Natural Dam

Before I made it to Charleston to pick up my cousin for the soccer game, I made a quick stop at the Natural Dam waterfalls in the Ozark National Forest. This is a really neat spot, where a wall of rock creates a nearly 200 foot wide dam on Mountain Fork Creek, and with it some neat waterfalls.


I had never been there before, and was amazed by the place. It doesn't look real, it looks too perfect, almost man-made. But as the name suggests, it's all natural...


The falls are only about eight feet tall, but are easily reached. The road is just a few feet away.


I'd like to come back up here when this place is nearly flooded...


And one last shot - here you can see another cascade on the creek upstream:

FCD vs. CAP

On Saturday I made the quick (if you can call five hours quick) trip down to Dallas to catch a preseason soccer game. FC Dallas was playing Clube Atletico Paranaense in the "USA-Brazil Challenge." During the first leg of the series in Brazil, CAP won 4-3. So in order to win the series, Dallas needed to win by two goals...

I went to the game with my cousin, so we left from Charleston to Dallas. A few hours later, we got to the stadium in time to watch some of the team's warming up.

It was a bit chilly out there, about 50 degrees outside or less. That was a major change from every other game we go to in Dallas, where its usually 105 degrees outside.

The game started out with a goal, thanks to Dallas forward Jeff Cunningham. He scored in the very first minute of the game. Of course, that was on the opposite end of the field from where we were sitting. Here are grainy and blurry shots that I was able to get:












Here is one of Dallas' new players, who actually came to FCD from CAP. For some reason he looks really tiny in this shot:




FC Dallas won the game 1-0, the only goal coming in the first minute of play. But that left the aggregate score tied for the series, so it went to penalty kicks. Here is a shot of the CAP goalkeeper blocking a pk by Dallas midfielder Andre Rocha, which would give them the victory and the trophy...


But that wouldn't be the end of the excitement for the night, and I would learn the important lesson that you shouldn't joke around with police officers.

Because of my being unemployed (and my cousin being a high school student), we couldn't really afford a hotel room, so we drove back to Arkansas that night - a long five hour drive. The highlight of the drive? When I got pulled over in Kiowa, Oklahoma. Now this town seemed like a perfect speed trap, the speed limit drops from 70 to 40, and after midnight I was sure cops would be out. And sure enough, I saw blue lights in the rear-view mirror.

I pulled over, and wondered why I was being stopped. I made sure I didn't speed through there. But when the officer got to the car he surprised me by saying he pulled me over because the light over my license plate was out. He asked me if I knew my light was out, and truthfully I said I didn't. That light must be one thing you hardly ever notice is out, and it's not like I do a 70-point inspection before I get into the car. I'd probably drive off without tires if I could.

So the officer took my license, and flashed his light several times throughout the car. He asked where we were going, and where we were coming from. I told him we were coming back from a soccer game in Dallas, and he didn't seem to believe me. "Are you coming back from Spring Break?" I guess the fact that my cousin and I were wearing soccer jerseys didn't faze him. Looking at my license, he asked, "do you have any warrants out for your arrest?"

"No sir, I don't" and then for some dumb reason immediately and jokingly said, "or not that I know of!" I don't know why I said that, but it was the wrong answer.

"Do you mind stepping out of the car?"

So I did, which made me think he was going to give me a Breathalyzer test. Which got me worried, I did drink a beer at the game - but that was hours ago, would it show up? But instead he asked me again, did I have any warrants out for my arrest. No, I told him, I seriously did not have any. He then asked if I had any drugs or weapons on me. No sir, I said, nothing. "No marijuana?" he asked again. "No sir, nothing."

"What about your little buddy in there?" he asked, referring to my cousin. I had to restrain myself from laughing there, because while my cousin is 16 he is taller than me and few people would consider him my little buddy.

"No sir, he doesn't have anything on him."

He asked me if he could search my car, and I said he could. I know that he couldn't really, since he had no warrant or probable cause. But other than a very messy trunk, I had nothing to hide. But he seemed to finally think that was the right answer, so he let us go. We made it back up to Charleston with no other problems, though there were a few other cops out along the freeway. But remember this lesson, if you're driving along Hwy. 69 in Kiowa, Oklahoma, make sure your license plate has a light on it.

But I'm glad I didn't at least get a ticket for using lame humor....

Cold day at Hot Springs

Yesterday I went to Hot Springs, one of my favorite cities in the state, to watch some high school basketball. Summit Arena in Hot Springs was hosting the state high school basketball finals, which included a game between the Charleston Lady Tigers and the Valley Springs Lady Tigers. I went there to cheer for Charleston, who ended up narrowly winning the game 41-40.

But before the game there was some free time to explore Hot Springs. It was just barely above freezing, with a light rain. The steam from the springs was billowing out from the display springs and fountains along Bathhouse Row, but ice was sticking to the trees along the hills ringing the city. We drove up one of the roads that steeply curves above the National Park, which were coated in a sheen of ice.


Luckily the ice wasn't sticking to the roads, probably because it was about 70 degrees here a few days before. But it was a neat sight to drive through...

Big Dam Bridge Blues

The other night I met up with another local photographer, Windy, and we decided to head off to the Big Dam Bridge for some night shots. The Big Dam Bridge is nice because it doesn't seem to attract as many crazies as the Junction Bridge does, but the people fishing about 10 feet from us probably thought we were kinda crazy though...




We were out there for a few hours, until some rain scared us away..

I-630 at Chester Street

The next stop was downtown Little Rock. The plan was to find a good spot to get a view of the skyline, and maybe some traffic on the freeway blurred into colored lines. We just needed to find a good spot that would give a nice uncluttered view of everything. We ended up setting up near the intersection of Chester Street and the freeway, and waited for it to get dark.


I liked the curve of the on and offramps, but there wasn't quite as much traffic to really light up the area as I had hoped. Here is a wider view, with a 50 second exposure.