A barbed wire fence in Orange last week. I never saw a spider, but there were webs on every barb.
by James Brush
Tag: travel
This was the view this morning from the end of my in-laws’ street in Orange, TX.
My wife hails from southeast Texas where alligators are fairly common. I took this about six years ago at the Louisiana Tourist Bureau which is two miles from her parents’ house.
I’ve only seen a few alligators down there, but when I play golf I always make sure I have my sand wedge handy. It is, after all, the best fighting iron.
We lived in The Philippines from 1979-1982. I joined the Boy Scouts in ’82 and the first big trip I went on was a reenactment of the Bataan Death March. The real march occured in 1942 when Japanese soldiers marched 10,000 American and Philippino prisoners of war to their deaths in one of the uglier events of the war.
We spent most of spring break with American scouts from all over the Far East Council as well as scouts from The Philippines and other Asian nations. We camped on the beach each night and each morning we were bused to where we had left off the previous day. The picture above is of a carabao, a kind of Philippine water buffalo, along with a few of the guys from the troop taking a break.
We saw a lot of the Phillipine countryside and one day walked through a village where heavily armed men – I’m talking ammo belts around their shoulders like Mexican revolutionaries – stood cradling their machine guns and smoking cigarettes while we hiked past. Our scoutmaster told us to just keep walking and “don’t stare.”
It was one of those experiences that has stayed with me, that made history come alive and through sore feet and tired legs, we all got a small taste of what those brave soldiers endured during World War II.
Update: I have now correctly spelled carabao. Thanks to Heather for reminding me of the difference in spelling between caribou and carabao. It would be odd to actually see caribou in The Philippines. But who knows, there is at least one tropical island that has polar bears.
-This is from a road trip in ’95.
Walking low streets, I breathe mountains
Frosty morning air steals into my lungs like perfect smoke
Later desert warmth will rule the day, and storms…
Skies blaze with fiery clouds
Balloons navigate the misty currents
My feet walk conquistador paths and missionary trails
Turned streets that lead past adobe homes and pueblo bungalows
To breakfast in a warm and welcoming diner:
Bagel and cream cheese with fresh green chiles
©1995
Nothing says Texas like a dead tree full of vultures.
This was taken early one morning in June of 2001 at Colorado Bend State Park, west of Lampasas.
With the fifth anniversary of September 11th so close, it seemed fitting for today’s Old Photo Friday to go back to June of 2001.
I took this picture from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Earlier that day we had discussed whether we wanted to view the skyline from there or from the World Trade Center. I’d been to both on previous trips, but my wife and our friends (who live in New York!) had never been up the Empire State Building so we decided to go there since it’s more iconic.
We figured we’d catch the World Trade Center another time.
I have clearer shots of the WTC, some quite good, but I think this one fits especially well today considering that as we get farther away from that awful day, our view is getting blurrier, more obscured. Thanks for that, Disney and ABC.
I took this picture of the ruins at Uxmal on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico on our honeymoon in 1998.
We stayed in Cancun for a few days and then rented a car to explore the countryside. We spent a few days in Merida and on one daylong excursion into the Puuc Hills we stopped at Uxmal, which turned out to be one of the most fascinating places I’ve ever been.
This is the Notre-Dame de Montreal Basilica in Montreal, Quebec. The collage of eight (I think) images was done during the summer of 2001.
I mentioned Montezuma Castle in last week’s Old Photo Friday, and today we take a couple of looks at it from two different points in time.
Montezuma Castle National Monument is located in Cape Verde, Arizona and has nothing to do with Aztec emperor Moctezuma. The cliff dwelling was built by the Sinagua people, and according to Wikipedia Montezuma Castle was the last known dwelling place of the Sinagua. It was abandoned around 1425.
This first image was taken during the summer of 1982 when we were visiting family as we moved from the Philippines to Italy. I was 11, and it was the first time I’d ever seen a cliff dwelling or heard about the Anasazi people who built them (the Sinagua are considered a branch of the Anasazi group).
The second image was taken in 1996 when my wife and I were traveling through the four corners region looking at the ancient ruins.
Like me, the trees seem to have grown a bit in the intervening fourteen years.
In Italy, I would see the ruins of Pompeii and many other Roman sites, but none of it captured my imagination or sparked a sense of wonder comparable to what I saw in Arizona when I was a kid.