Northern Exposure

As a parent, I'm trying really hard to not be on my phone so much around the kids. I don't want my children to grow up thinking that I value looking at my phone more than interacting with them, or that they need to compete for my attention. I think it serves as a healthy and positive example that I hope they emulate as they grow up.

That being said, I'm really glad I was looking at my phone Tuesday night. I got a text message from my friend Zack and immediately opened it up to see a picture he sent, which was the view from his house. The sky overhead had turned bright red by the Northern Lights. Somehow (the official scientific reason is beyond me), the lights were again visible this far south. So I showed the picture to Jonah and we ran out of the house to see them as well. But we had no luck, since we're in the middle of a city and there's all that pesky light pollution.

So we decided to immediately drive away from the city and to find a good spot to see the lights. I grabbed the camera gear and we jumped in the car and started driving to the north. I thought of an old abandoned church that is about an hour away. It would be an interesting element to put in the foreground, and also be dark enough for us to see the Northern Lights. I was worried that by the time we got there, the lights would have faded out and we would have made the drive for nothing.

But all that worrying was for nothing. When we got to the church, the sky above it was a deep red. Not only were the Northern Lights out, but we could easily see them in person (and not just through a camera). It was incredible. It is absolutely crazy that the Northern Lights were visible this far south, and that we were lucky enough to see them.



The next night, it was predicted that the Northern Lights would be visible again (and possibly even brighter than the night before). So we headed back out again, this time driving to the east towards the Delta. We eventually stopped by a set of silos, and went out to look at the sky. But other than the stars and a few planes, the sky was empty. We lingered for a bit waiting for something to happen, and I got a few pictures of the silos just for fun.



To pass the time until the Northern Lights would possibly be visible again, we drove off again. I stopped at this old rice dryer, and set up the camera. The Lights were out, but really faint. You couldn't see them with the naked eye, and they just barely showed up on a long exposure. Which was a little disappointing after the vivid and vibrant colors of the night before, but it was still cool to capture it with the camera.

Blanchard Springs

Last weekend, I made a quick visit to the Ozarks with my nephew Isaac so we could take a few senior portraits. We decided to drive over to Blanchard Springs, which is an incredibly scenic area that would hopefully make for some nice pictures. There were a few flaws in the plan, unfortunately. Most of the recreation area at Blanchard was closed because of flood damage. And it was also really cold and windy that day.

A good chunk of the area around Blanchard was indeed closed, and the road to the campground area was gated shut. But we did end up walking around the gate for a just a few steps, because the closed road actually ended up being a nice little background for some pictures. Because there hadn't been any traffic, there was a nice collection of fallen leaves along both sides of the pavement.



Luckily the trail to the springs was still open, so we headed over there next. 



It was past peak color there at Blanchard, and a lot of trees had already lost their leaves. The wind that day was also blowing a lot of the leaves away.







One of the great things about Blanchard Springs is that it's one of the few places in Arkansas where you can find waterfalls running year-round. We headed below the old stone dam, which was designed so that it has a waterfall running down below it at all times.





Nearby are the ruins of an old mill (which was built in 1900). It's a great backdrop for portraits and landscape photos, with the creek flowing right past the stone walls. We got a few more pictures before it was time to retreat back to the warm car and head back home.

All Around The Mulberry

It's looking like another good year for fall color. So to take advantage of the colors, I headed up the Ozarks again last weekend. Jonah tagged along with me this time as we headed up to the mountains around the Mulberry River. We ended up driving down a narrow and steep dirt road, which took us past this neat old building (it was apparently a blacksmith shop).



We headed out that day because the weather forecase promised it would be nice and cloudy. And it was, at least for awhile. It even rained on us as we were driving west. But as we headed up the dirt road the sun came out, and all the clouds disappeared as if they'd been removed by an eraser. We then headed over to one of the access points on the Mulberry River, which also had some nice color on it. Luckilly there were a few shady places that allowed for some long exposure photos.



For some reason, nine year-old kids aren't that excited about driving several hours to take pictures of old buildings. So Jonah was ready to head back home. Since the light was a little harsh, I agreed and we started to head back to the car. But not before getting one last shot of the fall colors along the scenic Mulberry River.

Richland & Falling Water

On the way home on Sunday we decided to take the scenic route - which meant driving down some dirt roads through the Ozark Mountains. The kids wanted to see some waterfalls, so we headed towards Richland Creek and Falling Water Creek. The falls weren't going to be running all that much, despite all the rain that weekend, but it would be a fun drive anyways.



The next stop was the campground at Richland Creek, which is an incredibly scenic spot. The water was low, but there was some great fall colors reflected in the creek.





And the next stop was Six Finger Falls along Falling Water Creek. A really pretty spot, even if the falls were barely flowing.



And then the last stop was Falling Water Falls. There was a nice collection of fallen leaves twirling about below the falls.

Buffalo National River - Parker-Hickman Farmstead

The next morning I woke up before sunrise again and headed back to the Buffalo River. This time it was to visit the old Parker-Hickman Farmstead at Erbie. It was still raining as I drove north from Jasper, but the rain slacked by the time I made it to the old homestead.



The cabin was built by the Parker family in the 1840s, and is the oldest building within the boundaries of the Buffalo National River. It was built just a few years after Arkansas became a state, and the old place has seen a lot of history. During the Civil War, there was a small skirmish nearby involving guerrilla fighters and the old Parker house was used as a field hospital.



The cabin and the property were then purchased by the Hickman family, who lived there until 1978. In 1982, the National Park Service acquired the cabin and the surrounding farm. You can take a peek inside the cabin, which is in remarkably good shape considering how old the structure is. In one room, you can see the layers of wallpaper and newspaper on the walls that was used as insulation back in the olden days.





The farmstead also contains several other historic buildings, including several barns. This one was built in the 1912:



Which sits next to a smaller barn, which was built in the 1920s:





And also there are these two old buildings - they were used as a machine shop and a chicken coop. They were both built in the 1950s.



From here a road heads off through the trees, leading to a small cemetery.



And behind the old cabin is a small outhouse, which was built in the 1930s. The outhouse, or privy, was built as part of a Works Progress Administration program during the Great Depression. Rural farmers across the US could apply for a WPA privy, with the intention that it would help cut down on diseases like cholera or typhoid that was caused by contaminated water supplies or from flies. Between 1933 and 1945, over 2.3 million privies like this one were built across the country. The Hickman family were later reported as saying that the outhouse was the only federal assistance they received during the Depression.



It's incredible to me that this house has managed to survive, and is still standing after all these years. It is really hard to imagine the people who lived here, building a house deep in a forest in the middle of the frontier back in the days before electricity. Could they have ever imagined that their old house would still be here after almost two centuries? Or that tourists in the future would travel there and take a picture of their outhouse?