Author Archives: Jeff C

Four-Wheelers and Fishermen: Creede, Colorado 2012

September 24, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

 

My trip to Creede wasn’t all (or even mostly) about leaves and cameras.  (You can click here to see the fall foliage pictures).  My Dad brought a trailer-full of 4-wheel ATVs.  So I spent a few days going down trails in the woods with my Dad (J.B. Cotner, in the red/blue shirts), my brother-in-law’s dad (Jim Parker, in camouflage), and a good friend of my Dad’s (John Frizzell of San Antonio, in the tan cap and black cowboy hat).

The mean age of my off-road 4-wheeling buddies was about 71, but we took on some long rides and rough terrain.  At one point, another ATV flagged me down at a trail intersection and encouraged me to turn back because the trail got “pretty hairy.”  He hadn’t seen that Dad and John had already gone right up it while I piddled in the back with a camera.  (The guy was right about the trail, though).

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Meanwhile, my brother-in-law (Bill Parker) and his good friend Derald Glover spent most of their Colorado time knee-deep in mountain streams or in the Rio Grande itself.  Bill has become as much of a fly-fishing fanatic as someone from eastern Oklahoma can reasonably be.  By the last day they were in Creede, he and Derald finally got the right combination of location, lure and body English to land some trout he was proud to show off.

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Fall Leaves in the Upper Rio Grande

September 22, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

Ever wonder where the Rio Grande got its start?

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If you follow the Rio Grande upstream about as far as it goes — to where the Rio Grande is still a rio muy pequeño — you’ll wind up a little west of Creede, Colorado.   Fortunately, most Colorado tourists have overlooked this area because it’s a long way from major airports and ski resorts, but there’s a loyal Texas and Oklahoma crowd that usually arrive in RVs for riverside camping, or in 4-wheel-drive vehicles for exploring the mountains.

It’s a great place year-around, but — until last week — I’d never been there for the real “peak” color of the aspen leaves in the fall.  They’re beautiful, but they’re quick!  In the space of a week, lots of the a

spen leaves went from green to gone.  Fortunately, I got a few pictures before they all disappeared.

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If you want to see several more fall leaves shots, OR if that slideshow above doesn’t work on your browser or device, click here to see them on a different page.

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Pine beetles are a constant scourge in Colorado, and a few years back a wave came through and killed a bunch of trees.  The locals call it “Beetle Kill.”  The bugs eat the mature evergreens but don’t touch the aspen.  Lots of the pictures have at least a few obvious dead trees.  The shots below are of areas where the evergreens are essentially wiped out.  It looks as though the aspen will quickly take over the open space.

 

Wow (Big Thriller)

September 14, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

A late-summer trip to Lake Tenkiller (in eastern Oklahoma) yielded lots of fun, and at least one decent picture.  Hopefully the picture explains the odd title above (Wow – Big Thriller).  Those are my nieces:  Caitlin on the left (falling off); Grace on the right (screaming).  Thanks to the Simon clan at Pine Cove Marina for loaning us the boat!

OverCapitalized

September 13, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

It’s hard to take pictures in Washington D.C. that don’t look just like the zillion images you’ve seen all your life.  And you spend a disheartening amount of time waiting for a little gust of wind so the flags will look better flying in the breeze.  

It’s a tough time to get excited about Washington D.C.  Washington is nothing if it isn’t a big symbol – full of smaller big symbols – of the federal government.  A very big federal government.  I suspect D.C. tourism rises and falls a little with the approval ratings of the President and Congress – making this a fairly uninspiring time to visit the capital.

Even so, walking among the monuments and museums and memorials and government buildings, it’s hard not to be impressed.  I remember my first trip to D.C. many years ago:  what struck me was that it was full of American castles.  I’d grown up thinking that the U.S. – unlike England or France or Germany – didn’t have castles, but there they were in D.C., one huge, lavish government “castle” after the next.

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 I went to a seminar in Washington a few days back.  I got there a little early and stayed a little late so I could walk around the “mall” and take a few pictures.  Several of the pictures you see are of the Capitol just at sunrise (thus the pretty light).  There are a couple of shots – with the Washington Monument and reflecting pool – taken about 15 minutes apart, from the Lincoln Memorial.  One of those was taken as a nasty storm blew in, trapping me (and about 400 others) inside the Memorial watching the downpour.  A couple of shots (those from up high, and including the one of National Park Ranger Julia Clebsch) are from the clock tower of the Old Post Office.

That picture with the Capitol building in the distant, lower right and with the relief sculpture up close is at the Ulysses Grant Memorial, which is at a very prominent spot between the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument.  It was striking to realize that it’s a tribute to General Grant (as opposed to “President” Grant).  It’s a war momument:  He’s on a horse, dressed as a Union general, and flanked on all sides by dramatic sculptures of Union soldiers on the attack.  As a de facto Southerner, somehow that ongoing granite-and-bronze celebration is a little unsettling (To be clear, though:  I’d never suggest it be removed.  It’s real history.).  It reminded me of my lifelong observation that many Americans have been much quicker to embrace our former foes from international wars and conflicts than their fellow citizens from opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon.

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Friday Night Heroes

September 3, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

 In a small town like Vian, Oklahoma, no tradition is stronger.  Nothing brings the community together – and nothing brings the community to life – like a high school football game.

I’ve never worn a pair of shoulder pads or a pair of cleats.  Even so, Friday night football was a big focus of my high school experience long ago in Vian (just like Saturday football was a centerpiece of college life at OU).  I got to see a Vian football game last Friday night.  I was glad to see that very little had changed in the past 30 years.

I went to Friday’s game to watch #40 Rowdy Simon (Sr., FB/LB) and #5 Rylee Simon (Soph., LB/QB).  Their dad, my cousin Joe Paul Simon, was a Vian football hero back in the 1980s (much like his dad had been in the 1960s).  It’s no surprise that Rowdy and Rylee are following in those cleated footsteps.

As the pictures show, Senior fullback Rowdy had some big runs (one TD scored and a second TD called back).  Sophomore Rylee is the backup quarterback.  But both of them are also starting linebackers (Rylee in the middle; Rowdy outside):  Imagine what a great experience it must be to stand out there shoulder-to-shoulder with your brother.  Then try to imagine how excited their Dad gets.

The 2012 Vian Wolverines are (again) ranked in the top handful of teams in Oklahoma in 2A football.  Friday night they made short work of Class 3A Spiro — scoring 55 points while holding Spiro scoreless until the last seconds of the game.  Keep an eye on the Wolverines this season.

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In high school in the 1980s, I took football pictures for the yearbook and newspaper — standing on the sidelines in my band uniform and trading the camera for a trumpet at halftime.  But that was 30 years ago, so my football photography skills are now a little rusty.  Friday night, I could barely get my camera to my eye before a young Wolverine would dash right past me on the way to the goal line.  And I’d forgotten how to shoot with both eyes open, so I was nearly flattened more than once by players barreling across the sideline while I had my eye in the viewfinder (one diving Spiro tackler actually kicked me in the shin). 

That mischievous-looking ballboy (below) in the black #1 jersey is River Simon — Rowdy and Rylee’s younger brother.  Rest assured that River will be taking the field for Vian High in the years ahead. 

 

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One more thing:  I researched it, and it turns out that Rowdy, Rylee, River and their little sister Rebel are not actually my “second cousins,” as I’d always thought.  They’re my “first cousins once removed” because our connection is via my grandparents and they’re from a different generation.  But in Sequoyah County, no one says “first cousin once removed,” so I’ll pretend they’re second cousins.