I'll give you the moon

We pause in our regularly scheduled program (mooning historical monuments) to bring you some nifty pictures of me with the Super Moon.  Seen and I went up to the roof and had some fun during the few short minutes when the moon poked her face out of the clouds.

It was chilly (high 40′s for SoCal) but totally worth it. After about 20 minutes, the clouds won and the moon disappeared.  We packed up and said “Goodnight, Moon!”

I'm pinching you.

I've got the whole moon, in my hand...

My head, she is glowing!

Taking Comoonion (mmm cheesy)

Holding onto the moon.

We now return to historical monuments with my tuckus.

A full moon over the prairie

Established in 1865 as Fort Fletcher, Fort Hays was re-named for Brigadier General Alexander Hays who was killed in 1864 during the horridly bloody Civil War Battle of the Wilderness. The fort had a diverse population. In addition to your regular white-guy, European descendant solders and wives, Fort Hays also served as a post for a regiment of Buffalo Solders in the mid-late 1800s.

Manly Marshal Dillon

My pre-trip research for the history of Fort Hays consisted mostly of listening to old radio shows of Gunsmoke on podcasts. (Marshal Dillon was in Dodge, but often went to neighboring ‘Hays City’). That got me in an old west sort of mood. Peaking my interest more, sites about ghosts popped up in the Google search for Fort Hays, apparently there is a spooky lady in blue, supposedly the ghost of Elizabeth Polly, who vexes the place.

The main purpose of Fort Hays was to protect stagecoaches and freight wagons for the Butterfield Overland Dispatch Company from the original local residents, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. The current historical site is the second location of the fort, as a flood destroyed the first one in 1867. This place is different from most forts, as it doesn’t have a wall around the post. The major defense fortification was the blockhouse. I choose the other big structure, the guardhouse, to fortify my hiding from other visitors while baring tushy.

Since the stage coach route no longer runs, I traveled to Fort Hays from Santa Monica, by way of flying into Wichita, where my brother had recently moved onto a peaceful bit of land in the country. My mother, 2 brothers and 1 of my 2 sisters decided it would be nice to get together in 2010. Labor Day weekend was chosen since it was almost a year to the day since Dad passed. As my flight was booked and arrangements were made, I decided this was the perfect opportunity for a clandestine adventure. I’d make my family accomplices to my mooning (mis)adventures. To my surprise, one of siblings agreed to be my accomplice.

Janet (or is it the mysterious Lady in Blue?) Check out the tree behind her to see how windy it is!

I come from a large family (4 sibs, 10 nieces/nephews, 8 great niece/nephews, too many cousins to count), which is evenly divided between people who think this blog is funny and people who think this blog is embarrassing. There are a few in the middle ground who laugh while shaking their head. My sister, Janet, falls into that category. She lives in Hays, has since she was a freshman in College over 2 decades ago. Janet is an upstanding member of the community, her husband owns a business, she works for the college and she’s raised two awesome kids in Hays. I tell you this to let you know that Janet is solid, stable and logical. She is the middle child for sure. She also agreed to take a picture of my butt next to the town’s biggest historical landmark. Janet is multi-dimensional with a good sense of humor.

It was a H.O.T. and windy afternoon when we hopped out of the car at the Fort Hays Historic Site. If you’ve ever experienced KS in summer, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t experienced KS in summer, imagine holding a blow dryer, on high heat, aimed directly at your face, while standing in an oven. After about 10 minutes, you start to feel like you’re a cookie on a baking sheet.

A quick scan of the property determined that no one was around! It was going to be easy to get a shot of my rump without too much trouble.

Officers Quarters

First we meandered to the Officers quarters. The entire property is undergoing renovations. Some of the buildings are open to visitors, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday. We visited on a Sunday during the Labor Day weekend, so we made due with peeking in windows and taking shots around the grounds. It also meant I didn’t get any literature on the joint, aside from a flyer about the garden that the post kept.

Scattered around the grounds are cool black metallic silhouettes, meant to symbolize the tenants of the fort. There are soldiers, a nurse, a little girl, all very cool looking, casting shadows on the tan Kansas prairie.

Because we meandered slowly, other visitors started showing up. Taking this shot was going to be a bit of a challenge after all. I sent Janet to the entrance with my camera, hid by the Guard House fortification and the star of this blog came out to say ‘HAY!’ Then I pulled up my trousers and noticed the golf course directly behind the Guard House, where 3 golfers were examining their shot. So ‘Hey’ to you golfers as well!

Mom and Penny reading a historical marker. Yay for learning history!

The fort was abandoned by the military in 1889, given to the state of Kansas in 1900 and opened as a museum in 1967. I wonder what the grounds looked like or what their place in the community was for those 67 years. Was it just “the ruins of the old fort outside of town”? How many teenagers got caught necking there? Was it called necking in the 20’s and it still called necking?

The trip was fun. As was my intent for this blog in the first place, the mooning diversion actually got my family to visit a historic monument and learn a bit of Kansas and American history. I’ll declare this mooning mission a success!

(Be sure to click on the second page of the image gallery.  I took pictures of all of the signs surrounding the fort.  Lots of interesting information AND a garden!)

[Show as slideshow]

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Moons Over Monuments #3

The Tongva Sacred Springs monument appeared to be just a street sign next to a LA high school, it revealed itself to be so much more.

I chose this monument because: a. I dig indigenous American history (still pondering chasing that archeology degree) and b. it’s on a street named “Barrington“, which I found hilarious and appropriate for a shoot about “baring” my” ton” of a behind.  If you are expecting more sophisticated humor, let me remind you, this is a website where I moon important stuff and it makes me giggle.

I saw the sign!

On a whim (honestly, it was because I was already wearing make up from a friendly breakfast date) I thought we should just drop by and get an idea of the place on Saturday, maybe even go ahead and moon in the midst of heavy traffic if inspiration struck.  Surely we could make a clean get away before cops showed up to site me for indecent exposure.

After Seen took the pic of my mug next to the sign, we realized the gate to the high school parking lot was open and there seemed to be a park just inside.  That park turned out to be the actual Tongva Sacred Springs!

Here’s where the serendipity really kicks in.  The park is only open for 3 hours, 10:00 am – 1:00 p.m. on the 1st Saturday of every month.  We sauntered in at 12:55 on that whim-chosen Saturday.

The Tongva Sacred Springs is a lovely area, with a little path over a stream that was home to graceful reeds.  Those reeds served as a discretionary curtain for me hide behind, as I did what I had to in order to get this blog to you.  (If you look closely, you can see the teenage girl just to the left of where I was mooning.  I hope she was as completely oblivious to me, as teenage girls can be.)

Because there were a few people around, the chance of exposure increased.  My heart was racing and my cheeks flushed as I quickly let the full moon loose on Tongva Springs.  I was in such a rush pulling my trousers down, I popped the button off my pants and had to walk around the rest of the day buttonless.  This included going to a fancy-pants art walk in Culver City.

A Moon rises over the marsh

After I composed myself, we walked around the grounds, witnessed the cool bubbling of the natural spring, sat in the groovy outdoor amphitheatre and read about the history of the place.

On our way out, we encountered a short lady who asked if we had enjoyed our tour of the grounds.  Turns out that lady was Angie Dorame Behrns, President of the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation.

She let us know about plans the City of LA was making to build a parking lot on the southern part of the springs.  Not near, ON.

(How she intends to save the springs and an explanation of why I’m wearing the pink t-shirt after the jump)

The entire park is smaller than a football field, paving this over this postage stamp sized preservation area seems really ballsy of LA.  Angie is currently fighting the city, but if you know bureaucracy, it’s going to take a lot of cash and a lot of time.

Ms. Behrns also handed us some brochures, her card and an invitation to attend the fundraising event. A Native American Arts and Crafts festival will light up the springs on Sunday, September 26th.  You can bet my naked bum we’ll be there.

Such a peaceful path to the moon

I let her know that I’m writing a blog about California Historical markers and monuments.  The detail that it is also about my butt was left out, because I actually wanted her to take me seriously.  Awareness could shine a light on this itty-bit of land and help their cause to save it.

According to the materials she gave us, the springs, called the Kuruvungna Springs, was once a thriving, self-contained village filled with tule-thatched houses called kichas.  The first Europeans to the area were soldiers of the Portola expedition in August 1769.  Less than 60 years later, the village was forcibly dissolved as the California Ranchos began to dominate the area.  You can read a bit more on their website.

Waiting for a show at the amphitheatre

This adventure, my 3rd Mooning of a Monument, was exactly what I want to accomplish here on MOM:  I discovered a very cool historical spot that probably 99% of people have never heard of; I learned about, and hopefully shared a bit of, history and; Seen and I had a fun time together, giggling in the bushes.

There are just 2 more notes I wanted to share with you about this entry:

1.  I am wearing a 32 Candles t-shirt to help promote Ernessa T Carter’s debut novel.  I won the shirt for pre-ordering the book, which is great btw.  We were just going to take a few pictures for her blog on Saturday, but the day rolled it’s serendipitous carpet out in front of us and who were we to say no.

2.  I mean absolutely NO disrespect by baring my hiney here.  In truth, this has taken me about a month after the shoot to write and post.  I can see how my European descended, lily-white keister floating over the Native peoples Sacred Spring might be a apt metaphor for the history between my ancestors and theirs (though mine, specifically, chose to steal land in NE, IA and CO).  Even though I am a student of Indigenous fairy tales, I know I’m an Irish-German girl, not a Native American of any tribe (that 1/16th in me is a drop).  I respect the culture and hope there is enough humor left in that camp to understand the reason I chose to moon and write.  A lot of people drive right by historical stuff, but seeing a crazy chick mooning historical stuff, that might make them look twice.

(Click on a picture below to make it larger.  My butt will not change size no matter how many times you click.)

He’s a genius.  Since our Moons photo shoots are intended as a type of expressive freedom, the Freedom Bell works on many levels (of odd.)

Non-traditional Moon Festival

In my memory, the Korean Freedom Bell and accompanying park are usually deserted.  My memory is faulty.

We discovered the actual name of the place is The Korean Bell of Friendship.  Also, on a Friday morning at 10:45 am that place is far from deserted.  At 10:45 am on a Friday, there are students, families, Park Rangers and local construction workers taking an early lunch.

We arrived at 10:30 am and had a few minutes to set up, and bare all, before that hubbub began.  All I saw was the two 20-something hippy chicks walking towards us from the parking lot, 50 yards away. I believed that we shared the park with only a few seagulls and a skittish, but healthy looking calico cat.

After the thumbs up from the camera man, I pulled down the jeans and let my freedom ring.  I used a Jedi mind trick on the hippy chicks, so they wouldn’t notice what I was doing.   Later, after we left the park, Seen pointed out that at 10:30 am he was pretty sure the workmen were having lunch, the Park Ranger was parked in the lot and that a couple was waiting in their SUV nearby; all of those folks might have seen the show for free.  Does this mean I created some new friends at the Bell of Friendship?

(More pix and historical info after the jump)

This is one big bell!  According to SanPedro.net, it weighs 17 tons, with a height of twelve feet and a diameter of 7-1/2 feet.  Standing next to this giant sculpture made me feel much better about the size of my behind. Engravings on the bell are gorgeous and represent the Korean symbols of liberty and peace.

The Korean Bell of Friendship was given to the city of San Pedro as a gift from Korea in 1976 on the occasion of the American Bi-Centenial.  It also served to honor veterans of the Korean War and as a representation of peace between Korea and the United States.  It is patterned after the Bronze Bell of King Songdok, which was cast in 771 A.D. and is still on view in South Korea today.

There are 3 things I absolutely love about this monument:

I told them what I was doing, they reacted well.

1. These friendly guys, who are at the head of the short path towards the bell. I hope they are as happy as they seem (I know they make me happy.)

2. This park is the perfect example of a key historical area that is mostly unknown by even local residents. It’s built near the Fort MacArthur Museum in San Pedro. (Which is named in honor of Lt. General Arthur MacArthur, Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and father of General Douglas MacArthur, who I originally thought it was named for.)

There is a large, circular concrete platform on the bluff overlooking the Pacific which has a type of zipper/railroad track on the outer edge.  It seems, though I have not found exact quotes sustaining this is the absolute location of cannons, that this platform held defensive guns from the late 1880s through WWII.  It is a perfect location for West Coast Defense as the view goes for dozens of miles both North and South on the coast. Apparently, the guns during The Big War could fire their 1400 lb. shells a distance of 27 miles, YIPES!  That’s way scarier than my bare hiney!

To the East of the parking lot for the Friendship Bell is the Angels Gate Park and Cultural Center.  It consists of really old Army barracks that have been lightly remodeled to offer arts and recreational programs to the community.  There is a sign that says “Hostel” on the barracks, so perhaps you could even spend the night where my Moon has shone.  From what I’ve read, they need and want to finance a LOT more changes and upgrades.

3. The pagoda that houses the Bell is gorgeous, absolutely friggin gorgeous.

Gorgeous Pagoda Roof

Kitty Cat Steps

Monuments, history and a bare bum!  Happily, many goals were achieved on this outing.

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Friendly Visit Image Gallery

]]> http://seenamy.com/MoonsOverMonuments/shine-sweet-freedom/feed/ 1 http://seenamy.com/MoonsOverMonuments/tmi-adventure-detail-making-friend/ http://seenamy.com/MoonsOverMonuments/tmi-adventure-detail-making-friend/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:30:31 +0000 Amy http://seenamy.com/MoonsOverMonuments/?p=41

First Beautiful Moon of the Day.

More about Our First Moons Shoot -

5:30 on a Friday morning the alarm went off.  We stumbled to the car and drove North on PCH as the sun rose in the East.  The moon was a giant white ghost, setting over the ocean. I thought that was a particularly good omen for the task ahead.

As we drove into Zuma Beach, toward the cliff at the end of the parking lot, I could see a lone figure sitting on the tip of the dune, watching the morning waves.  Well that’s a little fly in the planning ointment.  Would it be rude to tap them on the shoulder and say “Excuse me, I just need to take a picture of my butt, would you mind moving for a minute?”

I hiked the quarter-mile up from the beach to the top of the cliff, wishing for 2 things the entire time:

1. No Snakes on the trail
2. That the person sitting there would move before I had to be brazen and interrupt their morning reverie.

No snakes harassed me, luckily (they make my legs itchy).  When I got to the top of the bluff, the end was still occupied. I called Seen, who was standing on the beach with the camera.  We made the decision that I would just drop trou for my early morning modeling session where I was standing, with the lady still sitting on the edge of the cliff 50 ft away.  So I bared myself to the wind, Sean and Northern Malibu.

Me and My Buddy!

Apparently the noise I made, by giggling to myself to cover my embarrassment, was enough to rouse the wave worshiper from her post.  About a minute after my pants were back in proper, hiney covering position, she stood, stretched, turned away from the ocean and walked past me to the path back to saneland.

Then I was free to express myself to the pod of pelicans on the beach, the kayaker (who I did not notice at the time, but appears a little too close in some pictures) and the camera.  Our first shoot went off as planned!

Sean climbed up the hill to join me and we watched the surf roll in and out and the sky move from pastel morning twilight to a brilliantly blue sunny day.  We saw a few dolphins frolicking close to shore, which is always fun to witness.  At one point, Sean pointed to the sea while excited asking if I saw the whale.  Sure enough, about 3 seconds later, a geyser of water blew upward!  The whale was about 300 yards off the beach.  From the locations of the following 4 or 5 geysers, he was headed to deeper waters.  Sean got a picture of a smidgen of his back.  We’d gone on a whale watching boat a few years ago, but never had a sighting this good!

Squint and you can see the whale.

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We had a great time.  There is something peaceful about being up at dawn and near the ocean.  I can’t wait for our next adventure into the Moons.

A tiny moon on a big cliff

There are so many historical markers and gorgeous scenic vistas in California, I was hard-pressed to choose a location for the Moons Over Monuments premiere photo shoot.  Then lightning struck, we’d go to  Point Dume, Malibu, Natch!!

I love Point Dume; it’s gorgeous and is the setting for, possibly, a gazillion TV shows and movies.  My fav Point Dume cameo is the final scene in Planet of the Apes, where Charlton Heston curses at us maniacs for blowing up the Earth.

Also, I got married at Point Dume 8 years ago. In all honesty, one of the main reasons we chose Point Dume for our vows is because of the Planet of the Apes thing, oh and it’s purty too.

While not a traditional ‘monument’, Point Dume is a California State Park and has significant historical and natural value.  Therefore, I shall deign to moon it.

Come back later in the week for a tale of an early morning hike, an unsuspecting Dume tourist and a whale heading out to sea.

Seen impersonating Charlton Heston during our wedding.

(Comment)

One of my goals, in mooning the historical and natural world, is to bring more awareness to the bits of history and nature that we’ve started to forget.  On every road-trip I’ve ever been on, we’ve passed dozens of historical markers that seem abandoned by society, folks speeding by to get to the next town, the next hotel, the next Applebees.

After paging through one of those massive coffee table books with gorgeous scenery topped with the cherry pink sunrises and a pale moon rising in the distance, I thought, ‘this would be funny if that moon was a butt.’  (Yes, I have the sense of humor of a junior high schooler. I still laugh about mixed nuts and giggle when a baseball player has 2 balls.)

So here is my hinder, making you notice (or look away) from places where history occurred or nature popped up a bit of something nice to look at.  It’s a bit of fun, blowing off steam and letting things air out.  I give you Moons Over Monuments.

Almost as big as the star of this blog.