Travel

Odd and scenic sights on the Forest Park Running Trail

I grew up in the St. Louis area. One of my favorite places remains Forest Park, perhaps one of the nation’s top tier public parks. It is both historic and beautiful as a natural place in an urban setting. There is a six-mile running trail that circles the outer edge of the park that takes one by a bird sanctuary, a golf course, the Jefferson Memorial Building dating from the 1904 World’s Fair, some artificial ponds where urban fisherman really do fish, and the St. Louis Science Center. The latter has a life-size diaroma model of a tyrannosaurus rex battling a triceratops, which were among my favorite critters growing up.

One of the oddest attractions is a monument to the Civil War veterans from the Confederacy, highlighting the city’s legacy as both a Southern and Northern community–a racial and sometimes divisive legacy that remains today, as seen recently in protests in Ferguson. There is also a competing statue nearby of German-American veterans of the Union Army from the Civil War. These are all visible from the running trail. I decided to photograph these sights today using my GoPro Camera to capture the scenes with a fish-eye view.

Runners, put on you shoes and do a lap or two when you visit. You will love it. (Click on each photo to see larger pictures on separate picture pages.)

The historic Black Sea port of Trabzon

 

A view from my hotel in Trabzon in 2001. Getting there was a great epic. I arrived at 3 a.m. after a day-long bus ride and found a hotel with nary a scratch. The things we do when we travel. Loved this place.

 I visited Trabzon, in northeast Turkey on the Black Sea, during my Turkey trip. It is a fascinating, large city, with Greek, Byzantine, and finally Turkish roots. One of the great Byzantine-era churches, the Hagia Sofia, is now just a shell there, on a hill overlooking the sea and recently converted to a mosque. I used this city as a base to visit the Sumela Monastery, a Greek Orthodox sanctuary in the nearby mountains that was abandoned in the 1920s when Greeks and Turks engaged in a nasty ethnic cleansing of their respective countries that displaced about 2 million people. I may publish some pictures of that monastery later. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Turkish laborers near Antalya
Laborers pause inside a hothouse in southern Turkey near Antalya.

Hothouses growing crops for local and international markets were common sights on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean Coast. During my trip in 2001, I travelled the entirety of that coast by bus (loved it!), and had a chance to visit a hothouse by a bus stop. The workers reminded me a lot of the male laborers I saw in my home state of Washington. They were friendly, their clothes revealed the dirt and sweat of their hard labor, and they had pride in who they were. It is a reminder to always stop and just look around the corner and see what you may find. More pictures of my travels in Turkey can be found on my Turkey photo gallery. (Click on the photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Süleymaniye Mosque ritual washing
Taken at the Süleymaniye Mosque in 2001.

At one the the greatest mosques in the world and certainly in continental Europe, the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, men perform the wudu, or ritual wash, before prayer. I dug this one out from the digital archive vaults recently. This is a must-see place. It was actually designed by an Armenian architect (Sinan Aga), whose grave is located not far from this spot. More of my pictures from Turkey can be found on my Turkey photo gallery.

A lifetime of journaling

For decades now, I have kept journals. They have taken different forms over the years. When I was in high school, I embraced a daily record method. That trait carried into my next phase of keeping journals, to record my thoughts, impressions, ideas, and stories when I travelled. This turned into rigorous daily practice, when I hiked down the Pacific Crest Trail, or lived and worked in Chile, or worked on photo projects in Turkey. The act of remembering the day forced a discipline into my travels. The act made me reflect and contemplate what I saw or learned. I never went to sleep without putting pen to paper.

Today, the journals fill two small storage boxes. Occasionally I will open one of the old journals and use the words to recall people or events. Then, a flood of memories comes back to me. I used many of these journals as my workbooks to flesh out ideas for stories I later wrote. I suppose they are one of my legacies. If a fire occurs, they are lost. If I die unknown, they will be thrown away. If I perhaps one day achieve “fame” (I am fairly certain that is not my destiny at this point), they could end up in a dusty archive, never to be seen. So maybe they are just like a golden treasure I still hoard, as if they had magic properties. I open the secret cask, blow away the dust, and conjure up times and places far away. 

(Click on each photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Grave of a Nez Perce warrior, Yellow Wolf
A grave for Nez Perce warrior Yellow Wolf was erected by “white friends” in his honor.

I passed through the Colville Reservation this summer, which encompasses a huge swath of land in the north central part of Washington State. On the way, I stopped at the Nez Perce Cemetery. The Nez Perce are among the 12 confederated tribes who make up the reservation. This is one of the graves in the cemetery. The gravestone reads: “Yellow Wolf / Patriot Warrior of the Nez Perce ‘lost cause’ 1877 / Marker placed by white friends”

The persecution of the Nez Perce led to one of the more sorrowful chapters of the conquest of the American West. In 1877, multiple U.S. Cavalry commanders chased more than 750 Nez Perce men, women, and families for more than 1,000 miles starting in Oregon all the way to the current border with Canada, though not in the lands managed by the Colville Reservation. This event and trail is now recognized as the Nez Perce Trail, commemorated by the U.S. Congress in 1968. In the words of one Nez Perce descendant, Frank B. Andrews: “We the surviving Nez Perces, want to leave our hearts, memories, hallowed presence as a never-ending revelation to the story of the event of 1877.”

(Click on the photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Must, must return to Hong Kong
Advertising is so totally over the top in Hong Kong. Wow. (Taken in 2004.)

My eyeballs exploded in Hong Kong. Everything was new, and every moment one I should capture on film. Here’s just one of those random moments. Advertising there had to be big, bolder, more awe-inspiring than what rank amateurs would practice elsewhere. Hey, it’s Hong Kong! Cannot believe it has been 10 years since my quick trip. Hmmm. (Click on the photo to see the picture on a separate picture page.)

Steptoe Butte, the power mountain

 

Wheat fields surround the highest point in the Palouse, Steptoe Butte.

Steptoe Butte is the tallest natural feature in the Palouse region of southeast Washington. Today it is a state park that provides a spectacular view of the wheat and other fields of this mostly agricultural area north of Pullman. According to some sources, this more than 3,,612-foot-tall peak, was sacred to indigenous groups, going by the name Eomoshtoss. Native residents reportedly visited the location to engage in vision quests. It is well worth a visit. And all that crop you see? That is wheat-miles and miles of wheat, just before harvest. (Click on the photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Washington wheat, the golden grain

 

The sun was setting in Lincoln County, Washington, one of the state’s main wheat growing areas, when I snapped this photo near Wilbur.
Wheat fields are a golden yellow, stiff, and dry when they are harvested for the global commodities market, in this case from a farm in Lincoln County.

Washington state is famous for many crops. We produce about 80 percent of all beer hops in the nation (yes, bow before our hops growers, please). We produce fruit of all kinds, from wine grapes to cherries. We grow many grain crops too, including wheat, particularly in the middle and eastern half of the state. Right now, harvesters are running night and day, grain is filling silos, and farmers are calculating their earnings. You can learn about the different varieties of wheat grown in the state, including durum for pasta and hard red wheat for Asian noodles and general flour, from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. This is the fourth most productive wheat-growing state in the country, and yes, the golden wheat definitely does have golden rewards, relative to other crops on the global markets. As for me, I think I would be miserable without my pasta, bread, and cookies. (Click on each photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

A monument at Hangman Creek
This monument was erected in 1935 by Spokane residents at the location where the warrior Qualchan/Qualchew and six other Indian warriors were hanged by the U.S. Cavalry in 1858. Today it is a tourist attraction for history buffs, which I count myself among.

About 20 miles south of Spokane stands a monument to one of many sad stories of the subjugation of American Indians by the U.S. government. In 1858, the U.S. Cavalry was engaged in open military combat in eastern Washington with numerous Indian bands, despite treaties having been signed three years earlier that ceded much of the state to the United States. Led by Col. George Wright, the U.S. forces had all but defeated five tribes in the region, which included the killing of 800 Indian horses. Facing overwhelming odds, the indigenous forces decided to end the conflict.

A Yakama Nation warrior Qualchan (also called Qualchew) surrendered to Wright’s forces on Sept. 25, 1858, at a spot near an open meadow and a small creek the Indians called Latah. Though Qualchan/Quelchew surrendered while bearing a white flag, he was hung within 15 minutes from a tree. That was followed with the hanging of six Palouse warriors the next day. The incidents, brutal in their boldness, typified the period of conquest in Washington. The killing of the Qualchan/Qualchew was not the only hanging incident of tribal leaders during these turbulent years.

To honor the significant event in the settling of the region, local leaders in Spokane erected a granite monument at the spot where it is believed the hangings took place. The creek today is called Hangman. It flows into Spokane. There is even a Spokane golf course, Hangman Valley, bearing the name of the incidents that took place in the mid-1800s. You can read an informative 1997 story about the creek’s name  that was published by the Spokesman Review newspaper.

The day I visited the marker, a half-dozen other visitors, some American Indians, also had pulled over to photograph the spot. The location today is marked by a nondescript historic location sign on the rural road with no description of the events that took place here. The only information is what is inscribed on the stone. Given Americans’ love of Western history, I believe this location will grow in popularity in coming years, creating opportunities to tell the story of this state and the West. Perhaps this spot could benefit from an additional cultural interpretive sign and a little slick marketing by the city. History can be good for business, after all. I can point to hundreds of examples making this business case.

(Click on each photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)