The Blackfoot Nation

As promised four months ago (Sept. 30th, 2007), I will now tell you of my visit to the Siksika Nation (Siksika meaning "Blackfoot") in Alberta, Canada. Driving from Calgary toward Medicine Hat, I saw a sign for the Nation and felt I needed to turn. I drove a few kilometers through rolling hills dotted with homes of different sizes until I saw a large, modern rotunda building on a hill. A brilliantly painted teepee stood on a higher hill next to it. A sign told me this was the Nation's cultural center. I pulled into the parking lot and was greeted by a Siksika man sitting outside smoking. I walked inside and paid the $10 donation. After that, I was immersed for hours in the history of a tribe whose lands once stretched from Edmonton, Alberta in the north to the Yellowstone River in Montana.

The center:


Nobody lives in teepees anymore (except hippies), but they look cool:


After experiencing the inside of the center, I walked out the back down a long path into the woods.


The path led down into a valley that had been used for hundreds of years as a meeting place for the tribe. I was completely alone.




My time on the Siksika Nation was quiet and powerful. I gained a new understanding of a fiercely independent tribe of people that to this day are living with and preserving the memories, traditions and ghosts of their history. I had never experienced anything like it.



More Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackfoot

Girdwood, Alaska in January

I've been wondering what it looks like up in Alaska now in the dead of winter. Well I found the above photo here: http://www.onthesnow.com/AK/11/cams.html. The pic's from January 4, 2008 from the top of the Alyeska Ski Resort looking down to the Turnagain Arm.

No doubt, good old Uncle Kevin is hitting the slopes right now. Or wishing he was.

50th Post!

I'd like to take a moment to celebrate the 50th post to this blog. Thanks for reading. Hooray for us!

Big Hearted River Keeps on Rollin'

Wow, it's been too long, my friends. I never regaled you with stories and pictures from my continued journey down the Mississippi from Memphis to Baton Rouge. So here it begins were we already began: Memphis.

On Beale Street, the famous blues corridor. Just like in New Orleans, you can get a big ass... beer:


The Rendezvous, Charles Vergo's Rendezvous, that is:


Here you procure the greatest dry ribs in the kingdom:


I sat down inside, my order was taken, and I was served all in about 4 minutes. The ribs were so tasty and rubbed to perfection that I forgot to take any pictures inside. If you haven't had dry ribs, track down someplace to eat them or fly to Memphis and go to Rendezvous. Make this a resolution for 2008.


Here's another angle of Rendezvous. I think it deserves the attention. In this tastefully image, you can just make out the famous Peabody Hotel in the background at the end of the alley.


Back atcha later with some more from Memphis. For realz.