Playoffs: Charleston vs. Fountain Lake

On Friday I took off early from work to make a trip down to Hot Springs for a high school football game. This wasn't just any high school football game - it was the playoffs!

I was there to support Charleston. Now I didn't grow up or attend school in Charleston, but my family is from there and my cousin is on the team. Many Friday nights in the past few years have been spent watching Charleston play. But this game on Friday night would be epic. It seemed much more than a playoff game, it was more like the state finals. Before the game, Charleston was ranked #1 in the conference, while Fountain Lake was ranked #2. It also seemed like the final because the last time these two teams played each was last year, in the state finals.

I drove down to Hot Springs with my Dad and Aunt, and we made a quick stop in town for dinner at King's Chinese Buffet (love that place). The game was to be played at Fountain Lake, which is located just north of Hot Springs along Hwy. 7. We drove past Bathhouse Row and the clouds of steam coming from the springs. It didn't take us long to reach Fountain Lake, and the stadium.

I have to give Fountain Lake credit because they have a neat stadium. The stadium is situated on the top of a hill, and the field is surrounded by trees. While most high school football stadiums seem kinda dull, this one made it seem like you were sitting out in the middle of the woods watching a game. Also, the stadium had good lights, which made taking pictures easier. But I do have to add that the football stadium at my alma mater (North Little Rock High School - go Charging Wildcats!) had an interesting stadium too. There is a Waffle House right next door, so often times the stadium would smell like bacon and waffles.


Before the game, the senior players for Charleston stood on the field to watch the coin-toss. Included in that group is my cousin, #11.


The pre-game spirit line...


It was a bitterly cold night out there. The temperature quickly dropped well below freezing. This was taken in the first quarter, where Charleston would score the first touchdown of the game.








At halftime, Fountain Lake was winning 25-14. And it had gotten even colder. I had long since lost all feeling in my feet, even though I had tried to dress as warm as possible. The players left the field at halftime for either the locker room and/or a makeshift tent on the side of the field, I hurried over to one of the heaters along the sidelines. The heater looked like some sort of jet engine, but it was warm. I stuck a frozen foot there and tried to gain some feeling back in my extremities. That was probably a mistake, since it just made it worse as the cold air came back with a vengeance.

It was so cold out there that I wondered how the game would have been different had it been a bit warmer. I know very little about football, but I think both teams would have scored more had it not been freezing out there. There were no more goals in the second half, and the game ended at 25-14.



It was bad enough standing on the sidelines, I can't imagine what it must have been like for the players. But they tried their best, and neither team gave up until the final whistle.








When the game was over, we drove back into Hot Springs. Along the way, the thermometer in my car showed it to be 24 degrees outside.

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

I went into Fort Smith that night with one shot in mind, a view of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at dusk. It is an impressive old church, and it sits in a prominent location that overlooks downtown Fort Smith. It was warm and pleasant that night, and I sat up the camera as church patrons were entering the church for Mass.


I've been inside it just once. Five years ago, I was a groomsman in a wedding there for two of my friends from college. The inside of the church is just as impressive as the outside is. This building was constructed in just 18 months and was dedicated in June of 1899.

I wanted to get a decent shot of the church so that I could give a print of it to my friends as a Christmas present. Now one of my friends is also a photographer, but she is also a fan of good photography, which means she probably doesn't bother looking at this site too much. So I think I'm safe in posting this here and not spoiling the surprise (and if you do see this Will or Jenny, act surprised at least!).

Fort Smith

As the day drew to a close last Saturday, I drove into downtown Fort Smith. I wanted to visit the Fort Smith National Historic Site, which I think I've only been to once before. That was probably about 20 years ago, when my Grandpa took me there. We probably made the visit because he was tired of his dumb but adorable grandson calling the city "Fart Smith" all the time.

But the National Historic Site is an interesting place. It is actually the home of two old forts. The first was built in 1817, when this was a lonely outpost on the western border of the US. The fort was built in order to prevent war between the Osage and the Cherokee, who were being forced to move during the Trail of Tears. In 1824, the fort was abandoned and the troops moved deeper into Indian Territory. The first Fort Smith exists now only as a rock wall foundation, the original buildings long ago lost to history.

In 1838, the federal government decided that it wanted another Fort Smith, so construction began on a new fort near the remains of the first fort. Originally planned as a defensive fort, it soon grew into a major supply depot for western exploration. The fort was seized by Confederate troops in 1861, and then by Union troops in 1863. After the war, the government decided that it didn't need the fort anymore, and the buildings became the home of the U.S. District Judge Isaac Parker. The judge was ordered to bring law and order to the unruly frontier, and his justice led to his nickname as the "Hanging Judge." Over 160 outlaws were hung on the gallows (a recreation of which sits next to the parking lot). Inside the building here is the judge's courtroom and the old jail, called "Hell on the Border."


The flagpole here is a supposed to look like the flagpole that stood back in the 1800s. In forts like this, flagpoles were meant to stand high up in the air, so that they'd be visible from a distance. In order to do this, the flagpoles were built like the masts on a ship. The flag here is flying with 37 stars.


The setting sun was casting a nice warm glow on the old buildings, and sending long shadows across the ground. I didn't go inside the museum here (since it was about to close and it costs $4). But I did have a nice walk along the grounds.


As the light faded in the sky, I randomly drove through downtown Fort Smith. The city does have a nice collection of old buildings. I pulled over at the Sebastian County Courthouse for a few shots. There is a slight rosy glow from the last rays of the setting sun hitting the old building.

This Buds For You

Western Arkansas has some important and noteworthy landmarks. There is the Fort Smith National Historic Site, the towering views from Mount Magazine, and of course, the giant beer can silo.


The silo is on a working ranch, in the small town of Lavaca (east of Ft. Smith on Hwy. 22). The silo was painted in the 1970s, and was used in a Budweiser commercial. Someone actually figured that the silo would hold approximately 8,734,902 fl. oz. of beer. Unfortunately, there really isn't any beer in there.

Big Rock and Little Rock

Now is the time of year when most landscape photographers go into a state of hibernation. The fall colors have faded away and are mostly now just laying all along the ground. I haven't managed to make it out into the woods for a few weeks now, and all of my picture taking have been around downtown Little Rock. After work yesterday, I met up again with Windy Richardson for some shots downtown.

We first decided to make a few stops at the Big Rock, which is a low hill along the Arkansas River in North Little Rock. The Big Rock was noticed by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe in 1722, who called the hill “Le Rocher Français” or "French Rock" (or I guess Freedom Rock nowadays). Le Harpe is also the guy who called a nearby smaller outcrop along the Arkansas River "little rock," a name that stuck around. And here's an amusing story (and sorry this is becoming a history lesson), but when the French explorers were sailing up the Arkansas River, Native Americans told them of a massive green rock along the river. The explorers thought that it must be a massive jewel-encrusted rock (which makes them seem a bit gullible). They must have been dissapointed to make it to the Big Rock to find that the large green rock they had been dreaming about was just a bluff with trees on it. But that story is the basis for the name of Emerald Park, atop Big Rock in North Little Rock.

The hill, which has a 200-foot tall bluff along the river, eventually became known as Big Rock. Settlers moved into the area in the early 1800s, but there weren't many since the north side of the river is lower than the Little Rock side and flooded often. A quarry began operation in 1849, which cut out a huge chunk of the Big Rock. The area where the quarry worked is now part of Emerald Park. In 1870, an orchard and vineyard were in operation on Big Rock, and then in 1887 the Mountain Park Hotel opened as a summer resort. All of this land was taken over by the federal government in 1893, and Fort Roots would officially open in 1897.

Many of the century-old buildings still stand at Fort Roots, which is now boringly called the "North Little Rock Regional Office of the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System." It's the home of the VA hospital, but it is also home to one of the best views of downtown Little Rock. It can be a bit tricky getting shots, since security guards will quickly kick you out if you're caught. Since it is now a hospital, no photography is allowed out of concern for patient privacy.

So we kinda snuck up there to get some shots, and luckily weren't busted by security. It is a beautiful spot to overlook the city, with dusk quickly and silently settling in.


After that we drove into downtown Little Rock. I had an idea for a shot involving the Robinson Center Music Hall, but it didn't quite work out right. On the way back to the car, we walked by the Pulaski County Courthouse and decided to stop for a few shots. This is a view looking up at the courthouse and the Stephens Building. The streaks in the road are actually from a Little Rock police car, the driver studying us as he drove by to determine if we were up to no good. He must not have been sure or not, since he circled the block and drove by us one more time...