Downtown on a stormy night

When I left work last night, a big dark cloud loomed off to the west. I began to rain some as I drove home, but I already had an idea in my head to go out to take pictures that night, so I tried to ignore it. I ran home and grabbed the new camera, and then headed to downtown Little Rock to take some pictures.

I parked the car and walked over to a bridge over I-630. It was a bit eerie out there since the tornado sirens were going off. I then realized that in my haste to leave home, I forgot my cellphone. I felt a bit disconnected, especially if there was a bad storm approaching. But downtown was quiet (except for the sirens), it wasn't even raining out there.


The sirens continued to wail as it got darker, but nary a drop of rain had fallen. I went over to the other side of the bridge for this shot of the freeway and the distant state capitol.


I got back to my car and found a local radio station that was broadcasting the weather from Channel 11. I heard about how bad the approaching storm really was - it had spawned a tornado that set down south of the city. Among the talk of "hook echos" and "wall clouds," the weather guy said that the storm that set off the tornado was now over west Little Rock. Actually it was just passing over the office where I work. Then it made its way north, and passed directly over my apartment. Luckily it wasn't bad there, just rain and hail. It made me glad I was downtown, where things were still calm.

I drove over the river to Riverfront Park in North Little Rock. I wanted to get better pictures of the new sculpture there. I took a few pictures as flashes of lightning brightened the sky. I quickly moved over in an attempt to get a picture of the lightning, with the sculpture serving as something interesting to sit in the foreground.

There was a lot of lightning that night. After many pictures where I missed lightning, this bolt dropped down just as the camera was in the process of taking a picture.


It was then that I realized that standing next to a tall metal sculpture is not the best place to be in a lightning storm, so I headed on home. The worst of the storm had passed, but waves of heavy rain and hail still passed through town for the next several hours. I freaked out when two hail storms came through, bombarding my apartment complex and my poor new car. Luckily it survived it without picking up any dents or dings...

New camera...

I got a new camera in the mail yesterday - an Olympus E-30. It's the fourth camera that I've owned. I started out with a Pentax P30T, which I bought way back in 1995. That was replaced by a Pentax ZX50 in 1999, and then the Olympus E-500 in 2006. I'm a bit confused by the new camera, since a lot of the buttons have changed. It'll take awhile to get used to...

But I took it out last night for some test shots. There was a light rain falling as I got this picture in downtown North Little Rock. This is in Riverfront Park, and is of a new sculpture called the "Beacon of Hope and Peace." Each of the lights on the 36-foot tall sculpture are meant to represent both hope and peace. But I think it looks more like a 1940's robot about to attack the city.....

Richland Creek

I've ordered a new camera, which should be delivered tomorrow. So when it came to head out somewhere over the weekend, it seemed fitting for my old camera to visit the home of one of its most epic adventures: Richland Creek. The first time I went to Richland Creek, two years ago, I hiked from the campground in a failed attempt to reach Twin Falls. It was pouring down rain, and I had to turn back a half-mile from Twin Falls because the creek was running much to high to cross. I returned the next weekend and hiked down to Twin Falls from a different route, and finally made it. But I had never made it over to visit Richland Falls on either trip.

So I met up again with Matt Kennedy and Zack Andrews on Friday night, and we drove up to Russellville. Our first stop was an area overlooking Big Piney Creek. This spot is also where people set out to search for the legendary "Dover Lights," a mysterious light that zooms across the valley. The light is said to be from the ghost of a Spanish conquistador, searching for lost gold (or something like that).

Our plan was to get pictures of the stars, not Spanish ghosts. The sky was clear and there were plenty of stars out. There was also a thick layer of smoke in the valley below, the result of prescribed burns in the National Forest. As we were unloading the cameras, a Forest Service ranger drove up to see what we were doing. This overlook is popular for people who smoke stuff that is not in anyway connected to prescribed burns in the forest.

But none of the pictures really turned out, so we headed north and headed over to Richland Creek. Unfortunately, the campground there is still closed (the result of a landslide on a nearby road, which will maybe be fixed sometime this year). We found a place to camp, and then built a fire to help battle the cold night air (it probably got below freezing that night).

We woke up before sunrise, and quickly headed over to the creek. Richland Creek is really one of the more scenic places in the Ozarks. The clear water rushes over and past huge boulders, and is surrounded by tall forested hills.


The view from the hill, where a huge boulder sat overlooking everything...


And a view further downstream. This area is part of a protected wilderness area in the Ozark National Forest. It was quiet and peaceful there, and we only saw one other person out there all day.


The sun had risen now, and was casting a warm glow onto the side of the hills. So we headed back to our campsite and then over to start the hike towards Richland Falls. This trip was the exact opposite of when I hiked here two years ago. It was cold out, but it was dry and sunny. That was a nice change, except that sunlight is not helpful for waterfall pictures. The hope was that the falls were still in shadow by the time we hiked the two miles there.

The hike starts out by crossing (or wading) Falling Water Creek, just before the creek flows into Richland Creek. After that, there is a primitive trail that quickly runs right up a hillside. This scenery out there is amazing, but the trail is not an easy one. This wilderness area is unforgiving. There were pieces of pink tape hanging from trees along the way, put there last fall by a search and rescue team who had come in to pick up an injured photographer at Twin Falls who fell when the bluff he was standing on gave way.

The primitive trail runs next to the creek some, and then attempts to find the best way through the forest. At one point the trail skirts a narrow ledge, with just a few inches of space to make your way though. But after about two miles of hiking, we finally reached the spot where the river curves. From that spot, you can cross Richland Creek and hike about a half-mile to Twin Falls. Or you can make your way along the creek in a half-mile in the other direction and reach Richland Falls. Since I've been to Twin Falls already, I headed over to Richland Falls.

The sun was out and shining directly onto the hill above the falls. Most of the falls were still in shadow, but there wasn't much time before the sunlight would be hitting them. But it is a great waterfall, where the creek jumps over a rock shelf. The falls are probably about five-feet tall, and stretch across the entire length of the creek.

The light was too harsh to get a wide shot of the entire falls, so I had to zoom in on certain sections.




I wish the light was better, but those were really the only pictures that turned out. This trip was more of a hiking trip than a photo trip. Which just means that I'll have to head back out there again on a cloudy day. That will just have to be after my sore legs recover from this trip...

Hwy. 5

After work on Tuesday, I headed out to watch another high school basketball game (which would ultimately be the last one). It was the district tournament, being held in the town of Jessieville. I drove south to Benton, and then cut over on Hwy. 5 heading west towards Hot Springs Village. I had never driven Hwy. 5 before and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a fun and curvy road (it wasn't that much fun when I was driving back home at 10:45 that night, especially with the random deer that had the nifty idea of just standing out in the middle of the road).

But there are several old barns and other assorted buildings along the road. I stopped at this one, when it was nearly dark outside. This old barn sat alone in a field, with just a few cows and hay bales for company.

New York - February 2006 - Part 3

When we woke up the next morning, the weather had completely changed. Gone were the storms clouds; it was a bright and sunny day outside. It was still cold, though. This was the new view from the hotel room:


This was our last day in New York, and we only had a few hours before we would need to be at the airport. But we just barely had time to try to squeeze in a visit to the Statue of Liberty. So we quickly walked over to Battery Park, and were amazingly some of the first people to join in the queue.


The plan was to try to get there early to beat the crowds, leaving plenty of time to sight-see at the Statue. That would have worked, except for the hours spent waiting in line to pass through security. We waited for maybe two hours, slowing inching our way forward. Finally we reached some x-ray machines, where everyone had to remove their coats, hats, gloves, scarves and any other feeble attempt to stay warm in the 25 degree weather. I placed several rolls of film on the tray and watched them get zapped, and hoped they would survive...

Then we got into another line for another security screening. After a bit more waiting, it came time to stand on some sort of platform that shot a jet of air up your clothes (an interesting experience). After all that, it was time to finally get onto the ferry that would take us to Liberty Island. A view of the skyline from the boat:

The view of the city from there was awesome...

And of the approaching Statue of Liberty:


And then a shot combining the two:


The boat reached the island, but we were way behind. Our flight was leaving in just a few hours, and we would hardly have any time to see the Statue. So we rushed towards the entrance only to find yet another security line.

After another long wait, we were cleared and able to go into the Statue itself. We didn't stop to inspect any of the exhibits at the museum, and reached the elevators that take you up to the top of the pedestal. At that time, the crown of the Statue was closed to visitors, and this was as high as you could go. But they did let you see the spiral staircase that curls up to the top.

I guess this was taken while looking up Lady Liberty's skirt.

The guide at the top noted that we got up there pretty fast, and said in a disapproving tone that we must have ran through the museum. Sorry buddy, we had a plane to catch! But this is the view of the city from the pedestal of the Statue. It was another great view.




And then the view looking up:


And then we headed back down to ground level and went to have a quick look around. Here's another view of the Statue (sorry there are so many).


Being there did make me want to watch "Ghostbusters 2" again.


One good thing about being on the first boat there was the we were able to see it before the snow got trampled...


And one last picture of the Statue of Liberty. This seagull was flying low above us, and I tried to get a quick shot of it.


The ferry then went over and visited Ellis Island. We stayed on the boat, since we had no time to tour the museum. We had already missed the check-out time at the hotel.




I wanted to use up the roll of film I had, so I stood out on the boat deck and got some more pictures of the skyline.

Those new buildings on the right sure do stick out against the neater older skyscrapers...



And that was it - we checked out of the hotel and got to the airport about 45 minutes before the plane left. I ended up shooting 20 rolls of film, and was relieved to see that each one survived the wrath of the airport x-rays. But the cost of developing 20 rolls of film, and the constant worry about their surviving the trip, led me to buy a digital camera a few months later.

It was a good trip, albeit a short one. We didn't manage to see a lot of the sights up there - no Central Park or fancy museums. We didn't even manage to buy a knock-off rolex!