Perry County

I headed out the other weekend to get a few pictures, driving west into the Ouachita Mountains. The first stop was a few places in Perry County, including the St. Boniface Catholic Church. This is definitely one of the prettiest churches in the state. The church was built in 1906, with a steeple that is 95 feet tall (or about the size of a nine story building).



The church was open, and I went inside to take a look. The massive altar at the front of the church actually dates back to 1901, to the first church built here. That church caught fire in 1906, but the altar was saved and was installed in the rebuilt church.



From there I headed on west towards the small town of Perry. I've always known Perry as being a bit of a speed-trap, but it is also home to a historic old train station that was built in 1918.



The train station was built to serve the Rock Island Railroad, which eventually ran from Memphis to Amarillo, Texas. The Rock Island ceased operations in 1980, but the rails are still used by a shortline railroad that runs between Little Rock and Danville (the Little Rock & Western Railway). The old station is used for storage, and a metal locomotive shop was built right behind the old station.



Last year the railroad decided to construct a new machine shop, which meant demolishing the old train station. Luckily preservationists were able to make a deal, and it appears that the old station will be saved. The century-old building will be moved about 150 feet over to property owned by the city of Perry, with the eventual hope that the building will be turned into a museum. It's always great to see old buildings like this be saved.

Little Rock Lightning

A line of heavy thunderstorms recently moved across the state, bringing some much-needed rain and also a lot of lightning. I was sitting at home watching TV when the storms hit, and decided that I needed to head outside and make an attempt at catching lightning pictures (instead of sitting safely at home, like any sensible person would do). So I grabbed the camera (and the metal tripod, always a smart thing to carry in a lightning storm) and drove towards downtown Little Rock.

I headed to a parking deck that provides a pretty decent view looking west towards the downtown skyline. But when I got there, the bulk of the storm had shifted, and most of the lightning was off towards the south. So I hurried over and tried to get a few pictures pointing in that direction, which turned out to include a view of the old Albert Pike Hotel. The hotel was built in 1929, and was once one of the most luxurious hotels in the state. It was converted to apartments in the 1970s.

Getting any pictures of lightning involves huge amounts of luck. You have to be taking a picture in the exact second that the lightning strikes, and hopefully the shot won't be over-or-under exposed or be blurry. The camera just happened to be taking a picture when this bolt dropped down, sending electricity dancing in the air above the old hotel.



And another shot, taken a few minutes later:

Fayetteville

We were up in Fayetteville last weekend to visit my family, and before making the three hour drive back to Little Rock we made a quick stop at the St. Catherine's Church at Bell Gable. It's a beautiful little church, and it's a popular spot for weddings. Although it looks old, it is fairly pretty new. Construction on the church started in 1986.



There is an old barn nearby, which I'm guessing is used for lots of wedding receptions.



These were taken on a Sunday afternoon, and the area was fairly quiet. There were a few other people out looking around, and also this one small horse (Li'l Sebastian?) hanging out by the fence.

Dallas

Every year, Caroline's family has a reunion during the summer around the Fourth of July. This year it was held in Dallas, or actually the suburb of Frisco. Now Frisco has a warm place in my heart since FC Dallas' stadium is there, and we've made many trips there over the years. We spent most of the weekend in Frisco, but I did have a chance to head into downtown Dallas to take a few pictures one night. Luckily it had cooled off around sunset, since it was scorching hot down there (so hot that a can of Coke exploded in my car after it had been left in the heat for a few hours).



From there I headed over to get a few pictures of the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which opened in 2012. The most striking part of the bridge is the massive arch, which towers over the Trinity River. The bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava, who by wacky happenstance is the same person who designed places in New York and Toronto that I've visited lately. I guess I should join his fan club.

4th of July

I headed downtown on the 4th of July to make another attempt at some fireworks pictures, and was a little surprised at how crowded it was along the river. I assumed that since the 4th fell on a Wednesday this year that most people wouldn't be out since they had to get up early in the morning for work. But there were tons of families out, and lots of people had already claimed spots along the river when I managed to show up a bit late. Another photographer had already snagged the spot I had planned on setting up at, but luckily he and his wife didn't seem to mind me showing up late and asking to set up my tripod right next to them.

Just before the fireworks went off, a huge group of kayakers floated by on the river and went to a spot near the Broadway Bridge to get a good view of the show. Finally, after a slight delay, the fireworks were shot off from the Main Street Bridge and lit up the muggy night sky.



And a zoomed-in view looking towards the Broadway Bridge. If you look closely, you can see a the kayaks floating in the water. And also a long line of traffic on the bridge when all the cars stopped to watch the fireworks.