MTA

New York's Mass Transit is very good, although it was not the first in the world as many believe. London had the first subway (tube).

St.Patrick's and Alexander Hamilton

Strawberry Fields Forever

LA Aquarium

One day Peter, Arni, Yumi, and myself dawdled to the LA Aquarium to get Yumi outside of the house for a while, she had been asking all week to go and finally Arni relented. It was quite fun. We fed the birds and touched Rays. Rays feel really smooth but also slimy. It was pretty exciting to get to touch them and they actually liked the attention as long as it was gentle. We saw all manner of aquatic life like sharks, stars, seahorses, urchin, turtles, and an aray of larger fish. Generally it was good to get out for a little while.

Staten Island Ferry / The Colosus of NY

Since I was old enough to appreciate it and ask about it my grandfather has told me stories about how when he was in WWII (the big one) he was on a destoyer called the USS Savage. Many times he left and entered NY harbor. He always ends his stories with, "I was always sad to see her go and glad to see her when I returned." So when I was in town I had to stop by the old ladies house and tell her that John Nelson says hello and he is doing fine.

Trade Center 06'

Of course while in NY I had to see what ground zero looked like. Basically it looks like a hole in the ground, as you can see by one of these photos. The entire area is fenced off and around some of the parameter there are story boards depicting exactly what happened at what times. On some of the fencing there was black board where people wrote messages such as the one above, if you can't read it this is what is says.

Yo New York

I hope you are starting to feel better
I see that nasty scar is starting
to heal...a little...
I will always pray for your (lives??)
stay strong. You are still the
greatest city in the world

I love you

Its Not Just Another Cock and Bull Story

The New York Stock Exchange

Let Me Express Myself

What is art? Over time our concepts of what art is has changed as quickly as the movements could shape them. I will admit that while in MOCA I hated almost everything I saw. The pieces were part of a movement that had passed and for me had no inherent beauty. Although for art in general I have a deep affection. Art has to be liberating, controversial, and thought provoking. It must be so because it is often representative of our history, geography, politics, religion, and numerous other humanistic studies. It creates and abolishes war. It is suppressed and elevated, loved and hated, mocked and embraced.
No doubt much of art is beauty. Although sometimes it is used as beauty's antithesis. It can be an ideal or simply something pleasing to the eye. Often art is based loosely on our representations of ourselves and to my delight that of a beautiful woman. Art in the beginning of art even contained women along with rituals and architecture. Our ancestors eventually realized that art was a necessity.
But why do we need art? Basically because we have very large brains and demand stimulation. We are constantly exploring and bending the world around us. We speculate on what beauty really is and the nature of life not to mention simply as a way to communicate with each other.
On my recent travels I went to The Getty, MOCA, MOMA, The Guggenheim, and The Metropolitan museum. All presented varying degrees of art and all stimulated me in different ways. My personal tastes enjoyed the Getty and the MET, but did not like MOCA or the Guggenheim. Like life and art everyone is stimulated by different things.

The Met

Pollock, Johns, Oldenberg,Warhol, Wyeth, Rousseau, Van Gogh, Rodin

Monet, VanGogh, Ganguin

2nd, Mexico, 1st, and 3rd

Stay tuned for more. In a few days I fly back to the West coast and LA. Once again I will be making a connection in Las Vegas, for the love of God. I visit freinds and my habibi in LA, go into Mexico a little, fly to NY to see freinds, and then back home I land in Chicago. The three biggest cities in the U.S. and a new country to my list. At least in Mexico I don't think they will stop me at the border because they think I have a DWI. See you there.

4000 Miles In a Jar On the Mantle

By the time we got into Montana my uncle and I were pretty sick of each other. At that point we had spent about six days together non-stop. We even slept in the same room. I wanted blood and so did he. We both agreed it would be best to move it along a little faster. Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, and back into Wisconsin went much faster than the first half of the trip. A few notes from that leg. Some of the roads in Wyoming are red. I’m not sure why, but I am guessing it has something to do with the rock in the area and the availability of quarry. Also, Montana is called big sky country at least that is what I have heard. Although Montana did have a big sky I am skeptical about rumors I heard that Montana is long and flat. Montana did not seem that flat to me, but I was in the southern part, maybe in the north it is flatter. We also stopped at Mt. Rushmore where I hiked around the mountain. The faces are surprisingly small, at least that is what I thought. I kind of had the same feeling as when I first saw the sphinx. Perhaps in my own mind these objects have been built up to epic proportions in the back rooms of my mind. I don’t know. Lastly, I want to give a salute to my traveling companion on this trip. We will have to put this one in a jar, cork it, and put it on the mantle for later. 4000 total miles, California the long way, nine states, and two countries is a long way. A long way. A long way. Happy trails.

On the Totem Pole of Life, I Am Underground

Just a shorty, these are Native American totem poles of the NW. I thought they were beautiful in a camp sort of way. I really wanted one, but they are very heavy and, I imagine, difficult to run with.

Mt. St. Helens

We stopped for a little while at Mt. St. Helens and I went for a short hike. It is amazing that even now it feels like a powerful place.
At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted. Fifty-seven lives lost. They were loggers, campers, reporters and scientists. In all, there were 36 victims brought out of the devastated area. But after all of the searching, rescues and recoveries, there were still many people who were never found. Oddly Mt. St. Helens did not erupt skyward like many volcanos but horizontally. This is why there was such devastation.
Mount St. Helens formed a conical, youthful volcano sometimes known as the Fuji-san of America. During the 1980 eruption the upper 400 m of the summit was removed by slope failure, leaving a 2 x 3.5 km horseshoe-shaped crater now partially filled by a lava dome. Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

I Was Looking For A Good Spot To Pull Over

Going through Spokane, Washington I was tagged for speeding. I was going about 85. I thought it was a 75 zone, but it was a 65. I suddenly saw a motorcycle parked on the median of a six lane highway and the motorcycle cop pointing at me as I whizzed past. Paul immediately said, “Was he pointing at you, maybe you should pull over.” I said, “I don’t know if he was pointing at me, let’s wait and see if he comes after us.” He did come after us, but I didn’t pull over right away. I was looking for a safe place to pull over. After a couple miles I pulled onto an exit ramp. When he approached the window he asked why I didn’t pull over right away both times. I just said I wasn’t sure if he meant for me to pull over. He knocked down the ticket to a lower price, but I don’t think I am going to pay. So I will just have to remember that I have a warrant in Washington in case I ever go back.

My Peanut Butter Has Been Violated

Again at the Canadian border we were tagged and asked to go into the building. Once inside we again were asked numerous questions but this time about what was in our car. Obviously they did a search and found nothing. Later that night, as we were eating dinner, I found to my dismay that one of the guards had stuck his finger in my peanut butter and swirled it around. I hope he wore gloves.

Capilano

Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park is Vancouver's oldest attraction. Originally built in 1889, today's bridge is the fourth bridge at this location.