South of Keo

A few weeks ago when the fall colors were near peak, I met up with my friend John and we went out to visit some neat areas out around the small town of Keo. Along the way, we made the traditional trek through the tunnel of pecan trees near Scott. The trees are over a century old, and were planted as part of a large plantation.



We also stopped at an old church and got a few pictures. The church is abandoned now, except for a large congregation of dirt daubers. The wasps built thousands of nests inside the church - along the ceilings, the walls and windows. Heavy mud nests weighed down the blades of a ceiling fan, and even were built right along the edge of an old piano. Luckily the wasps were long gone (apparently they don't sting, but I didn't dare find out how true that was).



And another room in the old church - note the dirt dauber nests built on the window curtains.



The desk in the pastor's office was still covered in papers, including a check book. A calendar on the wall was from 2008, which means all the damage to the building (including a collapsed roof) has occurred in just ten years. It's amazing how quickly nature works to reclaim its territory.



Just down the road is a small lake that is just absolutely filled with tupelo trees. It's also filled with lots of duckweed, the tiny floating plant that looks like a smooth green carpet floating on the water.



It's a beautiful spot, especially as it got closer to sunset and golden light began to filter through the trees.





There were a few cypress trees there too, which were showing off some good fall colors as well.



It is one of my new favorite places to take pictures, a gravel road provides easy access to the lake. The road is also slightly elevated, providing a small buffer from any snakes or gators in the water. And the abundant quantity of duckweed prevents mosquitoes from laying eggs (it is a relief to be in the Delta and not be bothered by mosquitoes). We stayed out there until it started to get too dark for pictures.

Hot Springs

While the fall colors were still at their peak, we decided to take a little family trip down to Hot Springs for the day. During the drive down, we looked up what some fun things were for kids to do and ended up taking Jonah to the Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo. The zoo first opened way back in 1902, and well it seems like it hasn't really been updated much since then. But I think that Jonah enjoyed himself there, he got to feed the gators (and didn't end up as a gator snack).





After that we headed downtown and got lunch at an amazing pizza place - Dead Head Pizza. From there we strolled along Central Avenue, and then along Bathhouse Row. The weather was great, and there were lots of people out and about. I took a few pictures of the bathhouses, here's a view of the Quapaw Bathhouse. The Quapaw was built in 1922 and is still used as a spa.



Next door is the Ozark Bathhouse, which also constructed in 1922.



The fall colors were great - this bright tree stood along Central Avenue, near the old Army and Navy Hospital (which was built in 1933 and is now a rehabilitation center).



We then strolled along the Grand Promenade, which runs along the hillside above the bathhouses. It is a nice quiet place to walk, especially since it allows a toddler to run without having to worry about any traffic. It also provides some great views of the bathhouses, including this view of the Quapaw Bathhouse's dome and bronze copula.



Some of the fall color along the Promenade...





And one last shot - before we headed home we drove along the North Mountain Loop, which provided this great view of the fall colors.

The Old Mill

One night after work I hurried across the river to North Little Rock to try to get some pictures at the Old Mill before it got dark. The fall colors weren't as vivid there as I had hoped they would be, but the recent heavy rains did provide plenty of fuel for the small waterfall there.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park

On Halloween Day, I left work on my lunch break and made the short drive to Pinnacle Mountain State Park. I had just enough time to walk the short Arkansas Arboretum Trail, which was looking quite vivid with all the fall colors.



It had been raining all day, but I somehow lucked into going during a short break in the rainfall. The wet weather did help in saturating the color in the trees, which I attempted to capture with the camera before heading back to work.

Burns Park

I headed out to try to get a few more fall color pictures, and ended up driving through Burns Park in North Little Rock. The first stop was the old cabin, which was actually built before the Civil War. The cabin was the home to some of the earliest settlers in the area, who ran a shop along the road running between Little Rock and Fort Smith. The cabin was located outside of the park and was in rough shape, and in 1972 was transported to its current location (which is a good spot, it's right by a small cemetery where some of its former inhabitants are buried).



Just down the road is the covered bridge, which as a NLR native I can say that we are all contractually obligated to have our pictures taken here at least once (along with the Old Mill).



There are a few hiking trails in the park, including this one that runs past the covered bridge.



Burns Park is the largest municipal park in the state (growing up in Dogtown we were told it was the largest in the country, but I'm guessing that might not exactly be true now). The land was donated to the city by the army, who used it for training during World War I. The park is still home to the rocket slide, numerous playgrounds and places for soccer, tennis and baseball. This was taken along one of the roads in the park, on a rainy day.