Category Archives: General

PUPFISH – TRIAL BY FIRE FOR THE RAREST OF FISH

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Formerly thought extinct, the Shoshone Pupfish are alive and well within the refuge pond in Shoshone, California.
Formerly thought extinct, the Shoshone Pupfish are alive and well within the refuge pond in Shoshone, California.

What to do in Las Vegas when the sensory impact of the Strip begins to wane? Glitz and glamor are all on conspicuous display as fountains dance in the face of ever disappointing water stores behind nearby Hoover Dam. Visiting cities in the American Southwest can be a jarring experience in water terms – golf courses and man-made party boat lakes speckle the seemingly never-ending urban sprawl.

Away from the lights, noise and costs of the Strip exist a plethora of outdoor activities – Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Red Rocks, Valley of Fire, Mt. Charleston but a few options. Today’s post concentrates on some of the unique species of life to be found in the various oasis springs found 1-2 hours west of Vegas among the desert basin area of the Amargosa Valley. In some of these springs, various species of pupfish live, their only home in the world. These fish include some of the rarest found today. The fish, like other animals and plants found around the oases, are survivors. One has to, in order to survive the climate and environment in which they call “home”.

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CRANBERRIES – A LITTLE MAGIC FROM THE LEFT COAST

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Immature berries ripen under the summer skies on the Long Beach Peninsula.
Immature berries ripen under the summer skies on the Long Beach Peninsula.

Cranberries have slowly pushed onto the food and drink stage beyond the Thanksgiving dinner table. The little edible berries probably will not replace other berry cousins like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, huckleberries or even currants anytime soon as mouthwatering magic anytime soon. That said, the cranberry industry has helped pushed the tart treats beyond the side helpings next to the late November turkey dinners, where the little berries gain much of their fame from.

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NIELSON TOWER REINCARNATED AS THE BLACKBIRD – MANILA’S FIRST AIRPORT

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Dining al fresco at the Blackbird on the old tarmac of the Nielson Tower.
Dining al fresco at the Blackbird on the old tarmac of the Nielson Tower.

Deep in the heart of the high rises of Manila’s Makati district sits the restored Nielson Tower and air control center for the first center for commercial aviation in Manila. Nielson Airfield came about from the desire of Laurie Nielson who established the airfield along with an aviation school here on land leased from the Ayala family in 1937.

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REVISTING BYGONE AGE OF THE SPANISH GALLEON TRADING WORLD

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Manila galleon setting out across the Pacific.
Manila galleon setting out across the Pacific.

A recent trip took me to La Palma in the Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa.  At one point, La Palma (also known as La Isla Bonita – the Beautiful Island) served as an important trading post on the way from Spain to the New World. Santa Cruz de la Palma, founded in the spring of 1493, is a pretty little town on the northeastern side of the steeply rising island. A life-sized model of Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria located in the town center serves as the unique maritime museum for the town. Evidence of the once flourishing Spanish galleon trade.

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FISH HATCHERY – TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR LOST GROUND

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Chinook salmon circling about in a lower holding pond at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.
Chinook salmon circling about in a lower holding pond at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

In the western United States, when something good gets discovered, it seems nothing better to do than to rush to deplete the good – gold, trees, … salmon. Gold is mined many times at the cost of whatever lived in the area before. Trees, centuries of age, swept away, sometimes replanted, sometimes not, always with ecological cost. In the case of salmon, former runs of billions of salmon first suffered from overfishing, taken to extremes. To finish off the magnificent earlier runs, primeval rivers dammed ending the prehistoric runs. Fish hatchery to the rescue

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GORGE(OUS) VIEWS – MAJESTY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

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Magnificent viewpoint near Nesika Lodge looking upstream towards Bonneville Dam.
Magnificent viewpoint near Nesika Lodge looking upstream towards Bonneville Dam. One of the many spectacular views to be found within the Columbia River Gorge.

The Columbia River Gorge is one of the natural highlights of the Pacific Northwest. Only the Columbia River penetrates through the Cascade Mountain range and does so in a magnificent manner. Long an important transportation corridor whether rail, old highways, new freeways, canoes or flatboats. Waterfalls tend to bring the tourists to the Gorge along with the views of the immense canyon from spots like Crown Point on the Historic Columbia River Highway.  But trails take you to the top of many other vista points as magical as those at the Vista House.  Here are a few of my personal favorite Gorge views.  Maybe you have others.

In no particular order with regard to personal preference, I present them from west to east.

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DOBERDO – HUNGARIAN SACRIFICE RECAPTURED IN THE KRAS

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Headstone in the Austro-Hungarian military cemetery in Bovec, Slovenia bedecked with a faded Hungarian tri-colored ribbon.
Headstone in the Austro-Hungarian military cemetery in Bovec, Slovenia bedecked with a faded Hungarian tri-colored ribbon similar to graves in cemeteries in Doberdo.

In 2018, as part of centenary observances of World War 1, a monument unveiled atFiume Road Graveyard in Budapest. This became the first national memorial erected commemorating the efforts Hungarians undertook during the Great War. Government officials noted the memorial was in line with a fundamental theme of the nation: to restore historical continuity broken during the Nazi and Communist occupations.

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CRUISING INTO THE MAGIC OF BAYS OF KOTOR

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Sunset over the Bays of Kotor - the mountain of Vrmac looms darkly in the middle.
Sunset over the Bays of Kotor – the mountain of Vrmac looms darkly in the middle.

In the past, I have not been a big fan of vacationing on huge cruise ships. A few friends and I watched from the shore of Glacier Bay as cruise ship after cruise ship made their way up the large fjord. We were happy experiencing the wilderness of one of the America’s most magnificent national parks on a more personal scale. Just us and the grizzly bears. Could the Bays of Kotor change that feeling?

Another time, I stayed at a hotel in Kusadsi for almost a week a few years ago. Every day brought several behemoths to dock at the waterfront. Buses lined up for the inevitable bus pilgrimage to nearby Ephesus. And then, at sunset, the giant ships would set sail into the sunset for their next day’s destination – Bodrum, Mykonos, Santorini, Istanbul. Again, I was happy to be staying behind. This year, I bit the bullet joining a cruise taking in the Adriatic and western Mediterranean. The cruise turned out very enjoyable.  The highlight, the slow entry into the wondrous fjord system making up the Bocche di Cattaro, known locally as the Boka Kotorska or simply, the Magic of Kotor.

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TRANSATLANTIC JOURNEY REVEALS MAGIC IN THE AIR

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Late Fall sunshine on the east Greenland coast seen on a transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Seattle.

After just returning from a series of eye clinics in Albania, I will share a few thoughts on the sights seen outside the window from over 34,000 feet as I made my way back on a long transatlantic sojourn. This was the second set of clinics I have worked in Albania.

My transatlantic journey began too early at a crowded Nënë Tereza Airport just to the northwest of Tirana. The first of three flights involved in my return to Oregon was scheduled for 0600. Another colleague was flying to Rome at 0530, so we shared a cab. We left our hotel out in the western Albanian countryside near Durrës at 0330. This coming after our last day of clinics. In an unheated building, we saw over 700 patients in Kukës, Albania, three hours north of where we were staying close to the border with Kosovo.

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FROM THE NORTHWEST TO THE FIELDS OF FRANCE – 361st INFANTRY REGIMENT IN THE GREAT WAR

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Private Ora Roscoe
Grave of Ora and his wife on the right.
Grave of Ora and his wife on the right.

On a recent visit to a cemetery, I visited several family ancestors buried in the very small community of Bellfountain, Oregon. Bellfountain lies in the southern part of the Willamette Valley. Amongst the graves, I found one particular headstone near the family ancestors mentioning the man’s service in World War 1 as part of the 361st Infantry Regiment.

The American Army mushroomed almost overnight with the country’s entrance into World War 1 in April 1917. Selective Service – conscription – was brought back for the first time since the American Civil War. One of the units raised, mostly from draftees from Washington and Oregon was the 361st Infantry Regiment, 181st Infantry Brigade, 91st Division.

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