The SamuraiMarine

Thoughts, Philosophy, Life and Love

Tag: Travel

Big Foot

One of my favorite hobbies, when at a PC, these days, is playing with Google Earth. It is truly a fascinating program and so full of information and detail, that I am not sure you can really run out of things to look at or for. Interestingly enough, it was one of my discoveries on G-Earth that lead me to write this post.


In my G-Travels, I have noticed that there are many many places through out California that Bigfoot was supposedly seen.

If we are to believe that there have been so many people that have run into this mystical beast, then you would think that someone, somewhere, would have captured a picture that is clear and easy to tell that what we are looking at. Instead, the only photos that do come out are either taken as such a distance that you cannot tell what you are looking at, or they are so fuzzy that you cannot tell if you are looking at a map/ape type creature or a bowl of ground beef that has been in the fridge for a couple months.

When I posed this argument to a friend once, he said that the reason the photos are of bad quality is probably because the person was scared. I can accept that in some of the cases, but not all. I would have to think that if a photographer sees Bigfoot, then there is also something else he sees… in his mind. That would be dollar signs. I would think that the first photographers that bring in clear, unaltered pictures of something along the lines of Bigfoot, will be making a trip to the bank to deposit a nice sized check.

I am not discounting the possible existence of Bigfoot. I have lived long enough to understand that there are still things about planet Earth that we do not know. We are always finding new species of animals and plants. There will always be new discoveries to be made and I am sure that there is still a lot out there to be discovered and, as humans have a tendency to do, to be exploited.

I do have to think about how funny it is that something like this has made it’s way into out pop culture. I can recall all the silly shows that were on when I was a kid that dealt with Bigfoot. Though my favorite had to be the episode of the Six Million Dollar man, where he fights Bigfoot. I have done you the courtesy of adding a clip.

OK… Looking back on it now, I will be the first to admit that our TV choices in the 70s were not the best. But hey, I liked it at the time, and I would never miss an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man.

But this show helps to show the place that we put things like Big Foot then, and in listening to shows like Coast to Coast, which used to be Coast to Coast with Art Bell, you see that there still are people out there that follow things like this. I would hazard to guess, though, that maybe 90% of the people that call into programs like that are simply looking for some attention or their 15.

As I said earlier, I do think there is a lot out there that we have not seen yet, and maybe we should not. Face it, there is no doubt that when we find something new, we always seem to find new and exciting ways to exploit, destroy or molest it to death. I am sure the same would be true if a Big Foot type creature.

In reality, it is probably a roving band of people suffering from Hypertricosis and coincidentally have unusually large feet. They are simply looking for a razor, delousing facility and a really large foot bath.

Always a great day on the coast!

I love the coast. Were I a wealthy man, I would like to live on the coast.

I know that for many of you, living on the coast brings thoughts of a big fancy house on or near the beach, that is only a stones throw from the sand and you can wander out and take a dip before each meal.

Not for me.

First off, I am not a big swimmer. I can swim to save my life, if needed, and that is about it. I will sit and do my impersonation of a potato and stew in a hot tub, and I might, occasionally, sit in a pool.

No… I would not want a big house or lots of land on the coast. I would just want a good old Lighthouse. It would have to be a fully functioning light house that had a real 2nd or 3rd order fresnel lens set, and would actually require me to work on it from time to time. Oiling gears to keep the lenses rotating. Making sure that the fog horn is working. That kind of stuff.

The reason I think I like the coast the most though is the people. You really do not find this as much in the larger, touristy cities, but in the smaller towns that are a little more off the beaten path, you see a nicer group of people. Especially in areas where the people still carve a little of their living out of the sea. I think you see this more in the east coast and on the northwest coast. For the most part I will not count any of the California beaches. There are a few pretty Californian beaches, but I think that Californians treat the beaches much the same way someone might treat a twenty dollar hooker. Use it, mess it up, don’t clean up after yourself and leave it dirtier than you found it. Sorry for any visual that might have created, but of all the beaches I have seen, ours have to be the worst.

There does seem to be a certain “feel” in small coastal towns. I cannot say electricity I also cannot say that they are all laid back. There just seems to be this “expectation” of things to come. A good local, to me, example is the town of San Simeon. It is still a little too touristy for me, but it still has enough of that feel that I am talking about. When you are there and eat at one of the restaurants, you can tell that the people that live or work there are not entirely jaded to the fact that they are a sleepover town to a tourist trap, meaning Hearst Castle. They are genuinely nice and willing to talk with you, at length, about almost anything.

In reality, as I alluded to in my opening comment, a house on the coast, let alone a lighthouse, is beyond my means at this point in life. There is no chance that I will be a lighthouse keeper any time soon. But I will continue to visit lighthouses and dream about them. The wife and I will continue to make our pilgrimages to the coast and enjoy that as well.

There is just SOMETHING about the coast…

A Photographic thought

When you look through your albums, and look at all the pictures you have taken over the years, there is something that you see every time, but probably give little or no thought to. It is there, right in front of you, and even if you just went and grabbed a picture or album while you were reading this, you may not have figured out what I am referring to.

Look at any set of pictures you have taken. Chances are that many of them will have many people that you do not know in them. People that were on holiday just like yourself, who just happened to get caught in the blast zone of your camera at the time you shot the picture. If you look over the lifetime of pictures you have taken, then you will see many many people that you have no clue who they are… they are just there.

You really cannot help it. Even if you are careful, there are times you are going to get people in your shot who, in your mine, just do not belong there. The only way to really do anything about it is to, a.) Have members of your family stand at strategic places and threaten bodily harm to anyone that crosses the line and gets into your picture. b.) Announce that you and doing a photo shoot of famous people with extremely contagious diseases, and this will give you about thirty minutes before authorities arrive to remove you, to take your pictures, and get out. Or c.) Take the picture anyway, with all the people in it, then go home and photoshop all the strangers out, then try and convince all your friends that you really did have Disneyland all to yourself on Christmas Eve. “C” will probably be the best, since it will not involve causing a panic, certain jail time and the potential of having the CDC poking and prodding various bodily orifices.

Picking a winner

But that is not why I am writing this. I was thinking, the other day as I looked at the picture above, and thought. “How many people out there, strangers all, have a picture of me picking my nose or scratching my butt? When you consider it, there may be thousands of pictures out there of you, that you are not aware of, and that the people look at you and say… “Who the hell is that, and how did they get in the picture?”

Take this one step further, and think of how many people are out there that have pictures of you, where you might be doing something like our friend here, and looking for a little fun in his nose? Or the guy to the left that looks suspiciously like he is sniffing his finger?

Who knows how many strangers photo albums our faces grace the pages of, it could be hundreds, it could be thousands and if you are a particularly avid traveler, it could be tens of thousands. We will never know, but it is certain something to give you pause when you think about it.

You may have crossed paths with a serial killer, someone who became famous, someone who is missing and someone else is looking for… any one of many things.

As always… thanks for reading. This was just something that popped in my head and I wanted to share with you.

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