| 4/11/2006 |
I'M COMING HOME - Part 1
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Otherwise known as... MONDAY MONDAY
I'd wanted to take photos of my home town for a long time now. I used to make regular trips, only an hour long drive, to my home town. I strayed away from such regularity for various reasons. None of them valid. All of them excuses. Now I find myself getting back into the swing of things, and going to the place I called home for over twenty years more often.
I left Monday morning armed with only my camera and a good nights rest. I've made the drive hundreds of times. I could easily zone out if I didn't pay attention. I was making a mental list of places that I wanted to take photos of. Things that were important for my own personal reasons. Places that I hadn't been to in years because of no particular reason to go.
I started at Steinhart Park. When I was in high school and the thing to do on the weekends was cruise around town I made sure my cruising route included a trip through Steinhart Park. During the summer there was always activities going on. Cars would line the already narrow road, as parents showed up to watch their son or daughter play baseball in one of it's various age-specific variations.
There has been a tank parked off in main park road for many years. I've known what it was there for, but never took the time to stop and look. It can be seen from the highway through town.
 The pond at the park was always a source of amusement. The banks have eroded over the years and needed to be reinforced with concrete and corrugated walls. I can remember walking along the bank being careful not to slip and fall in the murky mossy water.
For two summers I helped coach a little league team. It started out as hanging out with a friend from work. By the end of the next summer everyone else had bailed I found myself coaching. Being the 'newest' team in the league we got the short end when it came to team picks. It was great fun, even though we were the worst team in the league. Poor kids... they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. My fellow coaches were also co-workers and members of the Volunteer Rescue Squad in town. The parents were a lot more well behaved than I first thought they might be. There was little attitude present to worry about.
For one summer I worked at the municipal swimming pool. It was one of the most fun I ever had in a summer job. Looking at the pool now it seems so much smaller than when I was a kid. Even from when I was in high school. Maybe it is the lack of people and the Winter neglect, but the pool just looks sad and lonely.
The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. The fanfare and celebration. The seedy carnivals. Being able to enjoy the most of the longest times of daylight in the year. The park came to life even more than it would be any other time of the year.
 The terraces by the pool would be filled with townspeople all eagerly awaiting the fireworks which were launch from one of the outer baseball fields. If you didn't get there early you could expect to be watching from a poor vantage point. I figured most of the kids (and probably some parents) had made a day of it. Start off at the pool when it first opened and stay there all day and into the night. Leaving water-logged and fireworks full.
Arbor Lodge was one of those places that I would always get asked about by tourists to the city. What is it about? Who lived there? Is it worth seeing? It's weird to have grown up there and have less of an appreciation of such a thing. Where some people came to the town and couldn't wait to take a tour of the grounds of the Arbor Day hero, I barely knew anything about him.
The apple orchards were (and still are) a draw for the city. Of the two major holidays the town celebrates, Arbor Day being the first. Applejack is the second and I would almost guess the bigger of the two. Where Arbor Day can be celebrated anywhere... Applejack is only held in one place.
 Arbor Lodge, is a point of interest for me for several reasons. It was a place that we frequently went as part of my advanced science class in junior high. We'd spent hours roaming the grounds and learning about nature first hand. There was very little structure to the class. I don't know how the teacher, Mr Hammerschmidt, ever came up with a grade for us. Our tree climbing abilities? Our ability to not rat him out when he smoked with us around?
Arbor Lodge was a semi-popular make-out spot because of it's off-the-main drag locale and wooded seclusion. It could also be somewhat creepy at night, but in a good way. The same type of fright takes hold like in a good haunted house. You'd hear a twig snap or a strange animal sound, give a quick scream or jump of fright followed by laughter.
 While most of the town is paved, there are a few streets that remain brick cobblestone. The grooves can still be seen in some areas. When I lived in town I often wondered why no one ever paved over them. Now coming back to visit, I look forward to driving up and down the few remaining brick roads. Much in the same way smells can transport a person back in to their memories. These brick roads do the same for me. The sound of tires on brick can't be easily replicated or replaced. I'm sure a lot of the people that live along those streets have either lived there all their life or have had the house in their families for as long as the town has been around. There is a lot of history to the roads.
 My home town is not a one stop light sorta place. I think we have a dozen or so around the city. The downtown has had an odd life, in my opinion. What seemed busy when I was a child, seemed almost lifeless when I was in high school. Even after high school it seemed rather... lackluster. It's only within the last couple of years that it seems that many of the empty storefronts and now businesses in them again. It's a great thing to see.
But that was enough for pictures for now. I was in Nebraska City for another reason. It was time to head to my Grandparents house.
Here is a link to the beginning of my Flickr Tour of Nebraska City. Please check it out! |
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I posted this @ 4/11/2006 07:50:00 AM.............Need a link?..........
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