Travel

Prince Rupert Highway downpour drive
Taken in August 2010.
Taken in August 2010.
Taken in August 2010.

I drove the Prince Rupert Highway (Highway 16 in British Columbia) twice. I first drove it in 2004, when I headed up to Alaska in August that year. I returned the same way in August 2010. I used the Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Prince Rupert to Haines, Ak., both times. I loved this road. It’s about 500 miles from Prince Rupert to Prince George, where one makes a sharp right on the Al-Can to head back south to the lower 48. These shots were taken in a very intense storm. I took the pictures from inside my car, while driving. The beautiful road cuts through the coastal range along the Skeena River. It’s one of my favorite drives in all of North America. But I was in a hurry then, heading back to Seattle, to find an apartment, start a grad program, and to leave Alaska forever in the rearview mirror. (Click on each photo for a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Surrender yourself to art
The collection of marble sculptures from the antiquity and beyond simply stagger the imagination at the Vatican Museum in the Vatican City, in Rome (2006).

 

I took this shot from inside of the Vatican Museum, the most mind-boggling collection of historic wealth I have seen anywhere on the face of the planet. Inside that museum I finally realized just how extensive the power of the Catholic Church truly was. (Click on the photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

The Yukon Territory in the early morning

 

I took this standing on a bridge, along the Al-Can Highway in 2010. It is a beautiful and hard place. I always loved my travels there.

Twenty-two years ago I first came “into the country” to Alaska via the Al-Can Highway through the Yukon Territory. This was taken in 2010. The scenery is beautiful, and the land is harsh, and the mosquitos plentiful, and the economics mostly mining in these parts. (Click on the picture to see a larger photo on a picture page.)

View of Vista House, Columbia River Gorge
It was the 96th birthday party of Vista House the day I took this shot (May 4, 2014). This is just a great perch, and one visited by tens of thousands annually.

 

I used my consumer-grade Canon digital for this shot. Sure, I am a tourist, but this is one of the premier views of the Pacific Northwest, from the scenic highway along the Columbia River Gorge, about 30 miles west of Portland, Ore. Sometimes, having fun and having a good memory is what matters. (Click on the image for a larger picture on a separate page.)

The mighty and beautiful Columbia River, from Vista House

Vista House has one of the best views in the United States, at least for those who want to drive to their viewpoints. I love this perch, and I have been coming here now for more than 30 years. (The fun part was singing happy birthday to Vista House with other visitors and the Oregon State Parks crew, who were giving out free birthday cake. Vista House is 96 years old as of today.)

Cappuccino, a modern work of art
My favorite memory of Italy, in a small cup, served hot.

The thing I remember best about Italia? Cappuccino, every morning. Normally I do not drink coffee. I am a tea person. But in Italy, there was no choice but to render unto Caesar. And every cup is treated and prepared with care. Beautiful. (Click on the photo for a larger image on a separate picture page.)

Morning Tea in Hoi An, Vietnam
I visited Hoi An, Vietnam, in 2003. That was a fabulous trip, and moments like these stand out as among my best (2003).

I included this photo of two men I met for morning tea in Hoi An, Vietnam, in my series called Being Themselves. Nothing earth-shattering here other than a nice moment with some guys who welcomed a visitor to their town and wore very large smiles. My kinda people. See more of my photos from Vietnam on my web site.

When reality is not quite what you thought it was
At the Dakshinkali temple near Kathmandu, male goats and cocks are sacrificed, washed in a stream, and then prepared to be eaten (taken 1989).

In the United States, one estimate pegs the number of animals killed for food production at about 10 billion annually (most being chickens). The methods are hidden from view, seldom filmed, and far from humane. That fact is important to bear in mind when contemplating this picture I took at a temple in Nepal called Dakshinkali. This is a sacred Hindu site where animals (goats, cocks) are slaughtered in sacrifice to the Hindu god Kali. Nepalese bring their farm animals for ritualistic sacrifice, with methods similar to the quick and mostly painless halal and kosher styles of killing of certain animals for consumption. I remember seeing this man kill many goats and cockerels in September 1989. Blood was everywhere. It was all very calm, if not serene. Large crowds of Nepalese stood patiently in long lines waiting for the swift act. I had never seen anything like this before. I realized at that moment that people live their lives in such totally different ways than I do, and in ways that make perfect sense to them, but may seem outright cruel to outsiders (again, remember the dead billions of factory killed chickens in our country). That is a moment I recall ever so clearly, when my perception of reality had measurably changed. That is still why I like to travel.

God’s home, at the edge of the world
North of Reykjavik sits a house of God, alone in the loneliness of the north Atlantic.

I visited Iceland in 1998 and did a drive around the island with an outrageously overpriced rental car. I enjoyed it, but was not overwhelmed by it. This location, about an hour north of the capital, Reykjavik, was among the most memorable spots. Here, at the edge of the world, sat an empty house of worship, battered by the wind and rain. I guess I have a fondness for remote sanctuaries. (Click on the photo for a larger image on a separate page.)

Visiting a Coptic monastery near Luxor, Egypt
I met these Coptic young men at Meir Gergis, near Luxor, in December 2004. Copts are some of the world’s oldest Christians, and they number about one in ever five Egyptians, and yet have faced persecution and discrimination for decades, and at times violent attacks at their places of worship.
Outside of Luxor, Egypt, I visited the St. George Monastery, or Meir Gergis, and stumbled on a baptism. The visit was one of my highlights from my travels in the country.

During my two-and-a-half-week journey to Egypt ten years ago, I visited six Coptic monasteries. These are amazing places, beautifully preserved and vitally important to the Coptic minority in Egypt. During my visit, most were under armed guard by the state army, which I have read has melted away since the fall of Mubarak, and Egyptian forces have even participated in attacks on at least one of the most historic monasteries in Egypt near Cairo. You can read a little more about my visit to Egypt and the situation facing the Copts in an article I wrote in April 2013.