Mountain Swim
I like to hike, often alone, but I enjoy it more with friends or family. When our children were small we would take them camping. The hours passed easily as we messed around the campfire or threw rocks in the stream. We were always up for a short hike almost daily but would plan for one day where as a family we do a good hike of about four or five miles. It seemed for years and years I ended with one of the little ones on my back. They get heavy, especially if you are going uphill. I was younger and stronger then so I guess I found a way to manage. My favorite hikes occurred when we camped in New Mexico. The forests are beautiful, cool and refreshing. It is called the Land of Enchantment and rightly so. Our favorite trip each year is our annual trek to the mountains of New Mexico.
One hike I remember vividly in New Mexico started with a sign that said, “Lake, two miles.” That sounded doable, but let me tell you, I did not realize it was a steep two mile uphill hike. I had to carry my smallest on my back most of the way. My heart was pounding as we ascended, plus the altitude difference always had some effect on me whether we were hiking or just sitting at the stream. I was very glad to reach the top and since the sun was out we were actually hot. Once at the top we realized it was not much of a lake, more than a large rancher’s tank. The water was not as cold as I would have thought which tells me it was not too deep. Since the small lake was only about 100 yards wide I mentioned to my wife we ought to give this a swim. We were all warm from our trek up the mountain. I was pleased when she agreed to. The youngest fell asleep so we built an awning with our coats and tucked him under it. We walked to the other side of the lake and shed our clothing down to our skivvies. I quickly ran the clothing and shoes of all of us back to where we would finish our swim, where the littlest was sleeping. I barefooted it along the shoreline in the soft mud back to the family and was the first to enter the water. My daughter eagerly followed, she loves to swim: then my son, and soon the wife.
The kids have always been good swimmers but my wife is not exactly relaxed when swimming in water above her head. I fell back to keep an eye on her. The water was quite cool at first but not too bad for mountain water. The water was not as clear as I would have expected but it was a fun experience. It did not take too long to traverse the small lake. The little one was still asleep. We all laid in the bright mountain sunlight to warm up, eventually putting our clothes on, and just in time. A group of hikers from a trail that had started in a different location came walking by. I doubt we would have swam if we had known several trails crisscrossed this lake. It was fun and an adventure I will never forget it.
I am not much of a risk taker but I do love to experience life if the adventures taken are safe. TreasureTrove is board game that lets players travel the world collecting treasures. There is also an element of adventure as players traverse the world. Please visit our website at wwwTreasureTrovegame.com
Sunken Subs
My wife and I recently finished watching a TV show called White Collar. We will find a series on Netflix and spend a month watching a previously run TV series. We may watch about five episodes a week. White Collar began running in 2009.
The final episode that we have seen involved finding a villain who had found a lost World War II submarine that had sunk off the North American coast. In this case it was a lost German sub. The storyline hinted that the Nazi sub had left Germany just before the war was lost and was probably headed for South America. It obviously did not complete its journey. But what was so special about this sub?
Evidently it was carrying lots of European war loot including priceless paintings, stolen jewelry, and lots of gold and silver coins. The value would be in the billions of dollars in today’s market. You will have to watch the show to find out if the sub is located, much less salvaged, and how much of the treasure was still intact. We will watch to see if Netflix will continue with the next season. It was fun to contemplate the possibility of that much treasure ever being found. It would have been the greatest treasure find of all time.
The story was not very realistic in my opinion, but the idea of finding a sunken sub and salvaging some of the cargo is very possible. A few months ago I watched a documentary about a U boat found in the North Sea that will prove to be difficult to salvage because of the depth of the water, and because of the volatile nature of the cargo. This particular sub was also one of the last to leave Germany before the end of the war and was headed for Japan. It carried material that would have helped the Japanese in their quest to develop an atomic bomb. I believe that the sub carried lots of canisters of mercury which the Japanese needed in order to continue their research. The sub was filled with containers holding the liquid metal.
It is feared disturbing the metal containers which have been in salt water for over 60 years could actually cause a release of the mercury. On the hand if nothing is done, the containers will eventually corrode to the point of releasing the contaminant. At some point something will need to be done. This is one sub with no valuable cargo, just dangerous cargo.
There is something fascinating about locating sunken submarines. It is doubtful many of them had treasure although a few most certainly carried gold bullion. Yet they all have a story to tell: a piece of history in the mosaic of mankind’s endless struggle between nations. When I created Treasure Trove decades ago, I choose to place a sunken sub in the North Sea. I have since found that children playing the game are quite intrigued with the idea of a sunken sub. It is one of their favorite treasure pieces to collect while playing the game.
My Favorite Movies
Last week I shared a story of two women who found fortune in searching antique shops when they chanced upon old movie plates used to make movie posters. The wooden printing plates turned out to be quite valuable. The women shared that they enjoyed reliving the feeling of seeing many of the movies from the 1950s that they had seen when they were young. I have some of the same feelings. I love watching movies. The best movies ever made, in my opinion, were during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, right when I was growing up. Consequently, they have had a strong influence on my life. Are the movies during that time not as realistic as the movies of today? Perhaps, but I still prefer the romantic and optomistic feeling from the movies that were produced in that period. It was a very good time in America and I think that was reflected in the movies. The following is a list of my favorite movies with a guess as to what year it was produced and my synopsis of each.
- Ben Hur(1959): A story of faith. Judea Ben Hur is a Jew redeemed from the depths of injustice and evil imposed on him by the power of Rome. His God did not abandon him in his hopeless situation. A God who does work in the lives of individuals, each person having worth and purpose. Not just a distant God who created the universe and then sits back immune to our suffering.
- Dr. Zhivago (1965): Romance in the midst of war and overwhelming struggles. Yuri Zhivago is a Russian doctor and a poet who finds himself on the front in World War I and returns home to a lost way of life as the Russian Revolution occurs. Cold, hunger, fear, and cruelty cannot squelch his desire for the beautiful things life can offer, including the hope of love, no matter how dark the times are. All of us want to live life enjoying every moment of beauty, especially the desire to love and be loved.
- The Counterfeit Traitor (1960): Ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, and trying to confront evil in the process. A Swedish oilman is reluctantly forced to spy for the allies as he goes on business trips inside the 3rd Reich. Based on a true story. He falls in love with his contact within Germany impressed by her character and willingness to sacrifice whatever it takes, possibly her life, to confront Hitler. As a successful businessman, and one who loved a life of luxury, he thought he could conviently put his conscience in the corner, that is until he met her. He had to reassess his life’s values. I have often wondered how I would act if confronted with dire circumstances as they were.
- The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956): A man returning from World War II to the hustle and bustle of New York City is challenged to choose between climbing the corporate ladder or time and devotion to his family. He also has some demons from the war he has to deal with in the context of his marriage. It makes me appreciate my wife of 36 years.
- Jason and the Argonauts (1963): An epic fantasy journey in search of treasure at the ends of the earth as Jacob and his sailors overcome monsters and bigger than life challenges on their quest. The special effects were quite good for the time in which the movie was made. I enjoyed watching it with my own kids in the late 1980s. I still enjoy occasionally watching it.
- Them (1954): A fun cheesy black and white science fiction thriller about giant ants coming out of the New Mexico desert created by atomic radiation tests. The bespectacled scientist at the end of the flick says, “when man opened the door to the atomic age he may not have realized what awaits him.” Another movie I enjoyed sharing with my kids.
- The Longest Day (1963): A film portraying the events of D Day on June 6, 1944. Lots of action. I saw it as a kid at the theater when I lived on an Army base. We were the Americans, we were the good guys and we were go ing to win. A very proud and optimistic film about American forces in World War II. Not too much gore as war films of today, and a feel good movie about our country. It initiated my love of history.
- Shane (1953): It is easy for us to size up and judge others until we have either walked in their shoes or we need them. Shane is a handsome mysterious stranger on the western frontier who wants to start a new life without the use of his gun. He hires on to help a family work the land in late 19th century Wyoming only to realize the homesteaders in the valley are being bullied off their land by a greedy rancher. In the process of helping them confront the bully, he realizes his way of life is passing but that he cannot change who he is. I am no Shane, but in all honesty have never found a fit for my life on this earth. In many ways I am still searching.
- A Friendly Persuasion (1957): A Quaker family living a quiet idyllic life in Southern Indiana is shattered by the trauma of the Civil War. Do you fight to protect your family, your land, even though in your heart you wish no harm to others. It makes me want to pause before I get impulsively angry.
- Les Miserable (1978): A timeless story told in theaters and film many times over. This version with Antony Perkins is my favorite. It encourages me to strive to be graceful with others.
Movie Treasure
I really enjoy shows such as The Hunt for Amazing Treasures. A one hour show will often have half a dozen interesting treasure stories. One of the discoveries that I wanted retell took place in the Midwest. Two women would spend time most Saturdays visiting garage sales or traveling to antique shops in the area. They enjoyed each other’s company as well as the hunt for garage treasure. Some people really have a knack for this which I do not. I could not tell you if something is valuable or if it is just junk. But that is part of the hunt, and not that they can always either. Many times garage treasure hunters just buy on a hunch hoping it will be worth something.
The story goes that they had spent most of the day together, were tired and ready to get home, but decided to visit one more antique shop in Omaha, NB. Towards the back of the shop they noticed what looked like large wooden blocks that a printer might use. The blocks were of various sizes and they realized were for movies. The blocks were actually movie poster printing plates. They seemed unique, different in that they did not look like a whole mass production of the same printing plates but were each different. In other words, each printing block represented one movie. As the picked up individual plates they enjoyed thinking about the many movies brought back to memory. They checked with the store owner who said she had had the blocks for years and that those on display were just a few of the thousands she had taking up space in the back. She was willing to sell the whole lot of them.
They bought all of them for two thousand dollars and then began to research if indeed they were worth anything. First question was why were the blocks in Nebraska? What is the connection with Omaha and Hollywood? In times past the movie industry would have posters printed in Omaha because it was centrally located in the country, and easy to disseminate the posters quickly. Next question, were they rare and if so, worth anything? It turns out each block could be worth hundreds of dollars. The bottom line, the value of their $2000 purchase could be worth over $2,000,000. The women had enjoyed their time treasure trekking, and now they enjoy sharing their treasure with others who also love movies like they do.
I won’t be buying any movie memorabilia, but I also like movies. The women looked to be about my age, in their late fifties and just like me grew up in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when the best movies were made. At least that is my opinion. You will have to wait until next week for me to list my all time favorite movies, most of which are in the 50’s & 60’s time frame. As the women said on the show, “movies are a treasure to them,” and I could not agree more. Movies have not only brought me much entertainment but in reality have influenced my life more then I probably realize. They bring back a treasure trove of memories. 
An Uncle’s Stash
I occasionally hear about hear about a rich uncle leaving wealth to all the relatives after he passes. I don’t think I actually know of anyone who has inherited a late uncle’s riches, although it seems to be a recurring theme in the British mystery plots on Masterpiece Theater that my wife watches. I occasionally watch one of the shows with her. Seems like someone is often murdered in order for someone else to get more of the eventual money.
The closest I have come to inherited wealth from an uncle was a family reunion a few years ago when second cousin informed that one of our late great uncle’s had left some oil money to everyone in the family. It was a pretty big reunion so I suspected after all the money trickled down from the great aunts and uncles (12) and their children and grand children, to my own parents, there may not be much left. I got a call the following week from an attorney verifying who I was and informing me a check would soon arrive. A few weeks later I grinned when I showed my wife a check for all of forty dollars. It was interesting that within a few months my wife’s side of the family also had some oil money come in. Same thing, it had to be split up. Fortunately, it was a little better: we got a check for about 1,800 dollars. I told my wife to just keep it and enjoy it. I think she gave a lot of it to charity. I have to be careful here so I don’t get in trouble. She also helped financially for me go to Cozumel for some scuba diving. It had been a number a years since I had gone. I always love it. Let’s talk about some real treasure, a great uncle’s stash.
A man was cleaning out his late great uncle’s house when he came upon a collection of comic books. I had heard of attic treasure. These were found in the basement, but they turned out to be treasure indeed. His great uncle began collecting during the 1930’s, right when a lot of action heroes were debuting in the comics. His treasure trove of comics included original issues of Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Detective Comics. Actually, the collection included over 40 of the top 100 issues of that golden age of comics. The comics were in remarkably good shape. The collection auctioned in Dallas recently for about 3.5 million dollars. Now that is a cool. 
About eight years ago my wife’s mom passed away. I took a long weekend and went to help with her dad moving out the house they had lived in for about 40 years. I remember him telling me as we cleaned out some of the closets that he had not seen the back of the shelves for decades, and had no idea what was back there. It was a good size house, with a number of closets. It was a very, very long weekend of packing boxes before the movers came. If you like old books and old vinyl records it would have made your day. I cannot tell you how many boxes of books we hauled out of there. There were no comics. I’m sure there was some stuff we hauled out of there that my wife still treasures. I would have rather had the comics.
Mysterious Island
Some of my favorite movies as a kid were Journey to the Center of the Earth(1959) and Mysterious Island(1961). The problem was I often had to wait years before a TV station would air one of the movies. This was long before VCR’s much less Netflix. Both movies captured my imagination. I may not know the dialogue verbatim but I can just about tell you what the next scene will be. A few years ago I enjoyed watching the original Journey to the Center of the Earth with James Mason. It was also just a few years ago that I saw the remake at thre theater. The remake was not bad, but I still like the original.
This past weekend I ventured to the theater to watch the remake of Mysterious Island. My wife and I really enjoyed it. The Rock did a good job. I’m glad Hollywood wants to revisit this classic tales of adventure. I’m not sure why movies get more unbelievable rather than more plausible, but that seems to be the pattern now. It was still good entertainment.
On my original version of the board game Treasure Trove I had a “Mysterious Island,”‘ because it is such an interesting name. I placed it near Indonesia. Most of the other Islands, if not all, that I did choose to place on the game board in reality exist. For example, there really is a Buccaneer Archipelago, a Dragon Island, a Crocodile Island, a Shark Island, and so forth. The two that are stretched a bit are Castaway Island, which I placed in the Indian Ocean, and Skull Island that I placed near Indonesia. There is not actually a Skull Island but there are islands near Borneo where people do place the skulls of their ancestors inside caves for burial. There were a group of French sailors sranded as castaways on an isalnd in the South Indian Ocean in the 17th century for many months.
Treasure Trove is a game of collecting treasure, but it is fun to think of all the exotic places on this globe that would be fascinating to visit, especially if there were treasure there. Treasure Trove is a quest for fabled wealth but it is also an adventure. I think it is something kids enjoy experiencing in the process of play. I choose not to place Mysterious Island on the final version of Treasure Trove because I did not think many people had heard of the Jules Verne novel Mysterious Island, much less the movie made in 1961. Now that a remake of Mysterious Island has been made, I wish I had left it on the game board.
I will always enjoy adventure movies to exotic and remote destinations, especially if there is an element of treasure involved.