In the mid- to late-1970s, our parents took us to single-screen movie theatres with names like Olympia, Golden Harvest, and Shaw for cinema night to watch movies made in Hong Kong. There were dramas; some high on the melodrama and low on character. Some were historic-period pieces, and there were kung-fu movies for which Dad passed his love to me.
There’s nothing quite like seeing a kung-fu action sequence on a big screen. I was mesmerized the first time I laid eyes on a memorable fight scene set in Rome’s Colosseum, that epic scene observed by little stone dragons between “Little Dragon” himself, Bruce Lee, and Chuck Norris’ character in the 1972 film “The Way of the Dragon“. As a kid, I was proud to have had the same surname as this Bruce fellow, and memories of seeing his on-screen characters prevailing in fights have stuck over time (e.g., “Boards don’t hit back.”)
Tragically, Bruce and his son, Brandon, died too young. I’m certain when I was a teen that I asked where Bruce Lee was buried; my parents didn’t know and in pre-internet days, it was more of a challenge to find those answers. But the mystery has long been solved: Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon, lay side by side in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
Despite multiple visits to the city in years past, this particular return trip to Seattle has been decades in the making for a chance to honour a part of my childhood and a part of my heritage. When I find the Lees, my arrival means another answer has been quietly realized. On a crisp bright autumn morning under blue skies, I feel my father’s spirit with me; he never had the chance to come to this cemetery. My lips move without voice, a prayer I utter into the ether, pushing for hope to reach him. Because I know now that this, is also for my Dad.
Above/featured: Northeast on US-60/AZ-77, through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, just outside of Show Low, AZ.
The following takes place entirely on travel day 16 in the American Southwest. Departing Tucson, Arizona, we headed north and east on AZ-77, US-60, and I-25 into New Mexico for Santa Fe, New Mexico. We drove through a variety of landscapes in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico for a total of 856 kilometres (532 miles).
Above/featured: northbound on I-25 to Santa Fe – 8 Oct 2018 (6D1).
From different parts of the continent, we flew in and out of Santa Fé, which served admirably and comfortably as our base for a couple of day trips to Taos and Abiquiú (Georgia O’Keeffe Country). These would kick off our two-week drive through the American Southwest.
But Santa Fé is also important for these reasons:
• Established in 1610 as the seat of governance for province of New México within colonial territory Viceroyalty of New Spain.
• Oldest continuously inhabited state/territorial capital city in the continental United States.
• Near the northern terminus of 16th-century Spanish colonial Royal Road (Camino Real) from México City.
• Western terminus of the 19th-century pioneer Santa Fé Trail from Franklin, Missouri.
• Key destination in the original configuration of 20th-century highway US route-66.
• A delicious, flavourful, and spicy introduction to New Mexican cuisine.
October 2018.
The following takes place entirely on travel day 11 in the American Southwest. The previous day was a long one on the road: from Flagstaff, we drove north on US-89 and US-89A next to Echo Cliffs and Vermilion Cliffs, and ending up at North Rim for our first-ever visit to the Grand Canyon.
After overnighting at Cliff Dwellers Lodge, a new day began with a stop at the Rock Houses nearby, then retracing the previous day’s drive back to Cameron, before turning west to spend the rest of the day at the Desert View section of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. That began our first-time visit to the South Rim which we visited over a period of two days.
Total distance from Cliff Dwellers to Flagstaff (via South Rim): 217 mi (349 km).
Above/featured: Annual autumn marine fog: Vancouver, BC – 7 Oct 2014 (6D1).
For me, autumn or fall represents a change for deciduous trees, bringing about deep reds, oranges, and yellows for a brief period before the leaves fall, and signifying the ultimate transition to winter. In languages with which I’m most familiar, the word “autumn” (or fall) appears as:
Fotoeins Fotografie 