30 miles of desert

I'm back on the mainland after three days on the Channel Islands off the California cost. Lots of excellent hiking on isolated shores brought relaxation and great photos. Although, after about 30 miles of hiking with wet sand in my shoes, my left foot's a bit worse for wear....

A run-in with a miniature skunk, a close encounter with a rare breed of fox, and hang out time with Dad and brothers made it a memorable island adventure.

Gear up in ventura

From here, it's a 4 hour ferry ride to the island. There's a hurricane moving up the coast, so the seas are too rough to dock at the island harbor.

We're going in hot on a raft.

Sunset in Santa Barbara

Today: Beach, a Benz, Westmont College and old friends in Santa B.

Tomorrow: A 730am shove off from the Ventura dock and a 4 hour ferry to the island.

Sunrise over phoenix

It's back to where it all started for me this morning -- Phoenix, AZ. The sun rises over my beloved Valley of the Sun. Here's a shout out to all my friends and familty in the desert. Go hug a cactus for me. Or, better yet, go hike a mountain.

I miss those mountains.

an island adventure

It's time to pull the backpack and camping gear out of storage, lace up the hiking boots, and wrap the camera in waterproof plastic. Adventure and relaxation await me this weekend at Channel Islands National Park!

Thursday through Monday I'll be free from the grey concrete of Dallas and frolicking of the coast of sunny So. California. The trip starts by flying in to Santa Barbara to wish a sweet friend well on her first day of college at Westmont. Then I'll meet up with my Dad and brothers and take a ferry ride Friday morning out to the wonderfully isolated island of Santa Rosa.

After a summer of my nose to the grindstone, I'm looking forward to some R&R before digging in to an arduous semester at DTS.

The island's beyond phone range (sweet!), but look for a few quick mobile updates...

GoWild: 5 tips for your first visit to the new Cowboy Stadium

The Dallas Cowboys christened their new stadium Friday night against the Tennessee Titans. I had a chance to try out the billion-dollar complex for myself, 19 rows from the 20 yard line.

Even though it was only a preseason game, about 75,000 people came out for the event. The atmosphere felt like a mid-season NFL game complete with tailgate parties and people painted blue.

If you want to paint yourself blue, I'm not going to judge. But to help keep you from feeling blue on your first visit to cowboy stadium, here are some things you should know before you go.

Scope out your view.

Prepare to be impressed with what a billion dollars can buy. Expansive space with lots of glass and a capacity of 100,000 under the largest single span dome in the world. The view from inside is so massive it feels fake. Before the game, they showed a video demonstrating how the Statue of Liberty, the St. Louis Arch, and the Empire State Building can all fit inside the stadium with room to spare.

Despite the grand scale, there's really not a bad seat in the house - even on the 4th tier section that takes the term "nose bleeds" to new heights. Seriously, if you're afraid of heights you might want pass up on the top section.

Tickets prices aren't for the faint of heart, either. The image above shows our seats for the pre-season game versus the Titans and the price tag. Yes, you read that right. Since your seats are such and investment, you'll want to check out the stadium's interactive seating charts. Click on a section, and you can check out the virtual view from your seat. For example, to see where I sat, click here, then click on section C133 on the map.

Get a game plan.

Traffic flow is well laid out and handled the thousands of cars with minimal waiting during my visit. Still, if you ever have a chance to go, do yourself a favor and visit the special map website dedicated to helping you plan your route to the stadium. Simply enter your ZIP code, and it gives you the best route based on real-time traffic and construction info. It's bad enough when Romo gets called for a delay of game...you don't want to be slapped with a delay to the game.

Parking near the stadium is expensive. As you can see from this parking map, lots surrounding the stadium complex are divided into two tiers: Blue and Silver. Most if not all the Blue and Silver lots require a pre-paid parking pass with prices running from $70 - $120. Some of the Ranger Stadium cash lots are open before the game for $50.

If you're running low on funds after your ticket purchase, or you're wanting to save up for a hotdog at the game (see below), you can find some private parking areas for half the price. You'll just have to walk a bit. Along Division Street, we found a sweet deal for $25. If you want the scoop on that, I can hook you up.

Watch where you point that thing.

Heads up -- there are strict rules for what kind of cameras you can take to a cowboy's game in the new facility. No video cameras of any kind are allowed. Still cameras that don't have detachable lenses are also permitted. In other words, fancy SLR-type rigs are a no-no. If you can take the lens off the camera body, you'll want to leave it at home. There aren't any storage lockers at the stadium, so if you try to sneak a camera past security and they get wise to your shenanigans, you'll be hoofing it back to the car.

Don't forget your wallet.

Yes, your ticket was expensive, but it's not the last time Jerry will sing "Ka-ching" as you open your billfold. Concessions aren't cheap. My hotdog and pepsi were $10.50. That's the budget route. Expect to drop nearly 10 bucks for nachos, a bar-b-que sandwich, or a beer. The up side is that club section seats have their own limited access concession stands that drastically reduce lines.

And the pro shop... Really? You didn't just ask that, did you?

Pass the popcorn.

One of the reasons there's not a bad seat in the house are the twin 60-yard-long HD TVs mounted above the playing field. Yes, that's right 60 yards long, making them the largest HD TVs in the world. Even from the upper levels, you feel like you're a part of the action.

The image on the screens is so sharp that you find yourself spending more time looking at the screens than at the field of play - even from the very best seats in the stadium. If you're in the lower sections, you'll find the screens so low that they're dipping into your field of view. At our experience with the inaugural game, the screens were too low, in fact. A Titan's punter hit the bottom of the displays during the game, forcing a do-over. Look for the screens to be raised several feet in the future.

Because the TVs are so impressive, you'll want to avoid end cap seats so you can take in the all the HD goodness.

The TVs dominate the viewing experience - and also present a catch 22. It's kind of ironic but, if you were going to spring for 4 good seats, a good parking space, and food for the crew you might consider going out and getting yourself a big TV and throwing your own party instead.

Extra Point: Witten introduced for the first time at Cowboy Stadium

Can you help identify this mystery chief?

Someone brought a vintage photographic plate into my parent's print shop this week, and we're looking for any clues regarding the subject of the portrait it contains. What tribe is he from? Do the garments indicate any specific dates or regions where this Native American may have lived?

Here's what I do know

The image to the right is a scan and inversion of the plate, showing what a print made from the plate would look like. Judging from the material of the plate, I'm guessing it's a Tintype (also known as a Ferrotype) plate. Tintype caught on as a photographic method in the US around the mid 1800's. Although still in use as a novelty as late as the 1950's, Tintype was eclipsed by better technology by about 1910. If this is in fact a Tintype plate, the date of this image would most likely fall between 1854 and 1910.

That's almost 60 years of history spanning the Civil War until the years before WWI -- a very wide span. We're going to have to rely on the subject of the portrait to narrow the scope.

Here's what I'm guessing

I am not very knowledgeable about vintage Native American attire, but I think the eagle feather headdress our mysterious subject wears is a warrior bonnet and indicates he is a chief. It could also be a clue about his tribe.

Elaborate ceremonial head wear was common to most native tribes, but the particular style of mystery chief's bonnet seems to resemble that of the Plains Indians. To me, it looks very similar to the headdress worn by the Sioux chief American Horse in this photo from c. 1900. The Cheyenne also wore very similar garments, as seen in the photo below, also from around the turn of the 20th century.

In the mystery photo, it seems that a portion of a teepee can be seen over the shoulder of the chief. If so, that would further confirm a connection to a Plains Indian tribe.

In her email to me, my mother describes some further details in from the plate scan:

I got to handle the plate for the photo! It was a piece of art in itself. The owner wants to believe he is a medicine man because she can’t see an arrowhead on the shaft. When I scanned the plate and inverted the image in photoshop then adjusted the levels, I’m seeing a pretty good sized arrowhead...do you? There is a tee pee a bit blurred in the background behind his headdress and I believe human hair on his shaft [of the lance in his hand]...The scalloped edge of his sleeve and the 4 point beaded star at his temple are all clues.

Beadwork was common to all Plains Tribes, but the geometric star pattern at his temple appears to be one of the best unique identifying marks in the image. From my research so far, both the Sioux and Sans Arcs were known to incorporate star patterns into their geometric bead designs.

Here's what we've done so far

We've combed the Library of Congress online image archive and scanned the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives with no matches. Both collections are extensive, so we're hoping some of our history-loving friends can narrow things down.

Any ideas or insights are appreciated! We'll keep you posted.

Ever wikipedia'd your alma (doesn't) mater?

Are you one of those people who didn't buy a school ring because nobody will have ever heard of your alma mater when you tell them the name? Raise your ringless hand. Me, too. Those of you who've attended a school with a name people recognize don't have this problem. Texas? OK. Arizona State? Yep. Oklahoma Baptist University? Umm, is that one of those print-your-own-diploma jobbies?

Well, if you ever wonder if anyone that matriculated at your no-name school amounted to much, try doing an online search for a list of notable alumni. I did, and I found a cool list of some crazy characters that once haunted the same halls of learning at OBU. Kind of a fun way to catch at bit of school spirit...and see whose paths you've unknowingly crossed!

I guess I'm ok with being a Bison...

NY pickpockets weren't our biggest worry...

So, apparently we were taking our life in our hands with our recent trip to New York. Of course we expected the need to clutch backpacks and handbags a bit closer than usual, and to keep an eye out for the cops when browsing for bootleg purses. But, as we boarded our ferry each morning and evening to and from our hotel on the Jersey shore, we never thought to keep an eye on the skies above and watch for falling objects.

As it turns out, we should have kept our eyes out for falling aircraft. At least twice a day, we crossed the flight paths of both US Airways flight 1549 and of this weeks' mid-air helicopter / small airplane crash in the Hudson River. All three doomed aircraft splashed into the waters mere yards from our hotel. Glad we turned down the helicopter tour!

Here's a short virtual tour showing our ferry landing and hotel in relation to the two crash sites. Both crash locations are based on US Coast Guard latitude and longitude coordinates and flight record data.

Hudson River Crashes Tour from Owen Wildman on Vimeo.