Arkansas - State No. 31

When reading Pics of Me in Front of Stuff, it may be hard to believe I have a graduate degree in chemistry and I am working on a second.  I am not sure if you question my graduate degree because of my amazing writing skill on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff makes you wander why I am wasting my time as a chemist (unlikely) or the poor writing skill on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff makes you question my intelligence (possibly) and how the Hell I have any degree.  In spite of your questioning my writing or chemistry skills, I did manage to go to graduate school and the year before I started this happened.

This had little to do with my choice, but I did attend the little, orange school that could.  That was not their only One Shining Moment. The spring of my first year at graduate school this happened.

'Ray Bucknell!
You may be asking "Is there a point to this little anecdote that applies to more recent history?"
You may also be asking "This guy really has a graduate degree in chemistry?!"
The answer to both is yes.  Whilst I was gallivanting around the southern United States this past winter I was forced to visit some states that are not known for being exciting.  Alabama and Mississippi were both little more than notches on my US Travel belt.  Like the Bison and their second One Shining Moment, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff had to deal with Arkansas before moving onto bigger and better things.

I had very low expectations for Arkansas for a couple of reasons.  The first was a lack of creativity in the state's name.  Bucknell beat Kansas one season then Arkansas the next.  If there had been a Lekansas the Bison may have been invited back to the Tournament for a Kansas trifecta.  Did the founders of Arkansas not notice that West Virginia was Virginia's red-headed step child?  Virginia is a pretty nice state with the beaches and the proximity to the nation's capital.  Arkansas decided to name itself after Kansas with its....Rock, Chalk, and Jayhawk?
Advantage: West Virginia.
How many times has that ever been said,
The second reason was, like Alabama, there is a dearth of worthwhile stops in Arkansas that were on the Official Route of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff.  There are diamond mines and hot springs in Arkansas but both were too far out of the way to make the trip worthwhile.  Since the next stop was New Orleans, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff wanted to stick to the eastern portion of the Natural State.
That's where the Great River Road entered the picture. 

The Great River Road follows the Mississippi River from its northern most reaches in Minnesota to where the river meets the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed this National Scenic Byway from West Memphis to Lake Village, Arkansas in search of adventure and excitement.  You probably won't be surprised that Pics of Me in Front of Stuff found little of either. 

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This was one of the more exciting moments of the trip.

Yeah, Arkansas!
There were more high points, but not many.  Aside from the Millennial Mile Mark, there was also the Louisiana Purchase State Park which memorializes the first surveying expedition of the Louisiana Purchase.

Without the Louisiana Purchase there is no Lewis and Clark.  Without Lewis and Clark there is no Oregon Trail.  Without Oregon Trail  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff would never have gotten to go wild game hunting or ford a river in elementary school. 

If you look closely, you can also see the Fifth Principal Meridian. 

You might see the imaginary line known as the Fifth Principal Meridian if you look at those trees hard enough.

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff  killed a buffalo that weighed 998 pounds, but was only able to carry 100 pounds. Continuing the historical theme of the trip, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff also visited the site of the first night flight by an airplane in the United States.  Since he did many of the other firsts in American aviation history it should be no surprise that the pilot was Charles Lindbergh and that there is a monument commemorating the event in Lake Village, Arkansa

Finally, there was history in between these two historical markers in the form of the Lakeport Plantation, the last remaining antebellum mansion in Arkansas.  The Lakeport Plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been rebuilt over 5 years by Arkansas State University.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff visited on the day of the Christmas Open House and met some wonderfully friendly people who had put significant effort in restoring this house to its current state.  

And the excitement did not stop there...but it got pretty close to being done.  Aside from the occasional historical landmark, there was certainly not much going on in eastern Arkansas. There was a whole lot of cotton fields. Driving down the Great River Road gave a surprisingly few glimpses of the Great River. There were quite a few views of cotton fields.

 And there was one of these, too.

And that was Arkansas.

2009 in Review

It has been fun 2009, I hate to see you go.
In fact, I am not really sure where you went.
Maybe it was the booze.
Maybe I was busy.
Maybe it was a combination of both. Now that it is almost the end of 2009 and many best of the decade specials are appearing it's time to review the best, the worst, and the unrecorded of 2009. I would like to note that the first decade of the 21st century started in 2001 and lasts until 2010. I am not sure what decade is ending with 2009 since 2000 was actually part of both the 20th Century and the 1990s. Aside from that, couldn't we celebrate the best of the decade every year since there were 9 previous years? I guess it could be said for every arbitrary 365 days and thereby my 2009 year in review would quickly become pointless. So forget most of what I just said and read what accompanies the pictures below.

I am sitting in the parlor of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff Manor watching the Temple Owls play in their first bowl game in 30 years, listening to the wind howl outside, and marveling at how Al Golden, Temple's football coach is dressed in a shirt and tie with no coat. My 2010 New Year's resolutions should include being as Bad-Ass as Al Golden. Being more bad-ass, in a good way, should be in everyone's New Year's Resolutions.

Just like the end and like most of the years I have existed, my 2009 started off with a lot of football.

I watched it in Baltimore with This Guy and Mets Fan.

Remember when 2008 was the Summer of the Bearfight?

I watched the Eagles lose another NFC Championship game first hand with the Official Father of Pics of Me In Front of Stuff in Arizona.

CP and I watched the Super Bowl in 3D two weeks later.

It was an exciting year to watch me some football. Every time Hank Williams ask me if I am ready for some football my answer is usually yes.

Football more or less exited the discussion on Pics of Me In Front of Stuff after that game. This is probably due to the season being over. Most of the rest of the first quarter of the year was locked in PA/NY/NJ including a trip to where the 3 borders of those states intersected. Without football, the highlight of the winter of 2009 was probably a trip to the top of the Empire State Building for a wedding on Valentine's Day. Throw in a wedding with a Bear Fight, a Polar Bear Plunge, and a random Belly Dancer and the winter gave way to spring.

I am glad she was not hairy like a bear because there seemed to be a theme developing... Also I was eating and she was dancing close to my food.

The end of winter brought the beginning of baseball season. It does this every year. Unfortunately, the Phillies title defense started with the loss of their longtime play-by-play announcer Harry Kalas. The Phils now play High Hopes after every game in his honor. I hope that is the beginning of a tradition. The world is a little sadder with his loss. The baseball season went on without HK and I was present for Brad Lidge ending his save streak, the Phillies first trip to New Yankee Stadium, idiot Phillies fans shining laser pointers at Albert Pujols, and rode the 7 Train with Jeff Franceour's wife. I also learned that you can visit the home plate that was found in Veteran's Stadium before the dump was torn down and replaced by the current stadiums in Philadelphia.

It is in the middle of a parking lot. This should not be a surprise since the turf was considered as hard as concrete when the Vet still stood.

The Phillies won just as many World Series there as they have in Citizens Bank Ballpark. Thank God they moved. Aside from visiting the Phillies this summer, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff also took a trip to Hawaii. Maybe you saw the 9 posts regarding Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park, Kilaueua Lava Flow, Mauna Kea, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, the southernmost bar in the US, liquid aloha, South Point, and the Kona Half-Marathon. Fortunately for all of my readers, I seem to have lost the shirtless pictures of me from our day at the beach in Hawaii. I will be sure to save some of those for next year in Pics of Me in Front of Stuff Gone Wild.

Finally, there is the overriding goal of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff - visiting all 50 states. The journey started off a bit slow this year, not reaching Maine until after Memorial Day. Hawaii was already cleared off the list when I visited over the summer. Fortunately, CP and I took a road trip through the Southeast US at the beginning of December. The event is still undocumented on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff, but if you think Hawaii was thoroughly described wait until you start hearing about exciting places like Birmingham, Alabama and Hamburg, Arkansas!

Here's a preview of the whirlwind roadtrip I drug CP on to start off December. This trip helped me reach states 28 through 32. That leaves 18 to go with just under 2 years to accomplish it. You can imagine what next year's road trip looks like.

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With that said, the year is coming to an end and we at Pics of Me in Front of Stuff would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year. Look for bigger and better things in 2010!