I met John Orozco at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in late October. We spent several hours taking photos of him performing on various equipment. A charming young man, he was more than eager to show off his highly refined skills. John is the World bronze medalist on the parallel bars and a member of the 2012 US Olympic Team.
I took a lot of photos on my recent trip to Hong Kong, Macau and China…as I always do. However, I am not going to share most of them but chose only a few that meant something to me.
This is a fisherman at the end of the day organizing his boat and his catch. With him in the boat looked like an elderly woman, perhaps his mother. As I walked past, he looked up and smiled. He had seen me taking some photos and knew that some were of him. This scene was in the section of Hong Kong known as Stanley. It is an interesting confluence of economic cultures. Some of the most wealthy Hong Kong residents live here. Much of the white population lives here away from the hustle of the city. Just behind me is the Hong Kong Sea School that takes the less privileged boys of HK and gives them an education. The theme of the school revolves around the sea which is at their front door. Along with teaching them to sail, canoe and windsurf it gives the boys a well rounded education that they can take to university if they so choose. The bay to my right here is the site for the 2013 Asian Windsurfing Championships. In the town just over the ridge behind me in this shot is the village of Stanley, famous for its market. Stall after stall of hardware, clothing, trinkets, food and wares that people flock to daily. And then there are the fishermen. Tied to the sea through generations of people who have made the sea their source of food and income. Much of what is done today is similar in many ways to what their grandfathers and great grandfathers did years ago. Next to the push cart with this day’s catch, a Lamborghini revs its engine and peels out of the seaside village.
This is the image I am left with after my day in Macau. Located a few miles south of Hong Kong on the China coast, Macau is similar and different to HK. Similar in that it is an independently governed province of China that will revert to China 50 years after its separation from Portugal in 1995. Different in that where HK is the financial whirlwind of the area, Macau is the Las Vegas of China. Thousands of the nouveau riche of China swarm here to play with their new-found wealth. In the middle of this wealth was this magazine stall of this boy’s mom. She exhausted, is sleeping next to him. He being the good son is reading his comic book while he keeps an eye on the stall and giving his mom a break. All around him tourist children were laughing and playing but he kept his focus on what he knew was his responsibility.
The Peak is the tourist must for all visitors to HK. One way to get up to the top of the island is by the Peak Tram. A funicular rail way of two cars that alternate their time at the top and bottom of the mountain. I took the tram up to the top and wandered around for a bit taking photos and enjoying the view and lunch. I saw a path heading down and asked if it went all the way…it did and it would take me an hour to get to the bottom. So I set out down the hill. Not far down was Barker Road station. The station gave a great view of the tram track and I figured I would catch some good shots of the next tram up the mountain. The tram approached and I clicked away. As the tram got to Barker Road, it stopped. There I was with 70 or so passengers in the tram looking out toward the city below and me, alone, standing in their view on the tram station platform. I looked the length of the cars: some people giggled, some ignored my presence and some looked annoyed that the tram was paused. But there was this one woman who I could see was trying, discretely to raise her camera in my direction. She obviously didn’t want to be intrusive to me, but when I saw her motion, I smiled. That gave her permission to take her photo of me…I waved; her smile broadened. When she had taken it, I lifted my camera and took this photo…this is her pose, such a warm appreciative smile. She made my day, I hope I made hers.
I drove some 13,000 miles around the North American continent during September and October 2013. Beginning in Nova Scotia with the closing of the family home there, I headed west across the top of the US, hitting ME, NH, VT, NY, Quebec, Ontario, MI, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, Alberta, and BC. I then headed south along the Pacific coast to LA and then east again to AZ, UT, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN, KY, OH, PA, NJ and back into New England. It was an amazing, if long, trip that whetted my appetite for seeing more of the country in depth. Six weeks for 13,000 miles only allowed me to get a glimpse of what is out there.
Niagara, not new to me but always a favorite.
Castle Mountain, Banff, Alberta, Canada…gorgeous!
Banff
The coast of Oregon was alive with fish and their pursuers.
Kelly’s Brighton Marina, Wheeler, OR
California coast
Just east of Colorado Springs…winter was in the air and some of us stayed in the car.
The Haystacks on the northern Oregon coast…by night.
Sunrise in Klamath Fall, Oregon
Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada
One of my main reasons for the trip…being with my son in his world.
Bigfork, Montana on Flathead Lake
I’ll be back!
One of many tunnels to negotiate in the mountains of the west.
Starky
My only view of Yellowstone. Between snow and the government shutdown, I missed a bunch of national parks.
The University of Oregon in Eugene is a fun place to visit.
The waffle iron base pays tribute to the birth of Nike shoes. Bill Bowerman and Pre made the first soles on waffle irons.
Portland, OR’s central square is full of international food vendors.
Steve Prefontaine, 40 years later, is a dominant presence on the University of Oregon’s campus.
Heading north from the Grand Canyon into Utah the escarpments are exploding with color.
The Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota dwarfs Mt Rushmore by some 19x. I got to go up to Crazy Horse’s head…the view is spectacular.
The little guys are in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. They were amazingly friendly. I suppose I looked like an easy meal.
Pretty impressive.
GW from the west.
This isn’t the reason they are called, The Badlands.
I just hope when they change my oil they get the espresso in the right container.
My first experience with Alberta, Canada. It looks beautiful but the cross winds on the road are notorious for their strength.
A lone house on the Alberta prairie.
Just after crossing the continental divide from BC into Alberta I realized I drove right passed a pot of gold. Just my luck there was no turn around.
Aligator Hill, overlooking Sleeping Bear Bay, Michigan
The AquaBus in Vancouver, BC’s harbor shuttles commuters and tourists around the old 1986 World’s Fair site that has now been redeveloped with the most expensive real estate in Canada. It costs $10,000 just to be able to look at a unit in the Erickson Building.
Vancouver by night
Vancouver by day.
Vancouver by taste…blech!
Vancouver by art.
A nipple on the landscape of Wyoming
The Wyoming prairie
Yellowstone before the snow.
Rain squall in the Canadian Rockies.
At Arches National Park. I have had to do some balancing acts but nothing like this. I wonder what would happen if I pushed it over to protect future visitors to the park?
Nestled on 12 wooded riverfront acres in Mill Village, Nova Scotia, this Cape style house is full of history and charm. The oldest house in town, it was built in 1784 by a lumber mill owner from Connecticut it was painstakingly crafted by woodworking experts. The attention to detail in the construction was amazing and now more then two centuries later, the house is more solid than any new home. It has a built-in china cupboard that is one-of-a-kind in Canada. There are five fireplaces adding character to many of the rooms. The parlor is set so that it is bathed with sunlight from dawn to dusk as the sunlight streams though the original windows. Paneling and molding in the first floor parlor and dining room make these rooms elegant and are said to have been the scene of many wedding receptions for Mill Village brides as it was the most fashionable house in town. The house has 3 bedrooms and two full baths. An oil/hot water furnace keeps the home warm. The ell off the back of the house has great potential as a special room. With a built in wall oven in the fireplace and a beamed ceiling, this large room takes you back to 1800.
The out buildings include the quaint old barn has a one car bay and an apartment that could be updated and create some income. There is also a garden shed alongside the old herb garden.
The 12 acres are tranquil and beautiful. The centerpiece of the property is the two acre pond with streams running into and out of it, cascading down to the Medway River. Open around the house, the property has oak, hickory, maple, apple, pine, cedar trees as well as flowering shrubs. 500 feet of frontage on the Medway River allows for kayaking and canoeing. Wildlife are frequent guests. Whether they are pileated woodpeckers, cardinals, nuthatches, or deer, they love the seeds and fruit the property produces.
Located 90 minutes south of Halifax between Bridgewater and Liverpool, Mill Village is a charming town of old homes and a general store, cafe and post office joined together with an ancient iron bridge spaning the Medway River. The Medway River is well known for its marvelous fishing. Even though it is very rural, Mill Village is only 15 minutes from the nearest hospital, has 911 service and major grocery stores are also 15 minutes away.
If you are interested in more information about the home, you may contact the owner at millvillager1784@gmail.com The asking price is $395,000 (Canadian)
Divers from all over the world competed in the 10 metre diving competition in London during the 2012 Olympic Games. Here are competitors from USA, Australia, China, UK, Canada, Mexico and Columbia.
Mike Munhall Photos 