Category: Places

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Places

Confluence

There is more to the South than Mardi Gras, Blues, Cajun cooking, and white guys with confederate flags in the back of their trucks. Photos from Cairo, Illinois.

Welcome
Tenth Street

Gem Theater
Eighth Street

Cairo had two strongly distinctive faces. On the one hand, there’s been an attempt to restore much of the history of the town, including its many unusual buildings: some dating from the Civil War when General Grant was stationed in the community. On the other hand, the poverty of the people manifests in the many boarded up and abandoned buildings, some used as wild cat havens; or destroyed by tornado and just left, fallen in the streets. There is no yellow tape around the remains, no warnings of danger. You could walk in the middle of the street, and no one would care. In addition, a racial divide is strong in the town: walk along 8th street, and the people are white; a block over, they’re entirely black.

Mansion Two
Historical society mansion

Mansion One
Glory days gone

Imagine, also, a finger of land about a mile wide, bordered by two of the biggest, fiercest rivers in the country; accessible by one bridge going to Missouri, the other, a 1/4 mile away, to Kentucky. What land there is, is the richest in the world; top soil a hundred feet deep, as one would expect from the northernmost point of the Mississippi Delta. To this geography, add a Civil War history, turn of the century opulence giving away to extreme poverty and race riots. This is Cairo, Illinois.  This is the South.

river barge
Barge heading from the Ohio to the Sip

Categories
Places Travel

Flows

I thought I would point you to several photos being uploaded to Weather Underground, here and here now associated with search and rescue in New Orleans as well as the coast of Mississippi.

One of the photos shows Gulfport, or what was left of the town. When I drove to Florida this last spring, I had planned on staying in Biloxi, but it was Saturday night and most places were filled with gamblers. Instead, I ended up staying in Gulfport.

I had also planned on exploring a bit that night–checking out Long Beach and maybe the Lighthouse at Biloxi. However, it took so long to find a place, it was too late to explore. I found out that the Lighthouse is still there. Biloxi is gone, but the Lighthouse is still there. I have a chance still to see it, and the 450 year old Friendship Oak. It only lost a few branches. And I just found in a message board that Mary Mahoney’s, the oldest operating hotel in the States is still standing, too.

The next morning on my trip, I thought about stopping in Beauvoir, Confederate President Jefferson Davis final home. I decided against it, though, because I’d have to wait a few hours for it to open. I figured I would plan a trip down to the Gulf Coast specifically and catch all the places then when I had time to devote to each.

Instead, I stopped by a MacDonald’s and bought a breakfast biscuit (yes, I’m bad–but I love the MickeyD’s breakfast biscuits) from a wonderfully charming young black woman, and went to a rest area and watched the dawn over Mobile. The city of Mobile is still there, but Beauvoir is gone. All that’s left is a bit of floor, some frame, and a few bricks. There’s a note on the website about keeping people updated about the upcoming Hurricane Katrina. In the note that opens, it still has coverage of Camille. Why update a site that no longer has any meaning?

On the way down, I bypassed New Orleans — I didn’t want to deal with the traffic. I remember my first trip there several years ago. I was giving a day long tutorial at a conference, and went down by myself. I caught one of those shared ride vans from the airport, and during the trip, mentioned I hadn’t been in the city before. Before dropping me off at my hotel, the driver drove through the French Quarter and showed me places I needed to make sure to visit before going home. Then when he dropped me off at the hotel, he looked into my eyes, his dark brown and very intense, and warned that I was not to visit these places by myself at night. I said I wouldn’t.

The next day I spent teaching class, but I had several hours the next day before my plane took off and visited the French Quarter and the Saint Louis Cathedral. The Cathedral is the oldest in the country–built in 1720, before this country was even born. It also has a fascinating history. From Frommer’s:

The cathedral formed the center of the original settlement, and it is still the major landmark of the French Quarter. This is the third building to stand on this spot. A hurricane destroyed the first in 1722. On Good Friday 1788, the bells of its replacement were kept silent for religious reasons rather than ringing out the alarm for a fire — which eventually went out of control and burned down more than 850 buildings, including the cathedral itself.

I’m sorry and this is terrible, but I laughed out loud when I read about the bells kept quiet and the church burning. I’m sorry. I know I will burn in hell for my humor.

The building now standing was built in 1794, and though the outside is supposed to be ‘okay’ as Frommer’s would say, the church is not known for it’s outstanding interior. I had read this before going down, and so only visited the exterior. I tried to find photos of the interior tonight, but the web site doesn’t load. Of course it doesn’t. I don’t know what I was thinking.

I have a refigerator magnet from Bourban Street in the French Quarter from my trip. Me and my beloved refrigerator magnets. I picked up a couple in New Orleans, and this is the one I had given the roomie. When I sold all my stuff that was in storage in California a couple of years ago, my collection of magnets was in one of the boxes. I had hoped the person who bought it would send me the collection, but I imagine it ended up on eBay. My roomie has ‘loaned’ me his collection. Nice of him — gives me a little of my history back.

I think roomie was hoping that the nice, clean, new french doors would remain clean and pristine. No, no — dotted all over with magnets, now. Some wonderfully cheesy. One of my favorites is a little minerature mug of beer that sticks out. Another is Betty Boop and Route 66. Then there’s the painted shell from Florida, and the car from Wall Drug. Perfect.

Categories
Photography Places

Gardens at Twilight

Here it is, the week before Labor Day weekend and I only now find out that the Missouri Botanical Gardens have been open to 8pm every Wednesday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. At least last night I was able to go and attempt a little dusk photography–helped along by finding the part that attaches from my camera to the tripod.

The Gardens are undergoing its sprucing up in time for the big festivities: the Japanese Festival this weekend. I’m not sure if the lights outlining the pools have always been there, or were added specifically for this event, but they added a lovely touch to the waterlilies and dragonflies.

Garden Lights

Dragonfly at Dusk

I don’t know if I’ll go to the Japanese festival. It has all my favorites: the Candy Man, the Taiko Drums, Bon Odori, and this year, Sumo wrestlers. But I have work to do, and I’m still feeling peaky. However, the food is fantastic, and the presentations wonderous. Perhaps if I work especially hard tomorrow.

I have come to really appreciate the Gardens this year, particularly since because of finances and problems with heat and bugs I haven’t been able to go out to the trails as much this summer. No matter how busy it is, I can always find a quiet spot to sit, just sit, and I have been almost desperate for such lately. Now, more than ever, we should grab these moments when we can, as often as we can.

Waterlily at Night

Categories
Photography Places

Mists

Yesterday started out with mist. From my hotel room, I could see the building that houses the Welk shows, and beyond that, the mists over the river leading away from the Table Rock Dam.

Morning and Mist in Branson

When I got to the Dam, most of it was closed, as it was too early. I found one place that wasn’t closed for security reasons and was able to get a picture of the dam. There wasn’t much water running down the dam–most likely due to the drought, again.

Table Rock Lake Dam

The fog was thick, and oddly layered. I could look down into it and saw, barely, the image of a man fishing, noticable more from his bright orange hat than anything else. Driving further down the road I found a spot where people could park and fish the river below the dam.

I walked down the wooden steps to the beach area, by the overflow stream. Seeing them in the fog was a rather amazing experience. They each had their own space, quietly casting their line, and winding it back, only to re-cast it again.

fishermeninfog

Warning: but what if you're deaf?

The trip back was very quiet, and primarily overcast, but no rain, luckily. The only real excitement I had was when I spotted a small turtle crossing the road in front of me. I wasn’t going to run over a turtle, so I slammed on my breaks, hard enough to leave markings on the road and smell burning rubber. I watched in horror as the little guy disappeared underneath the car, but didn’t feel a thump.

I sat there in the road, trying to see if the guy was walking around. I couldn’t leave the car parked in the road so all I could do was inch forward until I could see this small, black turtle shell reflected in my rearview mirror. I stopped again and watched, anxiously, until the turtle extended out its legs and head and took off for the side of the road.

Later, I came over a hill to see a row of fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances, driving slowly along with their lights on. It was a funeral procession, most likely for a fallen firefighter, though I couldn’t find anything in the news. I slowed down, but wasn’t sure what to do. One of the firetrucks pulled out into my lane, which made the decision for me, so I pulled over, as did a couple of cars and a truck behind me. I managed to get a few photos, though none were that good.

I stopped at only one place on the way back: Alley Spring. Unlike my last trip, the trees were in full leaf, and the day was overcast — perfect conditions for photos.

Alley Spring Basin Gate

The Mill is run by the federal government, and they provide people who answer questions about the Mill in the Summer. The lady who was on duty when I arrived told me about how the farmer’s would bring in corn or wheat, and dump it on the floor next to the rollers (used for grinding grain). It would drop through to the basement where it would be weighed and the miller take his cut. From there, a conveyor belt with little cups would haul the wheat or corn to the upper story, where filters would sift out the larger wheat from the smaller. From there, the corn would go to the corn roller, and the larger wheat to one machine, the smaller to another.

Water-driven Grinding Machines for Wheat

Alley Spring Corn Husker

The corn was ground up for making moonshine, the wheat for flour. It was considered a modern marvel of the time at one point, but it only ran 20 years — the Ozarks in that area aren’t good farming land. Luckily, the State bought the Mill in 1920 to preserve it, and aside from some minor wood replacement, it’s all the original materials. They even run it twice during the day, though not the day when I was there.

The hostess was very friendly, as were all of the people I ran into on the trip. At Hodgson Mill, I ran into a couple from Theodosia (isn’t that a pretty town name) who were out looking at mills. They showed me the water line of the Flood of ’93, and I told them about Bollinger, which still ground grain, after a couple of hundred years.

Of all the mills, Alley Spring is still my favorite. The hostess told me that a bobcat had taken a rabbit drinking from the Spring just a couple of days before, and the week before that, a forest ranger had a big black bear pass in front of his truck. I may yet meet my bear face to face this year, and get a photograph.

Favorite view of Alley Spring Mill

Categories
Places

The Missouri geek camp and bar-b-que

The time, 5:15 pm, August 19th. The place, St. Louis, Missouri….

“Good afternoon campers, and welcome to GeekCamp 2005!”

Happy Camper One: “Yeah, yeah, hi, hi, where’s the air conditioning?”

Happy Camper Two: “It is so hot, my fucking TiBook is melting.”

Happy Camper Three: “Hey, don’t stand so close! You’re sweating on my iPod!”

Happy Camper Four: “You take a picture of me right now when I look like this, and I will hurt you. ”

Happy Camper One: “What’s the Flickr tag for this anyway? ‘hellcamp’?”

The time, 11:45 pm, August 19th. The place, a bunch of tents on a lawn, in St. Louis, Missouri…

From one tent: “What bit me! Something just bit me!”

From a second: “What was it?”

First: “Some kind of brown spider. It was in my sleeping bag, and when I crawled in, it bit me!”

Second: “Wow. That’s like, really too bad.”

First: “What do you mean, that’s like really too bad!?”

From a third tent: “Where did it bite you?”

First: “On my ankle, just above my tatoo.”

Second: “Well, then, that’s okay. You wanted to get rid of that tatoo anyway.”

First: : “WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WANTED TO GET RID…”

The time 6;45am, August 20th. The place, a big outdoor tent with lots of tables and chairs.

Overheard: Do I want some grits? How would I know? What the hell are ‘grits’?

Geek A: “So what sessions are you going to?”

Geek B: “There’s a hands-on session on Google maps and satellite tracking I’m going to this afternoon. Should be awesome.”

Overheard: Do they serve pork at every meal here?

Geek A: “That one is held outdoors, you know.”

Geek B; “On the other hand, the session on weblogging, should be fun. Can never attend too many sessions on weblogging.”

Overheard: What is that crap you’re eating? Biscuits and what? Looks like something you’d see on the sidewalk in the Mission District.

Geek C: “There’s a Dukes of Hazzard gadget car demo this morning that sounds cool.”

The time, 4:00pm, August 20th. The place, the asphalt in front of a big building, in St. Louis, Mo.

Sunburned Geek One: “Hey, I had a chance to meet with Larry Page!”

Sunburned Geek Two: “Cool! What was he like?”

Sunburned Geek One: “Well, I don’t know. When I walked up to him, his face was really red and clammy looking, and his eyes were kind of glazed. When I said, ‘Hi’, he sort of gurgled and then fell over.”

Sunburned Geek Two: “Wow!”

Sunburned Geek One: “Yeah, last time I saw him, they were taking him away on a stretcher.”

Sunburned Geek Two: “Man, poor guy.”

Sunburned Geek Two: “So, did you get your picture taken with him?”

The time, 4:15pm, August 20th. The place, the same asphalt, in St. Louis

Sunburned Geek Three, walking up through the tall, tall grass: “What are you guys doing, standing on that hot asphalt instead of the grass.” Shakes head, and starts walking away. “Jeez, you losers.”

Sunburned Geek One (whispering): Should you tell him, or should I?

Sunburned Geek Two (whispering back): No, let’s wait until he gets completely covered, then we’ll tell him.

The time, 9:00pm, August 20th. The place, kegger, right next to tents.

Slightly drunk, sunburned, geek camper A: “All they got to drink is Budweiser.”

Even more drunk, sunburned, geek camper B: “Well, it’s made here so it makes sense that’s what they would serve.”

camper A: “Tastes like piss.”

Stumbling, drooling, geek camper C: “You guyz shuuld try the stuff in the jars.”

camper B: “What stuff in what jars?”

camper C: “Ish over there” Pointing. “Shee? The clear stuff. Oh hey! Thars roast pig butt over there.” Weaves away.

camper A: “Let’s go try that clear stuff.”

camper B: “Okay, I’m game.”

Suddenly, a voice raises above the noise of the crowd…: “Oh my god, I’m blind! I’m blind! I can’t see! I’m blind!

camper A looks at camper B. Camper B looks back.

camper A: “On the other hand, I like Bud.”

camper B: “Yeah. Cool horses.”

The time, 4pm, August the 21st. The place, the large meeting room at Geek Camp.

“Well campers, I want to thank you for coming, and we hope you got as much out of this event as we did.”

You are really covered in bug bites. Do they itch?

“This year’s GeekCamp was the best ever!”

I heard that Page was running down the hall at the hospital, bare ass naked, tapping people on the head and crying out, “You’re a 6″, “You’re a 8″.

Better sell your Google stock.

elsewhere: I’m peeling so much, I look like a snake.

Yeah, but at least you’re not blind. I heard…

“It’s going to be tough to beat this year at next year’s GeekCamp.”

You couldn’t get me back here if you paid me.

You could promise me links from both BoingBoing and Slashdot, and I still wouldn’t come back.

I wouldn’t come back even if they filled the room full of VCs with money to burn.

“Unfortunately, next year we’ll only have space for about half of you, so we won’t be able to invite some of you back…”

“What!”

“Now wait just a minute!”

“I was really looking forward to returning next year…”

“How could you say that we’re not invited back…”

And so ends the Missouri Geek Camp and Bar-B-Q for 2005…

Just a little southern geek humor…