Beautiful Wild Flowers!!!

I captured this image of a cluster of beautiful white flowers beside the highway while driving in Oklahoma last year. It was spring time and there was beauty everywhere, lush green forested slopes, grasslands, colorful flowers, buzzing bees and chirping birds were everywhere. I got completely lost in the beauty of nature that we can enjoy in almost every part of the world. Some parts are peaceful and prosperous that it lets humans take it easy and enjoy these things, while other regions of the world are not so peaceful.

Earth has blessed us humans and other inhabitants with innumerable gifts that can be shared and enjoyed by the entire population. Some of us are satisfied with bare minimum while others are greedy for everything. This greed of few humans has been the bane of our life and has threatened the very existence of life on earth. And unfortunately, the number of greedy people is increasing exponentially, so I wonder what the future would be like. Or if there is any future at all for the human race.

Talimena Scenic Drive, Oklahoma

Sign at the Entrance of Talihina National Forest

I had been to Oklahoma recently to visit the Talihina National Forest. While there I chanced upon this Kiamichi War Memorial, on the highway leading to the forest from Talihina town. The war memorial is not for any single war or individual soldier, but it commemorates all those who were killed in the line of duty serving their country right from its founding. The only qualification being that these men and women were from the Kimaichi valley in Oklahoma. We stopped by to take a closer look and here is what we saw:

The granite inscription about the war memorial

A Battle tank kept at the war memorial

Here is me at the memorial

We also drove the length of the Talimena Scenic Drive and this is a spot on the senic drive which was dedicated by US President John F Kennedy. There is a small memorial to celebrate the event. Here are some images of the memorial.

Board proclaiming President Kennedy's dedication of the road

Memorial inscription

Neatly landscaped memorial

The American flag fly's in all glory

Roads, trails and rails

I am still blogging about the sights of Oklahoma and Arkansas. I shot so many fantastic pictures during the memorial day weekend trip to the Talimena Scenic Drive, Cedar Lake and the Queen Wilhelmina National Park that it will take some more days before I can finish off the trip. Anyway I am kind of theming my pictures and here are some pictures about the pathways we use to move from place to place. The pictures range from hiking trails, super highways, city roads and even railway tracks. Enjoy and do leave your comments..

The tragedy of Road Kills

The memorial day weekend was the first time I drove outside Texas... or rather I should say I drove outside of DFW Metroplex. While the driving experience was not much different, the sights, vistas and surroundings were quite different. As we drove out of DFW on TX-121 and then on US-75 into Oklahoma one thing was a common sight: Road Kills. During the 5-hour road trip from DFW to Cedar Lake on the first day and then from Cedar Lake back to DFW via the scenic route on the second day I must have seen at least 100 animals killed on the road.

Initially as we passed the numerous corpses I felt sad and outraged about the motorists who had killed them, even inadvertantly, but later I decided that I must take pictures and show it to the world. This way some awareness can be developed among motorists who read this blog. The dead animals included small squirrels, Armadillos, rabbits, turtle and even deer, there were other corpses I couldn't recognise. Look at the pictures and make a resolution that we will drive more carefully in future. If you have anything to say do share it.

Corpse of dead deer rotting with nobody to even give it a decent burial

Long, straight and smooth roads make motorists speed and results in road kills

This turtle was in the middle of the road, I saw it and moved it away from the road

Dead Armadillos.... the maximum number of corpses seen on the road

Flowers of Talimena State Park

Continuing my post about my visiting Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma I would like to talk about the diversity of plant life and the wonderfully colorful blossoms I saw out there. One of the very good practices in the US is sprinkling the seeds of wildflowers in every public space, on pavements, in green belt areas, in the creeks, parks and all open spaces. The government takes the initiative to do this so that during summer months the entire place is a riot of colors and fragrance from these flowers wafts through the air.

Butterfly on a flower, which is more beautiful? I can't decide

Of course there are downsides to this practice too. The scientifically advanced society here doesn't believe in native health traditions and brand them as ritual, witch craft, absurd practices etc. Hence millions of Americans suffer from various kinds of allergies which get aggravated during spring and summer months. But then the capitalistic economy which America is, even the allergies have been converted into money making machines. Pharmaceutical companies advertise and sell their allergy alleviating drugs and earn millions of dollars during the few summer months.

Coming back to my photographic trysts, here are some of the beautiful natural creations I was able to capture in my lens. Take a look and do leave some comments whether you like the pictures or not.

Bright yellow... the colour which is most common on US roads

It was butterfly before, now it is some other insect

This white inflorescence is a real beauty

A bunch of blossoms in pretty purple

Alone and blue... but very cheerful in the gentle breeze

White with a golden center, always proud and confident

Another bunch of whites...

A bunch of yellows.. bright and cheerful... brings lot of zing into life

More information: Talimena Map
Cedar Lake

Views of Talimina Scenic Drive in Oklahoma

It was long weekend and we decided to head out into the open and take in some part of neighboring states of Oklahoma and Arkansas. During the two day drive, hike, camp and swimming outing we were able to take in a tiny part of both the states. Here are few basic pictures... more to come soon. Tomorrow I have an exam so I am not able to blog completely about what I saw. Will be updating the blog with detailed stories and lots of pictures in the next couple of days. For now enjoy the sneak preview.

Starting point of Talimena scenic drive and national park

These roads are too scenic and seem to stretch endlessly in to the world

Strategically placed signage help visitors find places easily

Vast and beautiful Cedar Lake

Thick forests and hiking trails around Cedar Lake

Sun bathing groups on the banks of Cedar Lake