Window on the Past: Travels through Albania, Siberia and the Buryat Kingdom

A year ago I was traveling through Albania, Siberia and the Buryat Kingdom as the advance person for a private jet company. Looking back, it seems that jet was moving well outside the shadow of the crumbling economy and so too was I. A lot has changed in a year.

These were remarkably untrodden places to work in and each held an incredible allure for even the most intrepid of us. I was elated to get to go, if not for the passport stamps and the frequent flyer miles. I was not prepared for how fantastically beautiful and mesmerizing each place would prove to be.

I was there as a destination manager and not a photographer - so I only had time to shoot a few images. Here's a short video which does little service to these beautiful places and people. Most of the water shots are of Lake Baikal - the deepest lake in the world; the ruins and blue lake are from Butrint National Park in southern Albania - a would-be birder's paradise if birders were paying attention; and the beautiful Asian woman is the Crown Shaman of Lake Baikal.

When you get a call at midnight, full moon a-rising, for a command appearance with the Crown Shaman, you get dressed and go. And you have the adventure of your life, even if it means finding yourself dressed head-to-toe in celebratory tribal-ware -- genuflecting around a fire and dancing that most ancient of dances passed down through old Genghis Khan himself.

One Shot: Novice Monk in Luang Prabang, Laos

Novice Monk - Saiphone

Wat Arun
Luang Prabang, Laos
March 2009
©trryan

Riot on Scott Mountain

Mount Scott rises up out of the mixed grass prairies of southwestern Oklahoma to almost 2500 feet and is the second largest peak of the Wichita Mountains. I hear your chuckles. Not so high for a peak, I know, but at more than 500 million years old - you gotta give a big hill a break.

It's a mountain by someone's official standards. From a state renowned for being flat and boring, we'll take it. That, and the fact that the people who call Oklahoma flat and boring have never actually been here.

Here's some boring for you. This is where the riot started.

And here is some flat...

And here's Oklahoma's most famous bird artist taking it all in. She knows where the action is when Fall starts a riot. She's traveled the world, moved here fourteen years ago from San Francisco Bay and...has...never....left. Take that flat state hate mongers.

Mount Scott rapakivi granite: salmon pink, slathered in neon-yellow lichen and studied by geologist all over the world. I like having that in my backyard.

as well as chinquapin oaks

and posing dark-eyed juncos. Only 'cause you got my good side, says the junco. And pretty on pink as well.

These purple-colored plants in the aster family start the riot in early October and keep it going well into November.

The guitar hero, straddling mountaintop, wants to be a rock star, literally. And what better place to serenade the changing season and

these changing leaves

and this riot of color made possible by unseasonably cold weather and damp days.

Mount Scott and the surrounding 60,000 acres became part of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in 1901, making it one of the oldest refuges in the National Park system.

Cache Creek is one of more than 20 lakes and streams that wrap the refuge like holiday ribbons.

This place is a rock lovers paradise. If you don't think rocks are alive - come here and watch your mind transform. This tumble of pink granite overwhelms the senses.

Teddy Roosevelt came here to shoot wolves and then went back to Washington and raved about the place. The wolves are gone now, as are the black bears and most of the hunters. But herds of buffalo and elk and longhorns are thriving. As well as prairie dogs, coyotes and bobcats. Mountain lion sightings increase year after year.

This place was home to the Comanche tribe for centuries. The Apache and Kiowa tribes were later forced here. Before General George Armstrong Custer met his match at the Battle of Little Bighorn, he had already wreaked havoc in this part of the state.

This magical place is 70 miles from my front door. I'm there in a blink of an eye and ever so grateful to have it in my backyard.

I hope you like Oklahoma and its outrageously colored rocks and impossible beauty. Because with the economy the way it is - that's just about all your going to get from this blogger until the Olympic Games hove into view in February. I have not been on a plane since July. Fortunately, I love road trips....

and I love Oklahoma in the fall!!

My world is Oklahoma, Mount Scott and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Set this Street on Fire

Sugar Maples in Autumn
15th Street, Heritage Hills
near downtown
Oklahoma City

From red dirt to red leaves, from the land where the buffalo roamed and the deer and the antelope could pretend they were in New England - did I mention how much I love this place I call home! Right in my own backyard. Oklahoma is definitely OK!

Celebrating the Motmot- an Oklahoma Treasure

Debby Kaspari of "Drawing the Motmot" photographed during one of many Oklahoma road trips the blogger and artist have enjoyed.

A major Oklahoma museum just debuted an extraordinary new exhibit designed to celebrate the creative adventures of an outrageously gifted local artist and naturalist. I want to join in that celebration by toasting that artist and the special friendship that has made my journey back home absolutely remarkable.

In August of 2007 I sat on the porch of my new Oklahoma home on the first full day of my new Oklahoma life after 25 years away and watched the postman make his way up the sidewalk with nothing less than resolute determination. Resolute all you want Mr. Postman - that mail is not for me. He shoved a postcard into my hand addressed to the previous owner and rushed off in a way that made certain I'd be responsible for the forwarding.

That misdirected postcard was a beautifully rendered announcement of a forthcoming art opening in my neighborhood and on the cover was the most divinely illustrated bird. Little did I know in that moment, still ripe with trepidation at my prompt decision to leave New Mexico, what incredible good fortune would unfold from that errant piece of mishandled mail.

Canopy Life- mixed media on Rives BFK paper, 30"x39" by Debby Kaspari

I was not only mesmerized by the artist's work -- but also thrilled that a gallery in my new neighborhood in my new life was celebrating the work of a nature artist. Perhaps some of those 250 galleries I had at my disposal in my previous life would not be missed after all. I hugged the card to my chest and smiled at this unintended gift that I was convinced was an omen of good things to come and, at the same time, wondered who this fantastic artist was on the backside of the card.

Portrait of the Artist on the Salt Flats of Selman Ranch in Harper County by TR.

The artist was Debby Kaspari and I soon discovered she also wrote a terrific blog called "Drawing the Motmot". Unfortunately out of town work commitments kept me from attending the postcard's promised "Passionate Menagerie: Light, Form and Function" but in that wonderful way that life often works -- our paths seemed to cross a dozen ways and in no time at all I found myself sitting in her Norman studio savoring the magnanimity of her creative genius - a meeting long insisted by mutual friend, artist and blogger Julie Zickefoose. Fortunately for me, Julie was right on - and Debby and I became fast friends that day. Almost two years later, I consider our friendship one of the greatest gifts of moving back.

The Motmot and The Birdchick on the road with TR at the 2009 Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival in western Oklahoma. Debby was named the featured artist of the festival and I got to tag along and meet the infamous Birdchick and the equally amazing travel writer Sophia Dembling.

In short time we took our mutual love for nature and art and travel and creativity off the intertubes and out of the studio and on to the road - from the swamps of southeast's Little Dixie to the magnificent prairies of the northwest -- together we have crossed the state of Oklahoma a dozen directions in car and kayak and each time always in absolute marvel at the beauty of this place we call home. We've chased birds and butterflies and rocks and flowers all through fen and forest - traversing the field with Debby is nothing short of a Master's Class in Natural History. Last fall, by odd coincidence, we anchored two ends of the Peruvian Amazon at about the same time - each pursuing passionate endeavors; like minds, indeed, living right here in central Oklahoma.

Over the Top, Amazon Macaws - Pastel and graphite on paper by Debby Kaspari inspired by the macaws at the Tampobata Research Station in Amazonian Peru.

Not only is Debby Kaspari a gifted artist who continually racks up an accomplished list of awards and prizes -- she is also a phenomenal writer, a master gardener, a brilliant naturalist, an award-winning blogger and on top of all that - plucks an exceptionally fine bluegrass tune on the banjo. Debby is the quintessential Renaissance woman and she finally received the recognition she so well deserves this weekend when the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History unveiled its newest exhibit: Drawing the Motmot: An Artist's View of Tropical Nature.

Honeycreeper sketched from Canopy Tower in Panama by Debby Kaspari

In an unprecedented gesture celebrating a local artist, the Drawing the Motmot exhibit celebrates the culmination of several years of Debby's work in the rainforests of Central and South America. The exhibit recreates Debby's tropical expeditions and is designed to immerse the visitor in "the magical world of the nature artist at work."

Rufous Motmot on Fan Palm - by Debby Kaspari

"The artwork includes sketchbook pages with notes, field drawings, pen-and-ink studies and studio paintings, accompanied by her lively and thoughtful field notes and commentary that give the feeling of a personal conversation with the artist. Adding to the adventure are the sounds of toucans, monkeys and other tropical wildlife recorded in the Amazonian and Panamanian rainforests, plus videos of works in progress in the field."

Some Birds at Summit Pond - Panama - pen and ink journal sketch by Debby Kaspari

Needless to say I am immensely proud of my friend and hometown girl - this incredible human who speaks the language of birds and participates in life so fully, ripely, deeply. I treasure our friendship immensely and look forward to endless adventures in our home state as we continue to capture this beautiful place on canvas and film.

It is fantastic that the rest of Oklahoma will finally get to experience firsthand the incredible measure of Debby's talent at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History -- starting this weekend and running through January 18. If you are from anywhere near Oklahoma - don't miss it and for more information click here for the link. And if you haven't yet come across her award-winning blog - Drawing the Motmot - add it to your list - its always a fascinating visit.

Originally from California, Debby is a proud Okie after 14 years.

As I write, I am still on my Great Western Road Trip - birding the soft golden hills and steep canyons of southeast Arizona and wishing my birding and road trip buddy was here with me in this land she also loves. Sadly, there are no Motmots here in this part of the world - which means its time to get home. See you soon.

Midnight in the Garden of Cactus and Coyotes

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Southwest Arizona
Near the Border of Mexico
at Midnight

Moons over the Mojave

Harvest Moon

taken

outside of

Joshua Tree National Park

October 3, 2009

during the Great Western Road Trip

And again

the next night

the Solstice Full Moon

rising almost a half hour later

than the night before

coming up over the

Little San Bernardino Mountains

October 4, 2009

One Shot: High Noon at Chilchinbito Rock

Click image to see photo in its entirety

Watching the sky near Chilchinbito, Arizona
on the Many Farms to Kayenta Road
between Carson and Black Mesas
Outside of Monument Valley
in Navajo Country
Mile 1314
on the
Great Western Road Trip

Road Trip: Day 14 - Navajo Country

After eight days of working in the old home town of Santa Fe it was time to get back on the road. I pointed the car west and headed for Arizona, Dine land and the incredible Canon de Chelly National Monument near Chinle, AZ. My complete route was still undecided - I had to be in Las Vegas, NV five days later for work.

Day 14
Starting Mile: 935
Ending Mile: 1193
Santa Fe, NM to Chinle, AZ

Mile 1010
Late Summer Monsoon Rain
Near Blue Lake State Park in New Mexico

Mile 1140
Leaving Pueblo Country and entering Navajo Country

Mile 1134
Nazlini, AZ - Heart of Navajo Country

Nazlini, Navajo Country

Mile 1158
Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Mile 1176
North Rim of Canyon de Chelly
looking west to Hopi Country

Mile 1180
The last remnants of afternoon showers
fall on the
Hopi Nation's First Mesa

Road Trip: Celebrating National Parks, Ken Burns and America's Best Idea

I must confess a good part of my road trip itinerary was inspired after seeing some of the breathtaking advance press footage for the Ken Burn's directed documentary series "The National Parks - America's Best Idea" which debuts tonight on PBS.

I have always believed our National Park System is without question one of America's greatest legacies and I have been looking forward to the debut of Burn's highly acclaimed work for months. I learned a few months ago that I would be working on the night of the big debut and s0 - decided to see some of these parks for myself in a nearly 3000 mile drive across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California.

Like other of Burn's award-winning documentary work - the National Park film takes an historical look at the people and politics that saved America's greatest natural treasures from exploitation and certain demise. A battle that continues today.

PBS says that the documentary was filmed "over the course of more than six years in some of nature’s most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — the documentary is nonetheless a story of people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. It is a story of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration — set against breathtaking backdrops."

To whet your appetite for the documentary - here are scenes from nine National Parks and Monuments that I have so far visited on my great western road trip.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument
Chinle, AZ

Monument Valley Tribal Park
Northeastern, Arizona
(not technically part of the NPS)

Natural Bridges National Monument
Utah

Capitol Reef National Park
Utah

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park
Utah

Zion National Park
Utah

Desert National Wildlife Refuge at Corn Creek
with Warbling Vireo
Las Vegas, NV

Death Valley National Park
California/Nevada Border

PBS says THE NATIONAL PARKS film is a visual feast, featuring some of the most extensive, breathtaking images of the national parks system ever captured on film containing the most contemporary footage of any Ken Burns film since “Lewis and Clark,” shot principally by chief cinematographer Buddy Squires (who has photographed all of Burns’s films), long-time Florentine cameraman Allen Moore, Lincoln Else (who also is a former ranger at Yosemite) and Burns himself. Read more here at PBS.org

I'll be featuring more of my road trip to the nine National Parks and Monuments listed above over the next few weeks here at The Faraway, Nearby.

Top Photo: Monument Valley

All photos ©trryan @ from the faraway, nearby