Day 3: "I'll think about it tomorrow..."

Day 3, we awoke in Searcy, AR. We knew we had a fairly short drive to Little Rock (about an hour), so we took our time getting started and had a leisurely morning. Outside our new friend's home, I found THESE daffodils and snapped a picture for my Mums. I had seen previously that Little Rock has a yearly Daffodil Festival, but the timing didn't work out for us to attend it.

 As it was mid-March, we saw flowing trees:

The Capital Building in downtown, Little Rock.

 We saw this bell:

 One of the "off the beaten path" places that I had pre-hunted was the Old Mill, which is also known as Pugh's Mill. This was build in 1933 by Justin Matthews as a replica of an old water-powered mill. It was designed to appear as if it had been in Arkansas since the 1800s.
  The reason I wanted to go here was because it was seen in the opening scenes of the 1937 movie, "Gone With the Wind". It is believed to be the only remaining structure from the film. It took a little doing to find this place, but then we really enjoyed wandering around the park/mill area:

Yes, a romantical settings calls for more kissies!

This bridge was pretty neat.

 Eric and I were like little kids, exploring...

 There were a few bridges:

  Eric, climbing around:

 It really is a nice park area.

 We found more daffodils!

This is now an historical site...

There was a nice fence by one of the park/mill entrances.

Sometimes I like to look through fences/tree overhangs to get a neat shot.

 Then it was over more bridges and back into Little Rock, looking for some good grub.

We saw all kinds of interesting buildings along the way.

Finally, we found a REALLY good bbq place! We decided to share the mix plate. It was  reasonable price and plenty of food for both of us. Hooray!

Eric, looking at the names of the bbq sauces:

Time to eat! Here is Eric, giving the pulled bbq pork and different sauces a try. We also struck up a conversation with an interesting couple at the next table.

 After lunch, we drove down a scenic path on the way to a special park.

Our destination was the Big Dam Bridge! (yes, that's really it's name)

 Parts of this actually reminded me of a place in Juneau, Alaska.

 We parked the car and walked up to the top of the bridge. Here is Eric, standing by the bars "at the top" of the bridge.

Looking down at the water below:

     This bridge is part of a group of hiking trails. Had we more time here, we might have done a larger hike up to the mountain top. For now, we just walked most of the bridge. There are 4,226 linear feet of bridge. It is 14 feet wide. Approaches to the bridge are at a 5% grade. We walked up but saw people biking and running it. There are 8 observation areas, and there are tons of things to see! This bridge contains over 3 million pounds of steel and over 4 million pounds of concrete. Wow!

Overall, we were pleasantly surprised with Little Rock. We didn't really know what to expect, but enjoyed the city much more than originally anticipated.

   After exploring the Old Mill, bbq plate options, and the Big Dam Bridge, we went back to a fabulous Bed & Breakfast, where we would be staying for the night. More on that and the evening's activity's in the next post.

  When you travel to/through Little Rock, what are some of YOUR favorite things to do?