7.10.2011

We are not alone...

I randomly saw a news blurb that Friday, July 8th was the 64th anniversary of the alien crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico. It immediately brought me back to a trip I took with my friend Carol almost 10 years ago now to New Mexico. I've been in Roswell, been to the UFO Museum there that documents the crash and Carol and I even tried to find the crash site ala a xeroxed, hand drawn map of the site we got from the Museum. Even better Carol and I talked to an elderly gentleman who was one of the military men assigned to move the alien bodies. I have pictures somewhere of Carol and I with him, pre-digital, but did scan this one a few years ago of us standing in front of a re-enactment to the alien autopsy. Let the mocking begin! But in all seriousness, I've always believed there is other life out there in the Universe. To paraphrase the movie "Contact"... it's an awful waste of space if we are the only ones out here.


The trip started in Albuquerque and we drove as far South as Las Cruces and then finished in northern NM in Sante Fe. What sticks out most about this trip was we had a BLAST. There was really no itinerary, each day we decided how far we felt like driving and what we wanted to see along the way. We didn't have reservations, just figured out where to stay based on where we ended up or when we got tired. This worked out really well overall though I do remember one night it was getting darker and darker and the area was pretty remote. There were no "Motel 6's" or "Super 8's" off the road for us to get to and we started to suspect we might have to sleep in the car. Finally we saw a sign for a place and though it was higher than our price range it was better than the car. It turned out to be a spot where hunters stayed, and while my memory is hazy I think we were in Capitan, NM. I just remember the road was really, really dark. Though the best part of that place was waking up in the morning and having breakfast at the diner attached. It was only then that we realized we were in a hunting area and the individuals surrounding us were of the woodsy hunting types. Two city girls in our jeans and pressed shirts kind of stood out.


I wish now that I could recreate that trip, with my current camera and photography knowledge. I love that part of the country, particularly White Sands, NM where there is a beautiful National Park. White sand made from the wind that comes down off the mountains and across a lake, the wind deposits a residue that I believe is calcium which then as it dries leaves behind a huge white beach sand like area. The most amazing thing is driving through these mini mountains of white sand that is cool to the touch. Now that I've remembered this trip I'm on a mission to find the pictures and scan them. I think I might have been using a throw away camera at the time.


There are so many places to go, so many places to see both in this country and beyond. This memory makes me realize I need to plan my next trip. Where oh where to go...

7.07.2011

Hello July! Wasn't it just January?

When I wrote my last post it was January and in my usual fashion I was full of motivation... "I'm going to write in my blog, all the time! Yeah!". Well, here it is July and it's only my second post of 2011. But in the spirit of new beginnings, lets try this again. I've also been getting lots of good encouragement from my friend Bridget who enjoys my photo excursion stories. This one is for you B!


So it is July and there are two things you should know about me -- I don't like heat and humidity (really, really don't like) and I'm a City Girl. I can count on my hand how many times I've gone camping and I don't actively seek out woodsy situations. So this just past July 4th I was kind of surprised to find myself blazing a trail where there wasn't one with my photo friend Joan in the woods of Rehoboth, MA. Now I'm sure a few of you reading this are probably thinking -- oh come on now, how bad could woods in Rehoboth be? Trust me, they can be bad! This excursion started innocently enough, Joan emailing me earlier in the weekend to see about "shooting" on Monday morning. Quick aside, when I use "shooting" in future blogs please know it only involves a Canon digital camera, no firearms or defenseless animals are at risk here. Back to Joan and shooting on Monday morning... "sure I say, where to?" Joan suggests stalking Hummingbirds at her neighbors house and then looking for cool mushrooms in the woods near her home/farm. At this point I needed to ask more questions but didn't because I wrongfully assumed the mushrooms would be down a manicured path not too far from Joan's. My wrongful assumption hit me full in the face at the same time the branch did as I was traipsing through low brush (no, none, zilch path) blazing my own trail as Joan blissfully said, "I've seen the mushrooms up ahead, really, it's not that far". In all fairness we really didn't go far and were in hearing distance of her neighbors at all times but as I'm stepping through calf high forest growth, sinking into suspiciously soft earth and out loud asking "What about ticks?!?" I'm starting the "WTF?!?" dialogue in my head. This inner voice is berating me for not asking more questions while also realizing I'm too quick sometimes to say "Yes" and not really think about the situation I might find myself in. Anywho... back to the pathless walk. Remember earlier when I said heat and humidity are not my friends. Well on Monday morning in Rehoboth it was hot and very humid, I felt myself sweating like a crazy person, literally felt like I could have shook myself like a dog and sprayed water for a good distance. Also, too, I'm carrying a Slingpack w/ my camera miscellaneous over one shoulder and over the other a tripod that has my camera on it. At this point I'm thinking I should have paid a few more dollars for a carbon fiber, lightweight tripod as it quite simply felt like the tripod/camera weighed about 20 pounds. 


So I'm sweating and screaming the inner "you dope" dialogue in my head while trying not to have a complete freakout about the bugs that are actively trying to land on me. Rehoboth, like most of Southern Massachusetts, has a lot of water which equals swamp areas which equals bugs. I had sprayed myself once while looking for Hummingbirds in the nicely manicured neighbors lawn after a horsefly the size of a bird bit me on the arm. But now the profuse sweating is wearing that off and I announce that I have to stop and re-spray. I take out my bug spray and wonder if it's got the "bad for you but good at bug repelling" DET while Joan, being the good environmentalist and holistic person she is, pulls out her lemon verbena scented wipe. After layering up twice I think I'm ready to move on. I ask Joan how much further because at this point I've not seen much of any mushrooms and I'm feeling my ability to cope slip further and further away. She calmly answers "oh, not much further". We start walking again and at this point I hear it... the loud, so loud, buzz of something big and mean circling my head. I can't see it but am busy swatting at it every few minutes. I seriously am ready to start swinging $1,000 dollars worth of tripod and camera in a circle around me to move bugs and brush out of my way. After a few more minutes of this, and really, now with some perspective I can say that we were in no way "lost in the wilds" but I was starting to panic that we would be walking deeper into the woods and closer to more bigger and meaner bugs. I think this is why I literally yelled -- "THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!". Poor Joan, she really had good intentions but I'm a City Girl remember and I had reached my heat, humidity, woods and bug limit. I think I heard Joan chuckle but like a true friend understood I was at my end and simply said -- "OK".


The way out was a bit easier than the way in as I insisted we make friends with neighbors she hadn't met yet as it meant we didn't have to fully walk through the non-trail forest brush but instead up a dirt path that lead to the side yard of a house. I hope I apologized enough to my friend and Joan, if you are reading this, thank you for listening to me and heading out of the woods when I asked. I also appreciated the cool down in your air conditioned house and the cool sparkling water. I think it took me about 30 minutes but I finally felt like a human being again and the pouring sweat did eventually stop.


Bottom line and the lesson learned here is that I need to ask more questions of my fellow photogs when excursions are being suggested i.e. will there be blood sucking bugs involved? what's the expected heat index? will there be a path to follow or should I plan to bring a machete?