John & Anne Wiley

2010/08/22

Large & Small

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 05:36

We didn’t fly today after all, though tomorrow’s another day. Meanwhile, more scenes from the early days of our NxNW flight. I like the long view of South Dakota from flying high to get over and around clouds and avoid storms that would be hidden (embedded) if we’d flown below the cloud layer (thicker ahead, than in this shot out the side). It was much lower than airlines, but much higher than our usual view.

8526 Middle View

8526 Middle View

Approaching our rest break in North Dakota we saw farms with long stories to tell. How many generations worked this place before it finally fell to weather and “progress?”

8529 Silent Story

8529 Silent Story

Ellendale’s quiet little airport was so refreshing! Wonderful to smell the earth after flying so high above it. We could hear the breeze, the bees, and this tiny frog.

8543 Frog World

8543 Frog World

We were kids again taking turns gently holding it, feeling the moist skin and the gentle touch of cool little toes. How is it faring how? Closing my eyes, a slow quiet descends in my mind and once again the grasses are rustling around me.

2010/08/21

More Highlights

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 05:28

I’ve been having some computer trouble, so it’s a nice change to revisit more pix from the NxNW flight. So relaxing to rest my eye again on this one just after takeoff from Jackson Hole Airport.

8262 Teton Takeoff

8262 Teton Takeoff

Not many airports offer a view like this within four minutes of takeoff in a small plane. Keep in mind this was only a tiny section of the panorama before us. Seems all the more amazing now, and looking at this pic takes me right back into that sensory feast even at this distance in time and space.

8377 Lakeshore Landscape

8377 Lakeshore Landscape

Along the highway next to the lake were many areas like this, and we wondered if some geysers might be there too though we never saw one. Looks like people have laid logs into some of the ponds. I especially like the spring at top center that looks like some sci fi critter with tentacles. Also the deep one at bottom-right.

Maybe we’ll go flying tomorrow… 🙂

2010/08/20

More NxNW

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,People,Random — John @ 02:45

Today I’ve been looking at more of the pix from the first leg of our big North By Northwest (NxNW) adventure. Soon after passing Owens Lake we crossed into Nevada and took a rest stop at Tonopah (pix on my Photo Page and older posts here made during the trip) and then a lot more similar terrain until almost to Jackson Hole. I’d always imagined Nevada as flat and featureless, but there’s a lot of variation. Sure, it’s dry but there are plenty of interesting geological features.

8088 Wet & Dry

8088 Wet & Dry

Anyplace there are people, there’s some evidence of water and sometimes it’s pretty striking in the vast arid landscape.

8106 Dry Squiggle

8106 Dry Squiggle

Sometimes you see evidence of untamed water that was there in some past wet season. The shapes and textures left behind really get your attention. Not that the rest of the terrain is uninteresting, but it doesn’t show well in photos because it’s so vast.

8121 Softly Patterned Hilltop

8121 Softly Patterned Hilltop

Sometimes we’d wonder about variations in the soils, like on this hill where something made for soft blotches of growth while other areas are bare. You can also begin to see how the smoke from all the wildfires elsewhere was mingling with any agricultural burning, to hang in the air and truncate the longer views.

8123 Oil & Water

8123 Oil & Water

Even with the smoke growing ever thicker, some large features were really striking. Here the effects of water combined with apparent oil exploration sites dotting the hillside road, create an unusual assortment of shapes and colors.

8128 Oasis

8128 Oasis

With little indication of human activity for countless miles, homes you do see are often distinctive. I like how the plantings and architecture here provide a creative contrast to the desolate surroundings. Nearing the Nevada state line we passed a green valley and the smoke seemed to be trapped by the rising mountains leading up to the Tetons. Here’s a photo I like of that area, because it shows how the green valley is lapping at the dry hills like waves on a barren shore.

8142 Grass & Smoke

8142 Grass & Smoke

2010/08/19

Memory

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 02:53

We spoke with a friend this afternoon who’s just had major surgery, and told us how some of her memories during that time still haven’t returned. Partly it was the pain meds for sure, probably also some the trauma of it all. Her story of course got me thinking about memory.

How much of what we remember longest really happened as we remember it? What are the ways that memories affect our feelings and choices? Having just returned from our NxNW Adventure, I’m also curious: what will we most remember in a month … and in a year?

Just now I was looking through photos from the trip again, finding a few of friends we met along the way so that I could email them copies. Doing that of course involved scrolling through our package of miracles (aka photos) from the trip. Wow.

Take this one, for example. Just over an hour from home, out by Owens Lake.

8044 Sleeping Caldera

8044 Sleeping Caldera

My geographic mind sees this as evidence of the sleeping “supervolcano” that with one eruption could devastate much of North America as it has in the past. My photographic eye sees it as earth art. The combination of shapes and colors that motivated the photo still resonates when I look at it now.

Then there’s my memory of flying over this vista – all but vanished. Looking at the photo does bring back a visceral sense of the dry air and the fascinating landscape, but not this particular scene or the moment I snapped it. There it is again: the trip we dream, imagine, plan, take, and remember. Now increasingly also the trip we Dream anew. These dreams lack the specificity of the pre-trip dreams. Now it’s all more integrated into the magic of subconscious, without the distraction of preparation. Photos become but cold and pale two-dimensional captures of what was a rich flood of experience. I’m glad we have them, because they do serve as irrefutable reminders that we actually did this.

2010/08/18

Do Birds Enjoy?

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:57

As we left the house for a sunset stroll, the subtle brush stroke clouds added such beauty to the colorful sky I ran back in to grab the camera. Framing the shot I noticed the little bird sitting in the palm tree at the top. Is it enjoying the sunset or just doing whatever birds do before nightfall?

Sunset Bird

Sunset Bird

We’ve wondered lately also about the burned hills above SB. First, are they a new fire hazard rather than providing a few years’ respite from wildfires due to all the chaparral being gone? Second, what’s the brown stuff we see that has us worried? Third, how tall is that stuff? When we flew around on Friday it was easy enough to swing by the peaks and take a look. We’ve heard from fire experts on Edhat that it is indeed a hazard, and though we still don’t know what the stuff mainly is there’s no doubt that it’s several feet tall as you can see from this closeup.

0898 Burn Edge

0898 Burn Edge

The bare sticks are all that remains of the burned chaparral that was several feet tall, and the dried out non-evergreen stuff that surged up from the heavier than usual rainy season is nearly as tall. The brown areas predominate on vast areas of the mountainside as you can see in this photo of just a portion of areas affected by fires of the past two years or so.

0899 Burned Area

0899 Burned Area

Maybe I’m part bird though, because a lot of my concern about fire potential eases when I take in this vista. Concern tries to inch back up when I see our town nestled by the shore in the distance, then ebbs again with the beauty of it all. Would a bird just survey this looking for a meal and watching out for predators?

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