Roughing It

I just got home after spending the weekend at one of my favorite places: the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in SW Oklahoma. Located just northwest of Lawton, the WMNWR (err... Refuge) is a marvel to behold — buffalo and longhorn cattle roaming free between 2000-foot rugged mountains. I pitched a tent for the weekend and "roughed it," cameras in hand as always. I took well over 400 photos in the 48 hours I was there. Here are a few. I'll post video and more pictures later.

-- Brother John

A beautiful waterfall was found off the beaten path in Medicine Park, a small town next to the refuge. This photo was taken at about 9pm with an lengthy exposure, creating so-called "silky water."

I love sunsets not only for the color of the sky but also for the shadows and shades the setting sun creates. Who would've thought that 2,000-plus-foot peaks could rise from the plains of Oklahoma?

Late at night on Quanah Parker Lake. Just because the sun sets doesn't mean the time for beautiful photography has to end! I love shooting at night because of the colors and shades.

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Day 4: Survivorman

A tribute to one of my favorite Discovery Channel shows, Survivorman, and its host Les Stroud. There are just a few differences, however...

(I guess another part of "growing young" is having fun!)

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Day 4: A Video Blog

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Well, I'm finally back in North Texas -- just in time to go on another adventure! This afternoon I am headed to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma, for a three-day solo camping trip. Of course, I plan to take along my cameras with me and document the whole thing. It should be fun. I love the history, eccentricities, and geography of the Refuge.

But for today I have posted my first offering of video blogs (not the first one I did, however) from my California trip. Monday morning, August 3rd, I traveled an hour west of Riverside to the Coachella Valley area, where Palm Springs and the San Andreas Fault meet. It's a beautiful, yet very arid place. This blog was about the sunrise. I'll post more blogs when I have time to edit.

Enjoy!

-- Brother John

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Thoughts From the Plane

This is my first Internet access of my trip (outside of a quick Sunday e-mail check) so I have five days' worth of thoughts to share with you. Alas, it is after midnight (Pacific time) and I will only share a few observations I had during my three-hour flight from DFW to Santa Ana airport on Friday morning.

• Clouds are amazing. We rose above the cloud line just west of Fort Worth and, for a while, it appeared the ground was a soft, comfy, cotton-y blanket. You know, the kind you like to jump on after a long, hard day and sink into that blissful place between awake and sleep? Yeah, THAT comfy.
  
• The earth's crust is amazing. I absolutely love to stare out the window on flights and watch the ground go by underneath me. I see rivers snake their way across plains and carve out canyons . I see mountains in the distance slowly get bigger until we are right above them and then they slowly pass away. I saw volcanoes in New Mexico (extinct ones, of course!) and sand dunes in Arizona. I saw the Colorado River give life to arid lands and the San Andreas Fault slice through the California desert. We have a wonderful world of many faces. God made them all and has given them to us. Amazing.
  
• That many parents have lost control of their children from a very early age. I was surrounded on this flight by two mothers and their combined four children. One little girl kicked my seat and played with her tray the whole flight. Her mom kept threatening her with this punishment and that but the little girl wouldn't stop. She eventually got some toy car or something taken away from her for three days. or so the mom promised. Another mom apologized to my row-mate and I after we landed for the behavior of her two kids -- who wouldn't stop fighting the entire flight. What is going wrong with parents these days? None of the kids looked older than seven. Parents apologizing for their kids?
• That time zone changes can really mess up a biological clock.
  
• How marvelous is the ability to fly like a metal bird in the sky. God didn't give us wings, but He DID give us the ability to discover His natural law and see that when air passes over a certain shape, it provides lift. And that rudders not only work on water but on air, too! Amazing.

Be God's!

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California Dreamin'

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It's the end of Day 5 of my California vacation and I count myself a blessed man to be in such a beautiful place. I left last Friday morning for Southern California to spend a few days with my sister and her boyfriend in Riverside, and some friends in Palm Springs. During the times I wasn't visiting or being kindly chaperoned around the area, I rented a car and played tourist, driving around Southern Cali and taking pictures -- still and video. So far, with one partial day to go, I have been to the beach, mountains, desert, and wine country (Temecula Valley). Today I visited a Spanish mission along the coast, Mission San Luis Rey, which is the largest of the California missions and certainly among the most beautiful. Yesterday (Monday) I drove a few hundred miles around the high desert north of Palm Springs and mountains south of it. It was amazing.

This trip has been a real Godsend for me for many reasons. Not only is it a chance to get away from the Texas heat and humidity (Palm Springs humidity was 5 percent yesterday!), it is a mental and emotional refresher. I haven't had a mental break, save for Christmas and Thanksgiving, since 2003, when I was a small town newspaper editor and working my way through seminary. The Newton family went to Nova Scotia, Canada, that May. Sadly, THIS newton's vacation ends tomorrow night when my plane touches down at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. I'm seriously considering taking off by car to go someplace else cool and scenic on Thursday but maybe my senses will take over by then!

Here are just a few of the 948 photos I have taken so far here in California. I also have about an hour and 45 minutes of video footage to edit down.

Be God's and pray for a safe flight!

Brother John

A forest brook I discovered off the side of the road in the San Jacinto Mountains, east of L.A.

The Mission Inn is the top tourist attraction in Riverside, CA, a hotel built in the late 1800s in the Spanish style. It is a beautiful place with photographic potential around every corner.

A "Joshua Tree" may look weird but it is one of very few things that will grow in the high desert. I liken it to a cross between a pine tree, saguarro cactus and yucca plant. It's a real tree, and Joshua Tree National Park is... as you might suspect... full of them.

I have been really impressed by the sunsets here in Southern California. My sister showed me this little park near her apartment where we can look over the San Bernardino valley and see the majesty every evening. The smog from L.A. doesn't hurt the beauty, either!

This is Mission San Luis Rey, the so-called "King of the Missions" in Oceanside, CA. It was my destination on Day 5 of my trip.

Finally......

The Pacific Ocean. Taken at Treasure Island Beach in the city of Laguna Beach on Day 2 of my trip. It was an amazing sight for me. Grapevine Lake is nice and all, but this one's way better. Dude.

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