square. The square is the heart of the French Quarter, and it surrounded by historic buildings like the St. Louis Cathedral.



Here's a view of the Cathedral, with a statue of Andrew Jackson in the foreground. The statue was erected in 1856 and was built to honor Jackson having helped save the city from British attack during the War of 1812.



From there we joined the crowds at Café Du Monde and ordered some of the famous beignets. It’s amazing to me the history of everything in this city. Café Du Monde has been around since 1862.



We headed back out to Jackson Square, which was busy with tourists, people playing jazz, people selling art or offering to read your fortune (we were tempted to have Jonah’s fortune read). Since we were travelling with a toddler, we needed to start heading back to the hotel to put him to bed. But I stopped to get a few pictures as it was starting to get dark. Sorry for all the Cathedral pictures, it is a very photogenic building!



I had wanted to get some pictures of the cathedral early in the morning, when there would be some nice light in the sky and there wouldn’t be too many people around. So I woke up before dawn and headed back to Jackson Square and set up the camera and tripod on the boardwalk that overlooks the Square and the Mississippi River. But for it being so early, it was surprisingly busy. Lots of people were out and about, including people who obviously never stopped partying the night before. As I was taking pictures, two different people came up on the boardwalk looking for shoes they had lost there the night before.



The first cathedral here was built in 1718. The current cathedral dates back to 1850, when the building was expanded and rebuilt, and it is the oldest cathedral in the country. It was warm and humid that morning, and the camera immediately fogged up when I took it out of the camera bag.



Later that day, we made another visit to Jackson Square. The lush grass there is a perfect spot to let a toddler run loose, especially one who has been strapped in a stroller for a few hours. He ran all over the Square, dodging tour groups taking pictures of the Cathedral.



Early the next morning, I snuck out of the hotel room and went to take a few more pictures. I got in the car and drove across the river, eventually ending up right below the twin bridges of the Crescent City Connection. The bridges were built in 1958 and 1988, and make for a good frame of the river and the New Orleans skyline.



The bridges are both tied for being the fifth-longest cantilever bridges in the world and the last bridges the Mississippi River goes under before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. These were taken on a cloudy morning, and it was fairly quiet there (except for the constant hum of traffic on the bridges). The only other people out there were two people fishing and one guy that was riding a bike.



Later that day I visited the Ogden Museum of Southern Art which occupies a spot in the CBD. The museum had a good amount of photography inside, which is always nice to see (and if they see this, please check out my website!!!). This is one of the views out the window, which includes a view of the Crescent City Connection bridges.



We were pleasantly surprised for how kid-friendly New Orleans was, considering the party reputation the city has. There were lots of parks we could take Jonah to, but he seemed to enjoy the music and people-watching while we pushed him around in the stroller through the French Quarter. I think he also enjoyed all the food in New Orleans – he sampled muffaletas, beignets, po-boys and fried alligator (he wasn't a fan). The only thing he missed out was drinking a Hurricane on Bourbon Street.



On our last night we went back into the French Quarter and walked along Bourbon Street and then headed back towards Jackson Square. Here is one last shot of Jackson Square, looking towards The Cabildo, which was built in 1799 and was the home of the Spanish government in New Orleans. The building was the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremonies in 1803, and is now a museum of Louisiana history.



The next day we left New Orleans, but then headed east along the coast to finish out our vacation in Pensacola. Stay tuned for some beach pictures soon!

Oak Alley, LA

From Natchez, we headed south into Louisiana. We drove through Baton Rouge, and then made a stop just outside of New Orleans. Along the Mississippi River, east of the city, sit several grand old plantation homes that date back to the early 1800s. One of the most famous of these houses is the Oak Alley Plantation, which was built in 1837. The path to the house is framed by two rows of massive live oak trees, and it has been used in several films like Interview With A Vampire and Primary Colors (and even a Beyonce video). We stopped to take a few pictures but found out that the entrance fee to the grounds was a very steep $22. Since we didn’t want to pay nearly 50 bucks just to take a few pictures (and we had visions of a toddler running through the house like a tornado and destroying a bunch of priceless antiques), we cheated a bit and got a few pictures of the live oak trees from the road. It worked, and saved us some cash!



Although Oak Alley would get its revenge. Right after we left, the low tire pressure warning came on. We pulled over and found a big fat screw had embedded itself in one of the tires. We had to find a place to patch it before we drove on into New Orleans, eager to head into the French Quarter.