1 sleeping giant, 1 guardian giant, 2 hostels, and 2 nights in a van

We are almost home.  Tonight we are in a hostel in Ottawa, just a few hours drive north of the NY border.  We are spending tomorrow going to some museums and then heading home the next day.  The last few days traveling through Ontario have been nice.  In fact, we have even had a day or two without rain, which is the first time sense we first got to Saskatchewan almost three weeks ago.  We've gone to a couple different nature parks, but spent most of our time in the van.  This includes sleeping in it the last couple nights.  The first night in the van we slept beside a lake at a marina.  Despite a few electric street lights and a bright moon, we could see the stars much better than in Syracuse.  We used Emily's bird telescope to take a look at the moon, the pleiadies, Jupiter, Uranus, and the Andromeda galaxy.  The moon was a few days past full and really looked fantastic.  Unfortunately it was so bright that we could just make out the Andromeda galaxy which was hiding nearby.  Clear or not, it was still awesome to see our galactic neighbor and know we were looking at light that had been traveling for 2.5 million light years.

Can you find the Big Dipper?  How about Arcturus?

This natural formation is called "The Sleeping Giant."  Can you see him?  The Sleeping Giant park is near Thunder Bay on Lake Superior.

In Ouimet Canyon there is an impressive natural stone sculpture that looks like a face with a neck and part of a body.  In the Native American lore this face is that of the giant Omett, who stands guard over the grave of his lover.  Wikipedia tells the story like this: "A long time ago, there was a giant Omett. He helped Nanabijou make mountains and lakes. Omett fell in love with Nanabijou's daughter Naiomi. One day, Omett was moving a mountain when part of it fell off and killed Naiomi. Omett quickly hid Naiomi. Nanabijou desperately looked for his daughter. When he sensed something underground, he sent a thunderbolt to split open the ground which created a canyon and he discovered his daughter at its bottom. He buried her there and to punish Omett he turned him into stone and put him on the canyon walls to watch Naiomi's grave forever."

  

When Emily and I stopped to see a movie in one of the city's we passed there were some great clouds.  These are classified as mammatus clouds.  It isn't the first time I've seen them, but it is the fist time I've gotten a good photo.  

We stopped on the side of the road because there were some great clouds overhead.  I really like this one.

View from the road.

Red Squirrel

Emily's van.  We had stopped to take some pictures of the lake.

Week Two: Glacier, Waterton, Blackfoot Buffalo Jump, Friendly Mennonites, Pulling Grass, and Eating Prairie Oysters

The second week of our road trip is over and Emily and I are back in her apartment in Winnipeg.   Since she is coming to the States for the semester and the guy who is renting her Winnipeg room is already here, we are sleeping in the living room.  I'm not complaining though, I think the carpeted floor will feel better than the cold hard ground of the Northern Rockies.  We are here for another day and then driving toward home.  We have changed our plans, however, and are no longer going to Chicago.  We are instead going to drive through Canada.  We will go through the northern part or Ontario then into Ottawa and back into NY via Alexandria Bay.  Our time in Montana got cut short because we had to do vegetation clipping in Grasslands for a couple days.  This gave us a few extra days, which is why we are taking the longer, more scenic route home.  If we are lucky its possible we will see some moose or even wolves or bears.

As you can see from the title of this post, a lot happened during the second leg of our trip.  When last I wrote we had a late start because of the snow and the cold.  We eventually made it back into the park and took a short hike to a tall waterfall.  Even though the waterfall was only one mile in from the road we spend four hours hiking, photographing, and climbing the nearby rockslide before returning to the van.  Climbing up the steep mountain slope was scary, but the view was worth it.  Emily is afraid of heights, but she climbed up after me and we sat enjoying the scene together.  On the way down she was nervous and careful, that is until I spotted an interesting bird near the bottom and she deftly scrambled down faster than me in order to get a good look with her binoculars.  The bird turned out to be a "dipper," which was a new one for her.

We camped the night in an area called Many Glacier and headed up to the Canadian side of the park, called Waterton National Park.  We took a nice hike there and slept the night in the nearby town of Lethbridge.  We stayed in the home of a very nice retired Mennonite couple.  Their daughter is Emily's friend, and she told us to call them up.  We weren't the first wayfaring strangers to stay at the house.  In fact, we didn't even make the first page of the guest book we signed before leaving.  After an early breakfast with the couple we went to a place called Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.  This is a historical site which the Blachfoot Native Americans and their ancestors had used to kill bison for around 5,000 years.  Basically the Buffalo jumps were cliffs that the Native people stampeded herds of 75+ bison over.  The interpretive center at the site was really nice and we got lucky because it was a special cultural weekend in the province of Alberta.  Not only did we get in free, but there were Blackfoot drumming and dancing performances, arts and jewelry displays, authentic Blackfoot food, and a tour given by a local Blackfoot member.

The last two days were spent back at Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan.  Because Emily is a graduate student, we had to stop there to do some work.  We spend a day and a half collecting vegetation samples on the prairie.  These will be used later to help understand the effects of cattle grazing on mixed grassland prairie vegetation.  The work was not much fun, but it was nice to be out on the prairie with Emily.  We made a good team.  

The last thing I'll tell you is that I have been informally inducted into the Saskatchewan rancher community.  While in Grasslands we went to eat dinner with the Highsaw family.  The last time we ate with them they joked that they would cook up some prairie oysters for me.  "Prairie oysters" is the polite way of saying "calf nuts," which is what they are.  When they neuter their calves, the ranchers keep the testicles to fry up later.  This time when we got to their house they hadn't forgotten, and I didn't leave before having eaten three of the battered and fried oysters.  Emily took a photo of me eating one.  If I get a hold of it, I'll post it on here.

This little guy is called a "pika."

Glacier National Park

We arrived at the park and set up our tent just as the sun went down.  Our first experiences were a little glum.  We drove around around looking for a campsite in the armada of RV's and after getting the tent out we were soon told that we couldn't use our little stove by the lake.  Then it rained during the night and was pretty cloudy and drizzly in the morning.  So, we were a little grumpy and bummed at the start of the day's adventure.

Things started to change pretty quickly though once we started hiking.  We hiked about a mile into a pine forest that was really nice.  The "Bear Country" signs were a little scary, but there were a lot of other hikers around, so we weren't too nervous.  In the forest you couldn't tell what the weather was anyway, so that was pretty nice.





Later we took the "Going to the Sun Road."  This road is a real accomplishment, and it is full of amazing views.  The best part of the trip yesterday was the trail to the Hidden Lake.  First you take the Going to the Sun Road up high into the mountains, and then you hike out from there.  I don't think my photos or descriptions can really do this trail justice.  There are ponds, valleys, meadows, and more mountains all up there, all world above our own.  We were at the level of the clouds and not only watched a cloud engulf a nearby mountain top, but it engulfed us too.  This trail was cold and it rained and even hailed, but neither Emily or I would have traded it for anything.  The trail led to a lookout with a view of a hidden valley and a hidden lake.  The view was so expansive that even my wide angle lens couldn't get most of it.  I made a montage that shows a bit of what it looked like.

After being soaking wet and cold, we decided to spend the night in a bed and breakfast.  I'm glad we did because it snowed all last night and has only just finished.  It is September and it looks like Christmas.  We are getting a very late start today and are a little reluctant to go hiking.

camping in Saskatchewan

After staying two nights in the East Block's field station, we moved on to the West Block for a night of camping. The East Block isn't really open to normal visitors, but the West Block has a public road that winds through it.  We pulled over on the side of the road and set up our tent about 100 yards away, about half way down into an old river valley.  As I first walked to the edge of the valley and crested the ridge, there was a group of about ten deer about a stones throw away.  The buck led the group away from me and out of view.  I didn't feel to bad about taking their sleeping spot for the night because it was definitely the most beautiful campsite I've ever had.  We finished getting our tent ready just as the sun's light faded and Emily and I spent an hour or so lying in the grass watching the stars appear.  The clouds couldn't seem to decide whether they wanted to come or go, and so our view of the stars continued to change while we watched.  Jupiter was shining brightly in the east and the moon turned a deep orange as it made it's way to the horizon.

Today we spent the day driving through the park and stopping to explore its various features.  We made it to town, Val Marie, in the afternoon and decided to stay at the inn.  Val Marie has to be the smallest town I've ever been in, second only to the one we ate in yesterday, called Mankota.  The people here recognize Emily and are very friendly.  We ate at the inn at a table with staff from the Canadian park system.  I keep eating cheeseburgers, which I don't do often at home.  It is great to see the cattle here given so much land and to know the food your eating was raised the right way.

Tomorrow morning we set out for Montana.  Emily and I have never seen the Rockies before.  I know it will be an awe inspiring experience for both of us.  We will drive through the Blackfeet Reservation, which is bigger than Deleware, and then camp for three nights in Glacier National Park.

The lichen on the rocks had some fascinating patterns.

birthday on the prairie

Yesterday was my 25th birthday and I spent it exploring the prairie.  Emily does her graduate research out here in the eastern block of Grasslands National Park, so we are able to stay in the field station for a couple days.  When we arrived on Saturday night it was late and we were tired, so I didn't see the park until the next day.  I awoke to a land I had imagined so many times and yet my visions never came close to its real beauty.  Emily and I went out on a 4-wheeler and she brought me to some of her favorite places.  As we drove down the dirt paths birds often flew up around us and ahead of us.  It was like we were in an old Disney movie.


This park is one of the most pristine mixed-grass prairies in the world, and aside from some cattle, dirt roads, and fences, it looks and functions much like it has for thousands of years.  There are some differences for sure, like the eradication of the bison and the loss or diminished populations of other animal species.  But even though the spirit of the prairie has been scarred with these loses, it still shines with beauty and life.  In one day I saw cattle, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, rabbits, hawks, a prairie dog, and some tiny frogs.

Last night we had a delicious home cooked meal at the house of a very nice family of ranchers that live up the street.  Emily became friends with them this last summer when her car got stuck in the mud near their place.  We are heading out of this part of the park today, but when we come back in a week or so, I will try to get some photos of them.

Emily and I stopped on the side of this hill to relax and take in the view.

a good road trip begins with a long flight

I've made mention a couple times of getting ready for a big road trip.  Well I just started it!  I took a month off of work to travel with my girlfriend Emily through Canada and into Montana.  She is a graduate student at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.  She was able to take a semester off from classes to work on her thesis, so she can travel with me and also live in CNY for the fall.  Yesterday I flew from Rochester to Georgia to Minnesota to Winnipeg, finally making it into her arms and marking the first part of our journey.

The flight from Rochester left at 6am.  The sun hadn't risen yet on the ground, but as we got above the clouds a yellow glow lit the eastern sky.  From the airplane's window I could see no land.  Instead there was a world of clouds.  It was an entire landscape of rolling blue clouds for as far as I could see.  And on the horizon there appeared to be far off mountains made of clouds.  I spend at least a half hour staring out the window, watching with wonder, and feeling like it was a spiritual or even magical scene.  As the sun rose its warm light touched the tops of the tallest clouds.  It was like a blue sea with dashes of red.  And as the sun rose higher the blue clouds began to change to white.  When the seat-buckle light went off I get my camera out and was able to take some photos.  It was still beautiful, but by then the magical scene had changed.  I will forever wish I had been able to photograph that special ethereal world.

So where are Emily and I going?  After a couple nights in Winnipeg, we are heading west.  It will be like this: Winnipeg -> Regina -> Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan -> Glacier National Park in Montana -> back to Winnipeg -> Chicago -> Rochester, NY.  After I drop Emily off in Rochester I will head back to Syracuse and on to Boston to photograph the wedding of some friends of mine.  After that it is back to the real world.

I will try to make posts on here when I can to share with you some of the adventures we have.  Please follow along and hopefully we will be able to show you some of the beauty that we find in prairie and the mountains.

Caitlin and Darren's Wedding

On Saturday one of my friends from college got married and I had the honor of photographing the wedding.  Caitlin was a fellow painter at Alfred University.  In fact, she is a fantastic artist.  She is also the kind of person you want to be around because she always makes you feel appreciated.  Her and Darren have been together since college.  He is a nice guy and the the two of them make a great couple.  I had a blast at the wedding.  Besides seeing those two and getting to hang out with their families, I also got to see some other Alfred friends I haven't seen in a while.  Some of them I hadn't seen since graduation three years ago.  It was great to talk with them and hear about what they are up to.

The wedding was in Oxford, NY, which is southwest of Syracuse by about an hour and forty minutes.  Oxford is a small town with some great scenery and good people.  Darren's father owns a nice plot of land called "Golden Acres," which is complete with a beautiful rolling hill, a big pond, and some apple trees that I'm guessing were part of an orchard at one time.  The ceremony took place in front of one of the trees and the reception was in a big tent.  For those who like a nice drive through the countryside, I recommend exploring the area.

Right up until the wedding the weather was uncertain.  Big dark rainclouds came in during the morning and forced the wedding crew to get everything inside.  But then, moments before the ceremony was to start, the clouds and sprinkles gave way to a beautiful day.  Everything was moved back outside and thankfully it stayed beautiful during the ceremony.  The lighting ended up really being great and I got a lot of shots I'm really happy with.  Please allow me to share a few of them with you.

The Great New York State Fair

One of the best things about Syracuse is the Great New York State Fair.  While growing up here the coming of the fair was always a bittersweet experience, because it meant that the summer was over and school would be starting again.  As an adult I no longer have to worry about that.  In fact, it means that fall is coming, which is my favorite time of the year.  I love going to the fair.  I went yesterday, and I was one of 98,000 people!  I always make sure to see the butter sculpture and get some chocolate milk from the dairy building.  A few years ago I discovered the drums and performances at the Pan-Aftrican village.  This is definitely one of my favorite parts of the fair.  I took some photos and video from the performances.  You've got to check out the video to really get a feel for it.  Today I also saw the Kat McPhee concert.  I'm not an American Idol person, but she really has a great voice and she seems like a sweetheart.  I hope she continues to grow in popularity.

Adanfo Drumming and Dance Group

These human statues were great!

Butter sculpture and Beatles sand castle

Preparing for trip with book on Franciscan Ecology

Next Tuesday I am starting a month long road trip nature adventure that will bring me across Canada, into Montana, through Chicago, back to Syracuse, and on to Boston.  The two most important things to consider when going on a trip like this is what music to bring and what books to pack.  With this in mind I went to that great used bookstore on James Street (you know the one) and bought a few books.  I thought it would be appropriate for my first trip to the west to read something that would teach me about the land and its people or help to make my experience one of spiritual development.  I bought three books.  "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "The Imitation of Christ," and "Care for Creation."  I've begun reading the last of the three and I want to tell you a little about it.

"Care for Creation: a franciscan spirituality of the earth," written by Ilia Delio, Keith Warner, and Pamela Wood is shelved in the religion section.  It is really a book about connecting science, religion, and meditation in order to better understand, love, and protect the Earth.  I have liked the Franciscans since I first learned about them while studying Medieval History in college.  They are the inheritors of a catholic tradition started by St. Francis around a thousand years ago.  If his name sounds familiar, it's because he is probably the most popular saint in history (the only real contender being Santa Claus, if you count him).  St. Francis is the saint represented in the all the sculptures of the monk surrounded by birds.  It is said that he used to preach to animals and he even wrote a beautiful prayer about nature and wildlife called "Canticle of the Creatures."  "Care for Creation" is written in sections divided into science, religion, and meditations.  I have a hard time expressing my own religious beliefs (or understanding them myself), but I really connected with what the authors wrote about the world as God's creation and what our role in that might be.  I underlined some of my favorite passages from the first part of the book, and I want to share some with you.  Maybe after reading them you will also better understand the purpose of my artwork.

"...just as the Word is the inner self-expression of God, the created order is the external expression of the inner Word... Creation is an external "word" of God.  This finite "word" of God is the one eternal Word expressed in time and history.  Creation therefore is the "speech" of God." p43

"As God expresses himself in creation, creation, in turn, expresses the Creator.  We can compare the manifold variety of things in creation to the stained-glass windows of the great cathedral.  Just as light strikes the various panes of glass and diffracts into an array of colors, so too the divine light emanates through the Word and diffracts in the universe, producing a myriad of "colors" expressing in a myriad of things, all reflecting the divine light in some way." p43

"Only when we know the source of our lives can we know the truth of our lives-that we and all creation come from God and belong to God.  We are not created to wield power over others but to join with others, including the created world, in the praise of God." p48

"When we lose sight of the uniqueness of created being then things become "its," objects of manipulation and control, only to be given value or life by the one who controls or manipulates it.  When things lose their intrinsic goodness and become lifeless objects, they lose their distinct place in nature or creation." p52

"Without the human person to give voice to creation, to celebrate its giftedness and sacredness, creation becomes mute and vulnerable to manipulation.  The key to creation's holiness, therefore, is in human identity-who we are in our Creator, the Trinity of divine love... However, if God is dead in us, then we are dead to the deeper meaning of creation as well." p52

In the meditation section the authors ask you to consider certain questions.  I will end this post with the one I liked best:

"How do you usually identify yourself?  Are there times you forget your true identity and live out of a more narrow sense of self?  Can you think of times when you have lived out of a sense of self that was connected to God and the world as sacred?  What factors contributed to each?"