Sunday afternoon I decided to go on an expedition to explore the site of the former Lakeside Park, which is now only accessibly by river. It’s hidden back in the woods, completely overgrown with only a few remnants of what used to be “the” place to be in Joplin.

This place has always fascinated me and I like to walk around and imagine what it was like back in the day. Sometime I should take copies of the old postcards and try to take photos from the exact same angles… another day I suppose.

-click for larger image-As you can see, the river is nice and clear today with lots of nice ‘rapids’.

-click for larger image-The fall colors also made this a particularly enjoyable float.

-click for larger image-Here I am approaching the site. People used to ride the trolley to get here, which I think is cool.

-click for larger image-Here is an old wall. I can imagine a group of dudes a hundred+ years ago sitting here scoping out the ladies.

Here is an old post card. This is cool because at least part of all 3 structures are still around today. The arched bridge, the supports for the bath house, and parts of the dam.

-click for larger image-The only large remaining structure of the park, a long arching bridge that crosses Center Creek and continues deep into the woods, probably at least half a dozen arched sections, if not more.

-click for larger image-Time has not been so kind to the west side of the bridge.

-click for larger image-The river was so nice today! This is looking from the top of the bridge downstream toward my house.

-click for larger image-This is where I was standing when I took the previous pic.

This bridge is long gone but the support posts are still around – however I didn’t get a pic.

This used to be the low dam that held back the small “lake”. People would walk across here and get their feet wet. I have concluded that the roller coaster was located to the southeast of the dam – so it would be in this photo if still standing.

Another random old wall further downstream. I think it’s cool to imagine the people constructing this wall around the turn of the previous century. For decades this place was full of people and good times. Now there is only the sound of the river and the birds.

Thanks to everyone who came out to our gallery at the Joplin Artwalk last night. Considering we were a ‘rogue’ gallery and not officially a part of the artwalk event, we had tons of visitors. In fact at times there was barely room to stand, which was very cool!

I had a great time just mingling among friends, family, and random people who were out enjoying the evening and checking out some art in the process. Definitely a fun thing, and I hope to be able to do it again in the future!! The only problem was that in all the excitement I forgot to take any photos once the event got rolling. Luckily this one was snapped when Lindsay and Kim stopped by right before things started.

I am pleased to announce that my photography will be featured at October’s artwalk in Joplin – which is this Thursday (15th), roughly from 6-8pm!

I will be sharing a space with Jason Shelfer at 515 S. Main and I think his wife may do some light catering of the event. So I have been very busy the last few days getting my stuff ready for my first official ’show’ here in Joplin. I think i’ll have about 15 of my favs nicely framed and on display. It’s totally last minute so our gallery may not be as fancy as some of the others, but I am sure our works will not disappoint!

Anyways, I hope everyone comes out and stops by!

Saturday was the big TA110 bike ride. The route was more or less the same as last year, equally as hard and equally as hot. There are a lot of these types of events, but this is probably one of the harder rides, in that the route is designed to be hilly.

Items of note include the fact that I was apparently in much better condition this year. I made it up every single hill, including the wall of death in Seneca and the never ending stairway to hell on OK-10 north of Grove (last year I had to push up at least 5 or 6 of the hills). Also I shaved an hour and 20 minutes off my previous ride time!

I figure the real reason I was so much faster this year was just that I was wearing spandex shorts. At first I was a bit nervous and awkward about sporting the banana hammock but once I was going I just enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have shorts bunching up everywhere. I kept feeling that people were staring at my junk but in retrospect they were probably just staring at the fact that I was doing the hardest bike ride around on a hybrid trek 7100 retrofitted with race tires.

All in all it was a great ride and I had a lot of fun. These bike events are a blast and I’m very much addicted to them…now I’m looking forward to the Gorilla Century in a couple months. I’m still not quite ready for a full century route, but I can feel it getting closer within reach!

Sometimes I like to spend my lunch breaks looking up old photos and historical things relating to the area. Since the Joplin area was a boomtown around the turn of the century it has a very elaborate and interesting history, much of which is still visible today, particularly in the plethora of extravagant homes found in the older areas of Webb City, Carthage, and Joplin.

Sometimes though, history is as funny as it is interesting and this photo is a prime example of how the perception of something can change if given enough time. What once said “we have the best”, if published today would be an embarrassment.