John & Anne Wiley

2010/08/23

Reprise OSH, Soo & TBay

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 04:10

Following further my theme of reviewing pix from our NxNW adventure, I like this shot of AirVenture and am surprised not to have taken more than a few.

1324 Old Birds

1324 Old Birds

I think this is a formation of WWII “Texan” trainers. They were flying around a lot, and the sound of their engines gave an extra and decidedly aviation aura to the event.

I found this extra shot of Sault Ste. Marie that shows the locks well.

0041 Soo Locks

0041 Soo Locks

I don’t like the exposure, but you can make out the car traffic parked on the bridge with U.S. on the right and Canada left. Between the locks is a cool green area, and the remaining rapids with the old power station just to the left of that. Even with the ubiquitous smoke during our trip, and whatever caused the overexposure, it’s a nice perspective on where we’d been strolling the locks at the far left just an hour earlier.

Last today is this shot of Thunder Bay soon after our takeoff toward Winnipeg on July 30th.

0035 Thunder Bay

0035 Thunder Bay

Haze added to the smoke that day, but we still got a better glimpse of this sprawling city than we had on approach to landing at dusk the night before. This is a name familiar to anyone who’s had some time in Canada as I have, so I’m glad to have finally seen it even if only for such a brief visit. I wonder which of the places we discovered we’ll ever get back to again. How many remarkable and fascinating things we surely missed!

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.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com.