Our Last Two Days in Little Rock, Arkansas

Saturday was the warmest day of our week in Little Rock. We headed out to the Big Dam Bridge, the world's longest pedestrian bridge in the world designed expressly for foot and bike traffic. As the bridge stands 90 feet above the Arkansas River, we decided that walking its' length made more sense than trying to pump our bikes uphill in the heat. Not much of the bridge has shade.

The bridge was built on top of the dam, which had already been built. Construction of the bridge was completed in 2006. We enjoyed our walk on the bridge; turtles and pelicans in the water entertained us, as well as one young man who was fishing on the shore below us. When his fishing rod started bending and he had to struggle to keep a grip on his pole, I realized that he had caught a big one!  It was about a twenty pound fish, just a guess on our part. From the bridge we could see Pinnacle Mountain, our next stop for the day. Pinnacle's rocky peak arises 1,011 feet above the flood plains adjacent to it.  With its' cone-shaped peak,  it has been an Arkansas landmark for generations. Unfortunately by the time we arrived at Pinnacle Mountain State Park, it was too late in the day to climb the mountain, so we choose some shorter trails.

Sunday we started our day at Faith Lutheran in Little Rock. Their choir performed an inspiring cantata which was composed specifically for Passion Week observance. It is called "Whispers of the Passion" by Joseph Martin. We spent our Sunday afternoon at Historic Arkansas Museum where they have presently a special exhibit, "Reel to Real: Gone with the Wind and the Civil War in Arkansas". The Reel exhibit includes memorabilia from the movie, as costumes, photos and movie outtakes. The Real part of the exhibit contrasts the harsh reality of life from the romanticized version of the movie, as it was for Arkansans during the Civil War era. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Little Rock- I can say that it will remain in our memories as a wonderful city to tour with many interesting places to visit. Equally important for us is the fact that many of those places have hiking and/or bicycling trails. Of course it does also help that Little Rock has on her spring finery at present! Pictured below is the Cherokee rose, a flowering bush which we saw at the history museum.