Water Park Holiday Lights

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the Family Aquatic Center at Osage Center (AKA to me as the Water Park) was all lit up for the holidays. I was already in the left lane to turn toward Kingsway, so I didn’t even slow down.

I should have stopped that night. It wasn’t 25 degrees and the grass didn’t crunch under my steps.

I had planned to do a piece on the Occupy Cape Girardeau movement, but Jim Stone and I spent most of the day roaming and visiting, so I didn’t have the energy to do it justice tonight. I was looking for something quick and easy to post. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)

How did I shoot the photo?

  • It was dark, so the camera autoselected an ISO (“film” speed of 1600. The high speed, plus the dark areas resulted in about half a dozen red and blue spots of “noise” that had to be edited out in Photoshop CS5 Extended.
  • It was darker than dark, but my fingers were too cold to fiddle with a tripod, so I grabbed my monopod to take at least a little shake out of the photo.
  • I was shivering and the cold made me need to pee, so I backed up against a utility pole to give me a little more stability (and to finish up as quickly as possible).
  • Frames that were given more light also required a slower shutter speed, which made them less sharp. Frames that were grossly underexposed showed the lights and were sharper, but lost the nice curvy lines of the empty pool. (The light color wasn’t ice; it was light reflecting off the walls of the pool.)
  • This compromise was a .625-second exposure @ f/4 at 26mm. I could have zoomed in tighter. When I went to edit it, I cropped in from all four sides to emphasize the lights. When I shot it, I thought I’d like the lights surrounded by more darkness, but that wasn’t the case.

Cape’s New Water Park

Cape voters passed a Parks and Recreation Storm Water bond issue that included the construction of a Family Aquatic Center at the Osage Center on N. Kingshighway, this side of Cape LaCroix Creek. I don’t know if the official name is going to catch on. Everyone I heard mention it called it the Water Park.

There was a lot of wrangling over whether or not is was a good use of money, but, in the end, it’s projected to be finished by Memorial Day, reported a story in The Missourian on April 8.

Remember the Lickitysplit Water Slide?

I’m not sure when the Lickitysplit Water slide on the way to Jackson on 61 opened. I know I never went down it, but my kids loved going there when we were visiting Cape in the summertime.

There’s nothing left of it today except a few undulations in the hill and some blacktop that the grass is gradually taking over.

Google Earth Mar. 5, 2003

It’s the curvy thing in the middle of the frame.

By 2005, Google Earth showed it gone like a giant had taken a big eraser and rubbed it out.

Google Earth May 11, 2005

jacksonmo.com needs updating

Wife Lila helped come up with the name of the Water Slide by finding a site called www.jacksonmo.com.

It assured readers that “Besides being a great place to live, work, and raise children, Jackson is also a fun place to live. Some of Jackson’s most well-known and beloved recreational activities are listed below.”

Methinks that site must not have been updated recently. Anybody who would want to take advantage of the Slide’s “water fun during the summer months” today would go home with a serious case of butt brambles.

Besides being a great place to live, work, and raise children, Jackson is also a fun place to live. Some of Jackson’s most well-known and beloved recreational activities are listed below.