An extended trip north up the Pacific Coast Highway from Carmel, California to Olympic National Park, Washington has been on my bucket list forever. It includes some of the most beautiful coastal lands in the world. Peggy and I have been to each of the places we will be visiting and they are all places we love. Starting at the bottom and working our way north for three months is new for us, however, a leisurely one way trip up the coast that promises to be uniquely rewarding. As always, you are invited to join us.
There is an ancient Chinese proverb from the Tao Te Ching that states “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Although the distance and mode of travel may vary, it’s how all great adventures begin. I started my 750 mile backpack trek down the Pacific Coast trail to celebrate my 75th birthday with a single step and my 6-month, 10,000 mile solo bike trek around North America at 46 with the crank of a pedal. That was an adventure! An even greater one was waiting for me at the end… I met Peggy when I stepped off my bike in Sacramento. She gave me a dazzling smile and said, “You must be Curtis.” I was smitten and svelte at the same time. I’m still smitten…
I lucked out. Peggy loves adventures as much as I do and we have been on many over the past 30 years. In the past two years alone, we have traveled up the Rhine and Nile Rivers by boat, gone on an African safari, and explored 30,000 miles of North America in our pick-up, Iorek, and small trailer, Serafina. I’ve already blogged about these adventures, although I still have some catching to do.
As I write this we are camped in a scenic site perched above the famous Laguna Seca (now Weather Tech) Raceway located between Salinas and Monterrey, California. An organization called Hooked On Driving— made up of a collection of passionate and dedicated high-performance driving enthusiasts and coaches— has rented the raceway for a weekend of fun and training. That’s not the big news here, however. The Sea Otter Classic starts in two weeks. Billed as the premier cycling event in the world, it will involve over 9,000 athletes, 77,000 fans and 1000 vendors! Mountain bike racing and road racing will be included with racers from beginner to pro participating.
Our small Imagine trailer perched on the hill above the raceway.A view of the raceway from our campground. Fans of auto racing, motorcycle racing and bicycle racing would kill for this spot during major events.Here’s a map of the Weather Tech Raceway. We are camping at the small campground just to the right of the number 5 on the track. Fort Ord National Monument is just above us.
I suspect the participants down on the track roaring around its two mile course are having a blast. Assuming you are a fan of driving fast in a high performance automobile, imagine driving on one of the world’s top raceways. As camping spots go, however, it’s a bit noisy. Grin. Make that a lot noisy. I have my headphones on and am listening to Chopin. Peggy has hers on and is listening to songs from America’s Got Talent. Fortunately, the HOD folks will be out of here tomorrow and we will be gone before the cycling event starts. Linda, a volunteer who works at the entrance station, told us, however, that a TV crew is coming in to film a show in the next few days. I’m assuming it will involve noise. Will there be explosions?
When the race track isn’t busy, this campground is quiet as well as beautiful. It’s also inexpensive and ideally located for exploring Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. If you follow the news, you know that Big Sur is off our itinerary this time. Part of the road a few miles below Carmel decided to go to sea a couple of days before we arrived. We were busy avoiding the storm as it made its way across Nevada. In fact much of our 3000 mile drive to get to this campground was spent avoiding storms, which we did except for one night we spent in Missouri where severe weather warnings were up on a thunder and lightning storm, high winds, hail stones that could be as large as soft balls, and a tornados. That was a fun night to spend in a trailer.
We hung out in Carson City, Nevada as the storm that closed the Big Sur Highway turned into a blizzard over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
This is what Donner Summit looked like two days later.This big rig was a few miles down the road and Peggy snapped its photo. I imagine he was wishing he had hung out in Carson City with us.
Now, here are a few photos to show you what to expect over the next three months on Wandering Through Time and Place.
There will be huge waves crashing over rocks…Creating an infinite variety of swirling waters.You will join us as we hike out to the ocean’s edge— carefully. Does Peggy look worried???The edge, where she stood and took photos.The ocean will be calm as often as wild.With lots of gorgeous sunsets.Of course there will be tide pools. Peggy and I explore them with all the excitement of ten-year-olds. If you’ve ever spent time looking into them, you have probably seen a sea anemone…But have you ever seen one covered with shells and stones?Starfish…There will be dozens of magnificent sea stacks…As well as interesting smaller rocks…Any idea what this is? Once it was a tree that stood high above the ocean. A massive earthquake dropped the forest below sea level. This is what remains.Lighthouses are found all along the way.And beautiful bridges.Small coastal towns have special appeal to us. This is an historical building in Pt. Reyes Station above San Francisco.If there is an independent bookstore to be found, we will take you there. This is in Mendocino, California.And here is the bookstore cat. One way I judge a bookstore is whether it has a cat…Expect to meet many amazing creatures. This is a banana slug. Did you know that the banana slug is the school mascot for UC Santa Cruz?There will be magnificent wildlife such as this elk..Seals…And great blue heron.Expect a few cows as well.So here’s a question. Are these two butting heads or seeing eye to eye?We will have many adventures along the way, including kayaking.We may even get our ducks in a row.Eeyore and Bone are along for the trip…And, like us, hope you will join our journey. First up, we will be exploring the highways, byways and coast line of the Monterey/Carmel area, including the world famous 17 mile Drive. Peggy took this photo of a seal along Ocean View Blvd. in Pacific Grove, just before we climbed onto the 17 Mile Drive. I was so impressed with the photos my new camera took when we were on safari in Africa, I immediately bought one for Peggy. Expect lots more…
If you’ve been following my blog over the past couple of months, you have already met Anhingas: In Africa. I showed one demonstrating the proper way to eat a fish in Chobe National Park, Botswana. We found this fellow with its googly eyes along the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park, Florida.
Peggy and I traveled to Everglades National Park a few weeks ago, came back to our basecamp in Virginia, spent two weeks rushing to prepare for our five-month road trip, and are now in Terre Haute, Indiana sitting on the border of Missouri. We were supposed to be continuing west today, but the National Weather Service had a severe thunder and lightning storm warning up for Missouri. It’s not the type of weather to be out on the road, especially when pulling a small, light trailer.
The storm introduced itself last night. We could hear it approaching from miles away, at first a distant constant rumble, it became an earth-shaking roar. We hunkered down and wondered if Armageddon had arrived. I worried about hail. Baseball size chunks were crashing down on Kansas City. Serafina, our trailer, would not have been happy. But the storm passed us by without any damage.
On top of that, we had a propane leak, which can be more dangerous than softball-size hail. My solution, other than a few chosen words, was to shut the tanks off and wait until we could find an RV service facility to fix it, which often takes days or even weeks to schedule. Fortunately, we have options that allow us to function without propane.
Peggy and I have learned in our recent travels that mobile techs can solve most RV problems, however, often on a same-day basis and at a fair cost. Since we were here for the day, I called a local business in Terre Haute: At Your Service— Mobile RV Repair. And boy did we luck out. I reached the owner, Allen Grota, and he told me he would be over as soon as the storm stopped. He went through everything, tanks, connections and regulator. Finally he found the problem. The hose to the trailer had been left hanging next to one of our levelers and the lowering and rising of the leveler had cut it. As soon as this had happened, the regulator had shut down the tank. We weren’t in danger, but neither would we have propane. Allen then ran downtown to get what he needed to fix the problem. The cost was incredibly reasonable. And it turns out, Allen is a heck off a nice guy.
I’ve already done three posts on our Everglades trip: One on white pelicans, one on osprey, and one on the area around Everglade City on the Gulf Coast. I’ll conclude today featuring more of the Atlantic Coast side where we found the osprey and white pelicans. We entered the park at the Ernest F. Coe entrance. After stopping off at the Visitor Center, we made a beeline for the Anhinga Trail, just inside the park. Peggy and I had been there before and were quite impressed with the alligators and birdlife.
From there, we drove down through the park to Flamingo, where we would be glamping. We stopped along the way at various pulloffs to check out features of the Everglades emphasized by the National Park. First up, the Anhinga Trail.
Our first stop was to admire this impressive mangrove. Peggy provided perspective. Shortly afterwards, we came on this colorful bird that was busily walking over lily pads. It’s a Purple Gallinule.Quite the stretch! Check out the feet.Pretty amazing, huh.Next on our list of colorful birds along the Anhinga Trail was this great blue heron.Head shot.Here’s another shot of the googly-eyed Anhinga. One of its relatives was busily fishing in the pond below.Anhinga style, only its head was above the water. We liked the shadow.It had been fishing under water and came up for air here.A turtle also swam by underwater while we were watching the Anhinga.In addition to the wildlife, the scenery along Anhinga Trail is also quite attractive. A loud noise in the middle of it caught our attention…A large alligator had raised its head among the trees and was bellowing.A close up. Remember, one way you can tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator is that the crocodile shows its teeth. The alligator doesn’t. Another is the alligator has a shorter snout.Having made his point, whatever it was, the big fellow swam toward us. We liked this photo as well.One of our stops along the way toward Flamingo was the Mahogany Hammock Trail where we found this great egret. I called it scruffy neck. They say that great egrets have really long necks.That would certainly appear to be true from this photo. But it got longer…We wondered if it had inherited giraffe genes!A head shot. Our glamping tent in Flamingo. It had a good view of Florida Bay. Low tide brought in various birds to take advantage of the the feast it made available.Among them were these guys hungrily scarfing down miscellaneous delicacies, at least from their perspective. While they may seem like different birds, they are all white ibis in their various development stages from juvenile to adult. A reflection shot of one of the adults.A snowy egret joined the white ibis.I close with this shot of the egret. Next up, we take a look at some of the excellent wildlife carvings we found in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and take you to the workshop where they were made. You will be surprised.
Well maybe not pretty, but we thought the neck colors of this wood stork we found standing next to the road in Big Cypress National Preserve rather striking. We asked her if she hired out for delivering babies. Her response was, “Are they tasty?”
Peggy and I visited two different areas during our recent trip to the Everglades. The first was Everglade City that I will be blogging about today. It’s a small town on the southwest Gulf Coast that has a feel of old Florida. It’s far away from the huge populations and hustle-bustle of the southeast coast where Miami reigns. We could easily walk anywhere in town and meet friendly people, including a few old timers who fit the description of quirky. Our kind of folks.
The town’s primary source of income is the tourist trade that comes to experience the natural wonders and adventures provided by the Everglades 10,000 Islands and the Big Cypress National Preserve. Local businesses offer a variety of options for exploring inside and outside of the park from airboats and swamp buggies to eco-tours and kayaks. We chose a motorboat eco-tour for the 10,000 Islands area. To start, we drove south from Everglade City for a couple of miles to Chokoloskee Island and the end of the road. Our objective was the old Smallwood Store, which does double duty as a museum and a tour center. The store provided a perspective on the first white settlers in the area. We met out tour guide/boat captain there and headed out into the 10,000 Islands with one other couple. Following are a few highlights.
Three different species of mangroves provide the base for most of Florida’s 10,000 Islands. These trees have adaptations that allow them to take in extra oxygen and to remove salt that allows them to thrive in coastal intertidal zones. The creation of new islands is an ongoing process. 10,000 is a guesstimate at best. Our two hour trip took us through the relatively open waterways shown above to the enclosed jungle-like canal shown here. Speed varied from zoom to put-put with occasional stops to admire the local flora and fauna.The Everglades are one of the few places on earth where crocodiles and alligators co-exist. While our small, bouncy boat wasn’t the best platform for photography, it’s easy to see that this is a crocodile from its long, thin snout and visible teeth. Our tour through the 10,000 Islands also produced this colorful bird with its interesting top-knot, a yellow-crowned night heron.Something moving very fast left this trail through the water in a split second. Can you guess what it was?It was a dolphin. Several of them had chased fish into the shallow water and were working to catch them. I had never realized how fast they are. Apparently they are quite common in the area. One tour operater offered, “If you don’t see dolphins on our trip we will refund your tickets.”
After our tour, we stopped at a local Chokoloski Island institution, the HavAnnA Cafe for lunch. It’s a charming, roofed-over, open air restaurant with lots of greenery— and chickens. A flock came clucking through while we were eating, eager to pick up any crumbs that had escaped to the floor. “The officials won’t let me sell their eggs to our customers,” the owner complained to us. I was both surprised and pleased that the officials allowed the chickens visiting rights at all. I did see chicken on the menu, however. I ordered a Cuban Sandwich instead.
We decided to drive ourselves on a tour of the Big Cypress National Preserve, which was just north of Everglade City. The name of the road we would start on is Birdon Road. How could we resist? And it was true. The three roads we drove over— Birdon, Wagon Wheel, and the Turner River— followed streams and were packed with birds, and alligators.
A pair of wood storks barely bothered to move off of Birdon road as we drove by.An osprey seemed surprised by our presence. A snowy egret hovered over a stream where it was fishing.One of the defining chacteristics of a snowy egret is its yellow feet. Hard to miss!Close up.This snowy egret was perched in a tree. One of the streams we followed through the Preserve.This great white egret was surveying its world from the top of a tree.Another view.We found another one fishing by the stream and took a close up.A great blue heron flew away before we could take his photo. “Be that way,” I called after it and snapped a photo in flight. An anhinga twisted its neck so it could keep an eye on us.A white ibis was also curious.We also found alligators lurking along the stream. The clearness of the water and the time of day led to some interesting reflection shots.…such as this.And even more so here! I’ll wrap up today’s post with this ‘two tailed’ example. At first glance, Peggy and I thought we had spotted a monster! The next blog will be on the most dangerous animal in Africa, the Cape buffalo.
A large nest with two Osprey was located near our camp in Everglades National Park. The wind was playing with this fellow’s feathers.
At the beginning of February, Peggy and I drove down to Florida to visit with our son Tony, his wife Cammie and their three boys: Connor, Chris and Cooper. Afterwards, we drove down to Everglade City in southeast Florida where we explored the 10,000 Island area of the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve. There were birds galore, alligators, and even crocodiles! We then crossed the state and drove down to Flamingo in Everglades National Park where we went glamping, i.e. stayed in a tent camp with floors, electricity and comfortable beds.
Peggy discovered an osprey nest nearby when she was searching for a restroom. The one in our glamp-camp was closed for cleaning. She came back to our tent quite excited— to say the least. It was imperative that we go check it out, immediately! We decided to have lunch near the nest so we could watch the osprey come and go. Peggy had seen a chick being fed on her first foray. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see it. “Teach me to head for a restroom without my camera!” Peggy groused. But there was plenty of other action as the ospreys watched us, preened, and remodeled their nest.
The female Osprey lands on the nest. Her ‘necklace’ gives her away. Had I been faster in refocusing, I could have captured her large wing span. The black streak that extends down from the beak to the wing is an identifying factor for osprey. Its partner watched as she landed. The birds mate for life and can live 15-20 years.The size of the nest suggested that the two Osprey had been using it for several years.I’ve always been excited to see osprey. Besides their beauty, they are superb hunters. Watching one dive feet first from 30 to 100 feet up in the air to capture a fish is a sight one never forgets. These fierce looking talons are specialized for catching fish. That they are sharp, is obvious. Not so obvious is the fact that Osprey are unusual in possessing a reversible outer toe that enables them to hold a fish with two toes in front and two behind. Note the pads. They are barbed to help them grip their slippery catch. We were amused to learn that an Osprey lines up its fish head first to reduce wind resistance.Given their strict fish diet, it isn’t surprising that Osprey always build their nests near water including rivers, lakes and the ocean. Somewhat more surprising is that they are found on every continent except Antartica. If conditions are right, they may live in the same area year round, but if not, they migrate and have been known to fly as far as 4200 miles. Their history as a species dates back over 11 million years.Some remodeling was going on. While the birds weren’t particularly worried, they did keep an eye on us. Sometimes, it seemed like they were posing.One peered over the edge of the nest at us. Or maybe it was checking its chicks.A tail shot…Eventually they ignored us and started to preen…Which is always fun to photograph. And then a van showed up and disgorged a group of photographers with serious cameras. They scared the Osprey. I kept my small, light weight camera with its mega digital lens that I easily hold in one hand to myself. Grin. That’s it for today. Friday’s safari post will be on zebras.
Peggy and I were leaving the Everglades last week when we drove by a small pond that had at least 250 white pelicans working their way back and forth across the pond, herding fish, and downing them as they went.
Having lived in California and Oregon with occasional trips to Washington and the west coast of Mexico for most of my life, I have spent hours watching brown pelicans make their impressive dives into the Pacific Ocean capturing fish. White pelicans are much leas common in the West and have a very different approach to fishing. They don’t dive. Instead, they herd fish as a group, scooping them up as they go. Peggy and I had only seen this process once before. We were at Morro Bay on California’s Central Coast and watched a half dozen white pelicans form a semi-circle and herd fish toward shallower waters. Imagine our surprise when we passed by a pond that had between 200-300 swimming back and forth in unison!
As we were driving by, this is what we saw. More pelicans were off to the right and other birds could be seen in the background. Peggy was driving. She slammed on the brakes and backed up. What you can’t see were all of the mosquitoes and biting flies. Grin.The Pelicans would cross the pond in one direction and then come back the other way. Great egrets, cattle egrets and snowy egrets were some of the birds seen in the background.Going in the other direction.A close up of the action.And another.When white pelicans capture a fish, they also get a bill full of water. They then raise their bill to let the water drain out before they swallow the fish.Some of the other birds. I think the pink flash was a Roseate Spoonbill.Given the black legs on this bird, I’m guessing it is a great egret.A final photo of the magical pond.
One of several beautiful orchids we saw in the Naples Botanical Garden.
On our way down to the Everglades after visiting with our son and his family in Safety Harbor, Florida, we stopped In Naples on Thursday. Having never been there, we asked the locals what to do. One thing was to check out the Naples’ Pier. Not impressive. The other was to visit the Naples Botanical Gardens, which turned out to be fantastic. It is chock full of tropical plants from around the world. We spent three hours wandering down its numerous paths. Being on the move, we didn’t have much time to research what we were seeing but want to share some of the plants we admired. Enjoy.
Another orchid. like the one above it was living on a tree.There were enough water lilies scattered throughout the garden that Monet could have spent a year painting them.They came in a multitude of colors.And where you have lilies, you have to have lily pads, right? This photo also gives a sense of the tropical paradise the gardens display.Like the lilies, the pads came in a variety of shapes and colors.In their own way, they were as impressive as the leaves. Oh to be a frog…The trees also had unique, weird personalities. This was a cannonball tree. We considered this tree even stranger. A sign announced it was a Ceiba Erianthos. Now you know. There will be a quiz.Or how about this? It’s called a screw pine and we could only wonder how it got that name. There were a multitude of palm trees in the garden, as one might expect. Many were covered in vines like this one.A close up of the vines. Quite beautiful.This tree had its own unique collection.Time for a little color. This plant was labeled an Annatto.When the pods open they display seeds that, apparently, are quite important to creating natural dyes.Have you ever checked out a banana tree?We heard a guide say that this was a red bellied woodpecker. It must have been hiding it. (Red headed was already taken.) It was one of the few birds we saw in the garden.Colorful leaves were everywhere. My mother used to love plants with colorful leaves. At any given time, a half dozen or so could be found in our house.A beauty.As was this.While on the subject of unusual…And suddenly, this fellow was warning us to leave.He wasn’t alone. More importantly, nature was calling, so we called it a day.On the way out, we came upon animals dancing in a circle. Of course Peggy had to join in the fun, positioning herself between an elephant and a giraffe, which takes us back to Africa. On Friday, I will be featuring crocodiles.
Peggy and I are down in the Everglades without an internet connection. I should be back to responding to comments and reading blogs this weekend.
The flock of flamingos at Sunken Gardens were busy preening, using oil from a gland to waterproof their feathers.
Peggy and I are presently in Safety Harbor, Florida visiting with our son Tony, his wife Cammie, and their three boys, Connor, Chris and Cooper. Whenever we visit, Tony and Cammie always plan at least one special outing. This year it was to the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg, one of the oldest roadside attractions in the US.
In 1911, George Turner, a plumber with a passion for gardening, bought a sinkhole and immediately started turning it into a garden. Before long his neighbors started showing up to walk through it. The walk became so popular that George figured out he could charge people $.15 to do it. Move the decimal two places to the right and you have today’s price, which is an incredible bargain when compared to most other Florida attractions. We enjoyed the flowers and other plants but I was particularly attracted to the flamingos. Here are some photos. From here we will be heading down to Everglades National Park.
Our blog will continue its focus on our African safari, however. It’s lions on Friday!
It doesn’t get much more colorful!Now, for the other side.How to smooth down the feathers: Use your head.Reaching way back…Almost…Ah, perfect.There was also a tortoise…A squirrel…And lots of flowers! This is a red veined flowering maple from South America.A Calliandra, or the red powder puff tree, with a honey bee.These flowers came off of a shaving brush tree. “What’s a shaving brush?” my grandson asked me.Trumpet flowerAnd lots of bougainvillea!
There is much more to see at the Sunken Gardens. It’s well worth a visit if you are in the area, an inexpensive family adventure.
Do you feel a little bit nervous about what’s waiting for us in 2024 as we all travel around the world and the US— like maybe we will be up to our tail-bones in crocodiles? Peggy and I photographed this fine fellow on the shore of a small pond in Chobe National Park, Botswana.
2023 was a great travel year for Peggy and me with our trip up the Nile in the spring, 10,000 mile road trip around the US in the summer, and safari visit to southern Africa in the fall. I’ve been blogging about these experiences and will continue. I never get caught up, but, on the other hand, I never run out of material. Grin.
We also have fun travel plans for 2024. The highlight will be a three month road trip up the Pacific Coast from Big Sur to Olympic National Park. It will include some of the world’s greatest ocean scenery and is an area that I have returned to time and again during my life. A trip to the Everglades next month and a trip up into the New England states and possibly Canada’s Atlantic Provinces is scheduled for this fall. We plan on finishing off the year in Costa Rica for a month (or some other warm tropical place). Maybe we will be looking for a place to live…adding to our choices for “base camps.”
I’m a little nervous about 2024. Who knows what global warming will do to our travel adventures. We plan on being flexible. That’s one advantage of doing most of out wandering this year with our pickup and small travel trailer. At the first sign of a flood, forest fire, tornado, hurricane, or snow storm, we’re out of there! We will also memorize the earthquake/tsunami escape routes when we are driving/camping along the West Coast. One never knows when the next big one will strike.
Then there’s the election: No escaping that. We’ll do our bit to support rational, humane, environmental friendly decisions but keep it to a bare minimum on “Wandering through Time and Place.” Peggy’s and my focus will continue to be on the beautiful, the quirky, and the historical. We believe our followers deserve to have somewhere they can go that maintains a sense of perspective and humor. Speaking of humor, here are a few photos from this past year that possibly relate to 2024:
How’s this as an approach for 2024? Peggy and I photographed this ostrich in South Africa, a mile or so from the Cape of Good Hope. Was it burying its head in the sand or being hopeful? Actually, it was being practical, stuffing its mouth full of grass.If times really get bad, a nice mud bath may be the solution. It worked for the elephants and it worked for this warthog in Hwange National Park.Lacking mud, this buffalo we photographed in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota last summer, opted for a dust bath! Whatever works. Is that an ecstatic grin on his face?This camel we photographed at the Pyramids seemed to have something to say about the situation…As did this cat hanging out in the Alabaster Mosque in Cairo.It’s more than likely that mud will be flung every which way as the campaigns get under way. This is from our trip to Burning Man last August.It’s likely to get deep!Maintaining balance may be challenging. We caught this giraffe drinking water in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.Maybe we will get lucky, however, and Falcor, the Good Luck Dragon from “Never Ending Story” will come to our rescue. He was hanging out at Burning Man.Possibly there will be a rainbow along with all of the rain and mud as there was at Burning Man.And we will end up the year with a smile on our face like this small hyrax we found perched on Table Mountain overlooking Cape Town, South Africa. The hyrax’s closest relatives, BTW, are the elephant and the manatee!
Whatever happens, Peggy and I want to wish you and your family a happy and healthy New Year in 2024. And safe travels! Next post: We will take a look at the closely knit elephant family and the matriarchal society that holds it all together.
Michael Garlington and Nancy Bertotti from Petaluma California brought another one of their creative, photo-covered structures to Burning Man 2023, the Chapel of Babel.
Today, I am going to feature the creative and humorous Temple of Babel brought to Burning Man 2023 by the artists Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti, but first I want to speculate on how Burning Man has been so successful at developing, attracting and supporting top artists, and second, why six of the best come from Petaluma, a small city north of San Francisco.
Peggy and I were walking around the Chapel of Babel when we came across this scene and started laughing. Do you remember the Wicked Witch of the East who was crushed by Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz?
The international status of Burning Man art is not surprising. It is often mind blowing, thought provoking, monumental and beautiful. In 2018, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Art Museum recognized its status by featuring an exhibit of some of the events most creative artists. Titled, No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, it took up the whole building! From there, the exhibit traveled on to the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Oakland Museum of California.
Here is what the Renwick had to say about the exhibit:
Each year in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a city of more than 70,000 rises out of the dust for a single week. During that time, enormous experimental art installations are erected and many are ritually burned to the ground. The thriving temporary metropolis known as Burning Man is a hotbed of artistic ingenuity, driving innovation through its principles of radical self-expression, decommodification, communal participation, and reverence for the handmade. Both a cultural movement and an annual event, Burning Man remains one of the most influential phenomenons in contemporary American art and culture.
The creativity/ingenuity at Burning Man is unending. Previous Garlington/Bertotti works at Burning Man have taught me to look in peepholes to discover miniature worlds. This one in the Chapel of Babel was just big enough to accommodate the lens on my small Canon Power-Shot. An eye was staring back at me. A lady bug and an aphid were having a stand-off on the eyelid!
The words that stood out for me in the Smithsonian description were , “a hotbed of artistic ingenuity.” The Burning Man organization credits four of its ten principles as being the driving force and I agree they are important, particularly its emphasis on creativity, community support, and appreciation. I would add that the venue provides artists with:
The largest art gallery or ‘canvas’ in the world. A place that is a natural for monumental art to be put on display in a remote and highly scenic area.
A ready made audience of 70,000 people, most of whom appreciate, support, and admire the art.
Instant national and international recognition from both the participants and media. Burning Man enhances this by selecting a large number of artists each year for nominal financial support and recognition through its publications and at the event.
I’m going to add another factor that has been important to some of the best art: The evolution of local centers for the development of art and artists that 1) combine a variety of artists working in different mediums, 2) volunteers who offer to help the artists with their projects, especially the monumental art, and 3) a broader community that supports and takes pride in the artists and their work. The best way that I can describe these communities is to use the Smithsonian’s words, they have become hotbeds of artistic ingenuity.
One such center is The Reno Generator. It’s a huge warehouse space in Reno, Nevada packed with artists and art. While Burning Man was the original inspiration that led to the development of the Generator, it is open to all artists who want to become members— billing itself today as a Maker Space. Peggy and I visited the Generator in 2015 and found it fascinating. I blogged about the visit. The post is worth checking out. Here are two of my favorite works at Burning Man art that came out of the Generator around that time.
The sunken ship La Llorona.Embrace the Dawn.
Petaluma, a city of 50,000 people less than an hour north out of San Francisco on Highway 101, is another major source of Burning Man Artists and art. Four of the main artists/teams featured in the Smithsonian exhibit come from here: The team of Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti who work as photographers/sculptures, David Best who is an architect/sculpture best known for his Burning Man Temples, and the team of Marco Cochrane, Julia Whitelaw who are known for their towering female sculptures.
Unlike Reno, the artists from Petaluma I am featuring all have their own studios. The dynamics of community support, artist interaction, and volunteers are all similar, however. As noted above, I am featuring Garlington and Bertotti today. Here is art from the others that I have blogged about in the past.
A David Best Temple and Burning Man.Truth Is Beauty by Marco Cochrane and Julia Whitelaw on the Playa at Burning Man. A smaller version was included in the Smithsonian exhibit.I’d be at fault here if I didn’t also recognize this magnificent beast, The Rhino Redemption, a mutant vehicle by Kevin Clark and TM Potter who also hail from Petaluma. Mutant vehicles make up some of Burning Man’s most creative art projects. The Rhino is also appropriate for our pending trip to Africa that starts this week.
I first visited Petaluma in 1959, well before it was noted for its art. Instead, its claim to fame was being the World’s Egg Basket. Thousands of egg-laying chickens lived in long, low barns and called it home. I went there for a conference of Episcopal Church youth leaders. It was my first trip without family and the first time I ever stayed in a motel. A quick sniff confirmed we had arrived. I’ve been through Petaluma numerous times since, starting in the late 60s and early 70s. The chickens are long gone. Wealthy escapees from the Bay Area have replaced chicken farmers.
This 1920s era photo showed Petaluma’s pride in its egg laying mamas.
Michael Garlington made his first trip to Burning man in 2007 as a volunteer in helping to build one of David Best’s temples. When not busy learning how to use the tools, he was busy photographing fellow Department of Public Works volunteers. By profession and passion, he is a photographer.
A photo of David Best’s 2007 Burning Man Temple taken by my friend Ken Lake.
By 2013, Garlington had decided try his hand at Burning Man art by joining Laura Kempton in her creation of the sculpture EGO. The following year he struck out on his own and created the aptly named Photo Chapel that featured many of his whimsical, bizarre and humorous photos, which, as he notes, travel a path between reality and imagination. In 2015 he had joined with Nancy Bertotti and they entered the category of Burning Man legends with their Totem of Confessions. It featured a photo of LSD guru Timothy Leary. But there was more. Leary’s already burned ashes were about to be burned again. It was a true Burning Man type of event.
Here’s what I blogged in 2015 about the night they burned the Totem:
“Susan Sarandon (who had inherited a portion of Leary’s ashes) put on a low-cut, white, wedding dress. Her camp members walked beside her, stirring up the Playa dust. Timothy Leary came along behind, his ashes riding in a casket. A New Orleans style jazz band led the joyful procession of live and dead people making their way out to the Man and then on to the towering Totem of Confession. A 26 foot tall Octopus (El Pulpo Mechanico) rolled along behind. Leary would have loved it. Maybe he did.” Rumor has it that they toasted Leary before the procession with champagne mixed with a tad of LSD and Leary’s ashes.
The 2012 Ego SculptureA close up of the Ego Sculpture. Check out the characters.The Photo Chapel at Burning Man 2014.The Totem of Confession in 2015. The photo of Leary, a confessional, and a tower of skulls were inside. A peephole in the Totem of Confession.Leary’s ashes burn again for a second time as the Temple of Confession burns. They also shoot up into the sky for a second time. In 1997, a portion of Leary’s ashes were shot into space on a rocket along with those of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, and 22 other people. It might be said, that Leary was higher than he ever had been from LSD.
And now, for some final photos that Peggy and I took of Garlington and Bertotti’s 2023 Chapel of Babel.
One could easily spend an hour checking out all of the photographs and images that were located on the Temple of Babel. And contemplate what they meant. It seemed to me that the two nudes and the cat were inviting you to crawl into the cave. Would you? Grin.Or was the cat the devil? And who is Paul? I’m guessing one of the volunteers who helped with the massive job of putting the structure together. All sorts of things here but the foot and the hand stand out.A small tree frog with a crown was emerging from the hand. Kiss it and you’d get a prince. Maybe.A cow. While the chickens may be long gone, there are still cattle ranches in the Petaluma area.A chimp and a horse monkeying around.Even El Pulpo Mechanico made it to the party.Inside, Garlington featured a photo of his father that he called the Wizard of Pa. (Mom is up on the left.)There was ever so much more to the Temple of Babel, but I think this is a good photo to wrap up this post. Garlington and Bertotti have stated that this is their last temple. Having escaped Burning Man because of the rains, Peggy and I weren’t around to see it burn but I read that Garlington urged Burners to help themselves to the art before it burned in a grand give-away gesture, worthy of him and Burning Man. We wish we could have been there.
But briefly, back to the Temple of Confession— and mine. Peggy and I are running away from Word Press for a few more weeks as we head to Africa, which isn’t news to my fellow bloggers since we have been running away a lot. 😳But we will be back in mid-November with lions and giraffes and hippos, oh my. Not to mention more Burning Man, and Nile, and national parks, and… The good news is we will never run out of things to blog about; the bad news is that we will never catch up.
And finally, on behalf of Bigfoot (or is it a great ape) and in honor of our trips to Burning Man and Africa, Peggy and I wish you a Happy Halloween. If this isn’t scary enough…
It’s been four years since I have been to Burning Man and longer for Peggy. We certainly saw differences this year that I will discuss later, but one thing I wanted to mention today is that Burning Man seemed more international to us than ever before. It was apparent in the different languages we heard as we explored the Playa and Black Rock City, but even more so in the art. You may have noticed in my past three posts on Burning Man art how many of the pieces were created by artists from other countries. Today, I feature works from Armenia, Ukraine, China and the United Kingdom as well as the US.
A huge, inflatable tiger was one of the prominent works of art on the Playa at Burning Man 2023 . Its size and pink color guaranteed it stood out. Bicyclists provide perspective on its size. A tails-eye take on the towering tiger! The artist, Misha Libertee from Armenia, named her sculpture Vagr, which is Armenian for tiger. She stated that the “Bright pink color of the installation serves as a reminder of the struggles that these animals face due to habitat loss, poaching, and climate change.” We wondered if the sign on the right would provide more information.I’m pretty sure that another Burning Man artist decided to add Calvin to the equation. While it may not have been what Libertee had in mind, it certainly resonated with me. Calvin and Hobbes was one of my all-time favorite cartoons. Created by Bill Watterson in 1985, it was discontinued ten years later. The cartoon has been missed by millions ever since, including me! Maybe there is a message here about endangered tigers… Another interesting animal that caught our attention immediately was a large hedgehog. It came with a story…Created by Ukrainian artists Yaroslav Korets and Kurenivka from Kyiv, the sculpture memorializes artists who died defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion. At the base of the sculpture are tank traps that Ukrainians created to slow the progress of Russian tanks through their cities. The tank traps are known as hedgehogs. Hundreds were made by the Ukrainian Railway utilizing new rails. Two Polar Bears stood out as stars on the Playa, literally. They were named Ursa Major and Ursa Minor after the constellations. The little fellow had been to Burning Man before. Little is relative. She stands 13 feet tall. Her big sister, Ursa Major, is over three stories. The artist, Jen Lewin from Brooklyn, said that Ursa Minor’s infinity mirrors were a reminder to “Look up.”The 30 foot tall Ursa Major had an opening that also featured mirrors. Lewin noted that “Ursa Major’s hollow body is filled
with glowing infinity mirrors, each reflecting mosaic drawings of extinct animals from the past 12 months.” From the outside, I couldn’t see the animals. Possibly, they would be clearer at night when lit up.Peggy, on the other hand, who isn’t endangered, was reflected numerous times. The guy wearing the hat above her on the right is me. I think. At 80, I’m a little more endangered than Peggy. But not here. Peggy got caught by a giant spider that undoubtedly thought of her as a tasty morsel. Always the optimist, she is laying back and enjoying the view. Spider Trap was created by Josh Zubkoff & Looking Up Arts from San Francisco, CA. Josh noted that “Spider Trap was not menacing.” Hmmm.These etherial, almost whimsical creatures floated above the Playa. They represent fairy shrimp. In real life they are found under the surface of the Playa. Rain brings them to life for a brief period of time when they mate and reproduce. Burning Man 2023 with its heavy rains was a banner year for them.Created by P. Michael Quinn from Gossburg, TN, this is at least the second time the shrimp have made an appearance on the Playa. I featured them in post several years ago. I like the effect of the sun.While we are featuring aquatic life, this fish hails from the Caribbean. Her creator, NiNo from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, named his work ATABEY’s Treasure. Atabey, according to NiNo is “The goddess of fresh water to the indigenous Taíno people in the Caribbean.”ATABEY’s Treasure lit up at night with the Man in the background.Titled “Migrations,” this graceful white bird seems to be rising from its nest on the Playa on its way to wherever. Created by Olivia Guethling & Mar Ricketts – Superwhelm from Portland, OR, the migrating bird was even more beautiful at night than it was during the day.“These boots were made for walking,” Nancy Sinatra’s song popped into my mind when I saw this 8 meter/26 foot tall inflatable bunny named “Mona” sporting tall yellow boots.According to the artist, Miao He from Shehong, China, Mona “serves as a symbol of love, warmth, and childhood memories.” I confess that my reaction as a child would have been to scream and run as fast as my little legs would have carried me in the opposite direction if an 8 meter bunny came striding toward me. This child, however, ran up to the bunny and threw its arm around the forward boot, seemingly proving Miao’s point. “Exquisite Animalus,” an art piece by Stefan Spins & KJ Bohéme, included six animals that could be moved by ropes and handles to become the animals they were meant to be. Obvious a little work was required. I took on the challenge, pulling first on the ropes and then on the handles. The animals hardly budged. Maybe they liked being who they had become. Or maybe the playa dust had gotten in their gears… I particularly liked this critter, a common warthog. I once met a family of them when I was driving a VW bug through the Serengeti National Park in East Africa.Queen Cobra, by Andrea Greenlees, Andy Tibbetts, and Josh Haywood from London, United Kingdom & Reno, NV. Like many works of art at Burning Man, The Queen was designed so people could climb on it. She reminds me of Wadjet, an important goddess of lower Egypt. (And yes, I will get back to my posts on the Nile. Eventually.) This wraps up my blog today. Next up, I will be featuring three huge planets that made their way onto the Playa.
Wandering through Time and Place 