The Longest Day

I have heard a lot about April 3, 1974, during my lifetime. My dad lived through that day, and being a weather geek himself, always used to tell me about how it wiped Guin, Alabama, and Xenia, Ohio, "off the map". It was a day that spawned several F5 tornadoes across the country. They called it a "generational" tornado event. Well, apparently, "generational" is equal to about forty years.

What we all witnessed on Wednesday is not normal. Thankfully, it is NOT something that we have to get used to (I don't think). Atmospheric conditions made Wednesday the absolutely perfect day for what we saw. Forecasters knew it was going to happen days in advance. I first heard about the forecast on Saturday. Even though the storms eventually took hundreds of lives, if not for the advance warnings we had, I'm sure it could have been higher.

Here in Hamilton County, we were pretty fortunate - for the most part. The folks in Apison wouldn't agree. The extreme southeastern portion of the county was hit by an EF-4. At work today, my coworkers went out to photograph the devastation. What the pictures show, they said, is nowhere near an accurate description of the true story. If you've seen the images of Tuscaloosa... then you know what Apison looks like, albeit on a much smaller schedule. There were houses in the pictures that are just completely... gone. A pickup truck was sitting beside a railroad track, its wheels nowhere in sight and no good explanation for where it came from. Just unbelievable destruction.

My heart goes out to all the people affected by this, and there are many. I love Tuscaloosa - anybody reading this probably knows that. While I never made it to the University, I still feel a connection to that city. To know that it was hit by what may soon be declared as THE most devastating tornado to EVER hit the US... that's just hard to fathom. It's a cruel reality of how bad the day was. It's not something that those of us who lived through it will soon forget. I just read a book a few months ago, entitled F5, that was about April 3 and the damage it brought on Limestone County, AL (Athens). I wouldn't be surprised if I'll soon be reading the sequel, unfortunately set in Tuscaloosa County.

I'll leave you with this image. This is satellite photography that you can actually see tornado tracks on. You can see them from space! Absolutely the most efficient tools of destruction the earth has ever seen.

Tornado tracks across central Alabama - http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/severe-storms-20110429.html

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I have written several negative blogs over the last week. If you are a conservative like me, it's hard not to have a pessimistic view of the country at the moment. Heck, I'll say that everybody should at least be fearful of what the current administration is doing. Liberals used to yell that Bush was "stripping away personal liberties", which is laughable at best when you compare Bush to the current yokel in office. Actually, it's hard to call Obama a yokel; he's a very intelligent man, just an intelligent man that likes the idea of power. And our government is quickly gaining way too much power over the people. But I digress.

Chattanooga is an amazing place to live. To me, it represents the perfect combination of "big city" amenities, shopping opportunities, restaurants, things to do, and just overall funness (to coin a word) with a small-town atmosphere. Geez, that sounds like something that could be in a travel brochure. But seriously, it's pretty awesome. So take that awesomeness and combine it with a sunny day, not a single cloud in the sky, and temperatures around 70. Man, talk about a beautiful day. That's exactly what we had today.

For a geographer, Chattanooga is the perfect combination of different landscapes. As I took a drive today I was able to follow a path along the Tennessee River, winding around small inlets and bays and up and down hills. The Bradford pear trees are in full bloom, so that is a nice change from the mostly prevalent bareness on the branches of other trees. As I turned west and headed over to the Soddy-Daisy area, I was able to drive along the base of Mowbray Mountain and Walden's Ridge. More beautiful scenery. Then I looped back east through Red Bank and traveled up and down the narrow residential streets that criss-cross the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. You can literally look eastward from the tops of these ridges and see mountains in North Carolina. That is powerful. It's the kind of view that makes you stop and just thank God that for a small moment in time you were able to gaze at His creations and forget about your daily struggles. That's actually something I recommend that more people do, whether you are looking at mountains or whatever it may be.

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures today. I actually went with my girlfriend and her beautiful daughters as they shopped for Easter dresses. Yes, I'm that domesticated. But I love 'em all and enjoy it. I'll leave you with a picture I took last year about this time, on an equally beautiful day. It shows one of my favorite places to go in Chattanooga, Coolidge Park. I've shown it on the blog before, but it is one of my favorites.

Until next time, y'all...

Why Not, Florence?

I went downtown to Coolidge Park today. It is Chattanooga's version of a "Central Park" you might say. It is on the North Shore, which is a trendy strip of restaurants/bars/coffee shops on the, you might have guessed, north side of the river. The park itself is really just a big open space along the river, though there is a carousel and a "splash pad" (an interactive fountain that kids can control). However, on nice weather days like today the place is crawling with people. It is a fun place to go and just watch people, take pictures, or sit down for a while and read a book. There were a lot of people today working on their sun tans, walking their dogs, or tossing around a frisbee or a football. Also a good place to meet people I would imagine.

Now of course, being a lifelong resident of Florence until 2008 I have a certain attachment to the Shoals area. Even though I don't live there I really want to see the area thrive. Under the right circumstances I certainly wouldn't mind to go back one day. But being in Coolidge Park today emphasized to me a point that often seems to be lost on Shoals area leaders.

People in the Shoals complain about having "nothing to do". Meanwhile, the politicians are busy trying to figure out what sort of tourist trap they can put in at Veterans Park. To me, Coolidge Park is the perfect example of something Florence doesn't have that would be so easy to create. As an added bonus it could be done without being a drain on the taxpayers.

Look at McFarland Park for example. It's not exactly deserted, but so much more could be done. When the golf course was closed (a decision I still oppose), acres of land just became wasted. They say it's camping grounds, but when I drive by there I never see it being used. At least part of it should be turned into an open space like in Coolidge, just for people that want to get out and throw a football or lay in the sun. Of course, unlike Coolidge, McFarland doesn't have an area with restaurants and nightlife. Florence is always talking about building an "entertainment district". How about putting it in McFarland Park? Take the money for the supposed "tourist attraction" at Veterans and use it to build some interesting shops/bars/restaurants at McFarland. Yeah, it's in the flood plain, but that just means these buildings could be an architectural challenge. Build them on stilts and put parking underneath. It wouldn't be that cheap, but it could be done.

I realize there are challenges. The Shoals is mostly scared of any kind of change. Bars in particular are almost forbidden, and I can imagine there would be an uproar about putting them in a public park. There are also not as many people in the Shoals, both living there and visiting. Obviously a park full of people requires there be a large number of people that actually want to use it. Perhaps the scale of the project would have to be smaller than Coolidge. The idea would remain the same though.

I just don't see why, if Florence is serious about an entertainment district in East Florence or anywhere else, this sort of idea couldn't work at McFarland. There is already a good number of people coming in and out of Florence Harbor and using the small park on the east side of O'Neal Bridge (which reminds me of something from Chattanooga actually). I think it could work. FWIW, I say McFarland because I really don't think any other park in Florence or the Shoals could work. Veterans doesn't have enough river access in my opinion, and Riverfront Park in Sheffield is... well... in Sheffield.

On a completely unrelated note, it's not big enough for its own blog but I thought I'd share another thing that annoys me. It's people that stop at red lights when they want to make a right turn. Now, I don't mean coming to a stop and then proceeding to turn. I mean the people that stop, have their blinker on so you know they aim to turn, but simply sit there until the light turns green. Even if there is nothing coming in any direction. People, unless their is a sign posted forbidding you, it is still legal to make a right turn on red. I'm not sure why some people do this but it's just downright stupid.

If you want to see some pictures I took at Coolidge today check out my album on Picasa. Otherwise, until next time...