Fred and Betsy's Trips

Victoria, continued...

2011-08-24T09:31:00.001-07:00

Victoria is a beautiful town. It is the capital of the province of British Columbia in Canada it is small enough to get around easily, and it isn't called the city of gardens for nothing! Because we spent Sunday at the Dragon Boat Festival (see prior post), we decided to just stay downtown and walk around, even though it meant missing some of the nearby "must see" things on Vancouver Island.

We visited the magnificent old Canadian Pacific Hotel for breakfast:

My dungeness crab benedict, and Fred's Belgian Waffles...we splurged on orange juice at $5 a glass!

A view of the Parliament building and the harbor:

Flowers were everywhere!

A statue of native daughter and artist Emily Carr, with the Empress Hotel in the background. Her pet monkey is depicted on her shoulder. Her art is scenes in British Columbia, particularly aboriginal and forest scenes.

Some of the other art we found as we walked around Victoria...

Sidewalk art...

Totems outside the BC Museum..

Performance art...

Well, maybe not art...but I couldn't resist....

Victoria's Chinatown is a popular destination that we didn't get to, but we did see the gate, which was being repaired that day:

We ended the afternoon with a walk and drive through Victoria's Beacon Hill Park, which encompasses everything from lovely formal gardens near the BC Museum to a hilly, slightly wild cliffside path:

On the hight point of the park, near the cliffs, is the western mile 0 of the TransCanada Highway, and also a monument to Canadian Terry Fox, the amputee who ran across most of Canada to raise money and awareness for Canada

Evening in Victoria--the Parliament Building and the harbor:

--From our blog. If you're viewing this on the blog, you can click on any picture to see a larger version.

Victoria, BC Dragon Boat Festival

2011-08-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

We were only in Victoria for three days, but it felt like we were there so much longer, we did so much and saw so much!

The highlight was definitely the Dragon Boat Festival which happened to be taking place on the Sunday that we were there. The harbor was packed with spectators, tourists and participants. There were all kinds of festivities--dragon boat races, music, games, food stands, and more. Dragon boat racing is hard to describe, the pictures will have to suffice. I think there are about 20 paddlers per boat, and a helmsman and a drummer. The festival has been going on for 17 years, and it seems like everyone in Victoria either participates or knows someone who does. Even the quilt shop owner we spoke later to was a racer! The weather was absolutely beautiful, and Victoria's lovely harbor, surrounded by gardens and lovely old buildings, made the perfect setting:

Above, finishing strong! The first races we watched were part of the Cancer Survivor's Challenge. Every participant in these races was a breast cancer survivor. Ages ranged from 30 to 92! Below, two particants of the Survivor's Challenge watch one of the heats.

Above, at the end of the Survivor Challenge race, the particpants gather for the Carnation Tossing ceremony. Spectators purchase pink carnations (proceeds to Victoria's cancer foundation) and toss them to the participants and into the water.

Watching these strong women (and a few men)

compete was a very moving experience. Below: for a donation to Victoria's cancer foundation, you could hang a lantern with your wish attached.

In between races, these little harbor taxis ran around:

And occasionally, a sea plane would taxi out of the inner harbor, guided by a pilot boat:

The harbor patrol kept things under control, though I'm not sure what the standard poodle does:

We walked around to the other side of the harbor, which meant we had to cross this bridge:

Of course, it raised just as we got there...

to allow this barge to go under.

The view from the other side of the harbor. The dragon boat races began here, and ended at the inner harbor.

More from Victoria next.

-- From our trip blog at www.truetrip.blogpost.com

Seattle's Pike Place Market

2011-08-14T08:59:00.001-07:00

If you love being overstimulated with colors, scents, sights and sounds, Pike Place Market is the place to go. The Market opened in 1907 and is "one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States." (Wikipedia) I also read that it is the oldest still in its original location.

Covering roughly seven acres, it is a riot of color. Or maybe just a riot. On a Friday, it was packed with people. One wonders if there is ever a slow time?

Although there are food stalls and small restaurants scattered throughout the Market, we opted to eat at Lowell's--famous for its clam chowder and the fact that one scene (featuring Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner) from Sleepless in Seattle was filmed there. We happened to park right outside and were starved, which also helped us decide.

Fred has already finished his clam chowder and is busily dispatching a salmon sandwich in the above picture. I had fish tacos (yum!)

One of the most entertaining free things to do at Pike Place Market is to watch the fish tossing at Pike Place Fish. Once a customer selects a fish from the display case, the fishmongers all chant the order in unison as the selection is tossed behind the counter to be wrapped. A dungeness crab is flying, almost dead center, in the picture below (click on the picture to see a larger size).

People also like having their photo taken with Rachel the Pig, one of the icons of Pike Place Market. It was so crowded, we couldn't get close, so I settled for this family getting their turn. Rachel is also a piggy bank, collecting money that is used for the Market's social services program.

We walked around for about an hour, marvelling at the number of different things for sale and trying samples, despite being stuffed from lunch.

Above, from top to bottom: Making cheese at a cheese shop; a window of glasses in an alleyway, and the original Starbucks, opened in 1971, which was so crowded we couldn't get in it. The line went down the street.

We had a great time strolling around, people watching and marvelling at the offerings. Pike Place Market is located along the downtown waterfront, just north of Pioneer Square and just south and west of the Space Needle. (Obligatory Space Needle shot here.)

I highly recommend taking advantage of Seattle's excellent public transportation system if you want to visit the downtown area. You can get off and on within the downtown zone for free. We drove, and while yes, we did get parking at the Market, we were lucky, and driving downtown in general and in the Market in particular is a slow tortuous process.

Next...Victoria, British Columbia

Seattle's Underground Tour

2011-08-13T07:36:00.001-07:00

A quirky bit of history in Seattle has given birth to an equally quirky walking tour in downtown Seattle. By east coast standards, Washington is a young state, becoming a US territory in 1872 and a state in November 1889. Just before statehood was official, on June 6 of that year, much of the downtown Seattle business district burned down. (Miraculously, no deaths.) When the city was rebuilt, wooden buildings were banned in the district; new buildings were built in brick. Because Seattle was essentially seven hills surrounded by water, there had been many problems with boggy streets, where horses would get stuck and at least one child drowned. The tidal flow wreaked havoc with the sewer system and with water pressures. In rebuilding, the decision was made to raise the city by as much as 22 feet.

In order to allow businesses to open as soon as possible, buildings were rebuilt with plain brick entrances at the current ground level, with more elaborate facades built to be used once the city streets were raised. In between the buildings, the initial streets were raised to the new levels, with the sidewalks next to the buildings at the old street level. So, to enter the buildings, people had to climb down ladders from the new street level and enter the buildings at the old ground level. Eventually, sidewalks at the new level were built, covering up the old sidewalks and entrances. But all of those old sidewalks and entrances are still there....

Enter Bill Speidel in 1954. Bill Speidel, a Seattle publicist, began trying to save Seattle's Pioneer Square, the original business district, from redevelopment. His promotion of the historic nature of the district and the uniqueness of Seattle's hidden city was directly responsible for Pioneer Square being designated a historic district, which encouraged business owners to save the buildings. More on the history here

Our tour guide, in blue, on the left, was knowledgeable, entertaining and loved bad puns. We took the tour on a bright afternoon, making the descent to the underground even more dramatic.

As shown above, access, for us, was from outside down a stairway. Easier than the old ladders! Some of the sidewalks have skylights in them (below, taken from underground), but fortunately, the parts of the underground city we went through (about 3% of the total underground) were well lighted.

Below, some of the former entrances, now bricked up. Others are still usable, and apparently, in parts of the underground that we didn't tour, the underground level is in active use.

A typical passageway on the underground tour.

There were many piles of junk. After the earthquake of 2001, a lot of debris was dumped in the underground passages.

Wall decor in the tunnels.

Definitely one of the more unique city tours we've been on. It reminded us in some ways of the underground tour of Roman ruins we've been on in a couple of cities. However, those tours didn't cover "seamstresses" who didn't sew and underground flush toilets. You'll have to take the tour to learn more!

Next: Pike Place Market....

-- Posted from my iPad!

Our neighborhood in Seattle...

2011-08-12T08:43:00.001-07:00

Fred and I made a conscious decision not to stay downtown. We booked through www.airbnb.com, a service that connects travelers with people letting rooms or condos around the world. We chose a place twenty minutes or so from the downtown area, chiefly because of the view, and crossed our fingers that it would be as good as we hoped. It turned out to be the second best decision about the trip that we made, after deciding to take the trip in the first place.

We're staying in Mt. Baker, one of Seattle's neighborhood communities. The thing that surprised me most about Seattle so far is how hilly it is. Seattle, we learned, was built around seven hills. Mt Baker is one of those hills, overlooking Lake Washington on the east side of Seattle. It's quite a drop down to the lake, more than we want to walk! That's our room, the two windows below the peaked roof in the above picture. There are three other rooms, but guests in only one of them while we are here. Below, from our window, the sun rises in the marine layer across Lake Washington.

It's the kind of neighborhood where people live, commute to work, and walk their dogs and their kids. They stop at the local coffee shop when they walk their dogs and their kids and the staff greets them by name and pulls out a picture book for the kids. And there's a water bowl for the dogs. There are community gardens and little parks.

The bus stop is right behind the house. It's an easy ride to downtown, the bus drivers and the riders are helpful, and Fred is delighted that it's a trolley bus. We even get to see the driver put the trolley pole back on the cable as we get off. The buses are free in the downtown zone from 7am to 6pm. And .75 for seniors other times and zones. Unfortunately, there is talk of cutting services, and the bus route we are using is one of those that might be affected.

Around the corner we have a great view of Seattle, though it takes us a day before we realize we can see the Space Needle from here between the buildings. (At the far right in the picture below, just peeking out over the horizon.)

Fred took a run this morning around the neighborhood; the exertion, in addition to making him tired, apparently made him a little blurry!

-- Posted from my iPad!

First impressions...Seattle

2011-08-11T09:12:00.001-07:00

We've been sleeping with the windows wide open (the way we found them). It's cool and slightly humid, and wonderful. The room, which we found through Airbnb.com is great, and our hostess couldn't be more accommodating, picking us up at the light rail station, driving us to a great seafood restaurant the first night. We return there with Rick after we pick him and his hiking partner at White Pass.

Above, the view out our room's window..across Lake Washington to Bellview.

Mt. Ranier, from Rt 12 through the park, on the way to pick up Rick and Bob.

Bob and Rick, looking amazingly well for 11 days and 123 miles on the trail.

Bob declined dinner out, saying he had to get ready for his next 100 mile hiking trip in Jasper, Canada...so the three of us celebrated Fred's birthday!

-- Posted from my iPad!

Connecting in Vegas..

2011-08-09T14:12:00.001-07:00

En route to Seattle to escape the heat of home.

We're in the Las Vegas airport (free WiFi) awaiting our connecting flight. No escape from the heat here; it's 100 degrees outside. Good thing we're not outside. :-)

I'm typing this to the lilting music of the slot machines behind us. It's Vegas....

Fred is eating, of course....it's been a five hour flight to here and he's only had a half sandwich, a banana and cookies since the pancakes he had at BWI right before we boarded. We have a view of downtown Vegas while we wait...

Betsy...

-- Posted from my iPad!

Journal Sketch for the Centennial of Naval Aviation

2011-02-22T08:02:00.001-08:00

I'm taking an online sketching and watercolor class. The theme is to do "journal" sketching--small vignettes of the world around you. I did one for the Centennial:

I'm always pleased when one of my drawings is actually recognizable as the object it is supposed to be. : )

-- Posted from my iPad!

Centennial of Naval Aviation

2011-02-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

On Feb 12th (sorry about the delay), Fred and I visited the Centennial of Naval Aviation Open House at North Island, San Diego, CA.

It was a mob scene. An estimated 70000 people attended. Traffic was stopped dead going over the Coronado Bridge. At least they had a good view of the flyover.

We managed to get in and parked in a relatively short time by heading south of Coronado and then approaching via the Silver Strand instead of trying to cross the bridge. Soon we were parked and visiting the exhibits.

The second largest helicopter in the world, after a Russian copter. The Osprey is supposed to replace this.

We went on board an amphibious assault ship, the Peleliu. The view of San Diego from the ship's deck.

The view of the carrier USS Stennis from the deck of the Peleliu. The Navy top brass were viewing the procedings from the deck of the Stennis.

We had a long warm day of walking and photography. It was fascinating to see all the planes from many different eras of Naval aviation. Many Navy people were there with their families, showing them the planes and ships they work or worked on.

There are more pics from the day on my Picassa album. Click on it to see the pictures full size and with captions.:

We ended the day at a great "Coffee Shop" in Coronado. I was thinking it was a Starbucks kind of place. But it was more a 50s era restaurant. Think Hot Shoppe (for those who know what that is) meets a diner. It even had a juke box with 45 rpm records (again, for those of you who know what those are) and an old fashioned cash register!
-- Posted from my iPad!

a San Diego Sunrise, Famosa Slough & a German restaurant

2011-02-06T08:36:00.001-08:00

This past Friday started very well:

It was supposed to be a gorgeous day, so Fred and I decided to visit a couple of places we'd long wanted to visit but hadn't yet, and one we had.

The first was Famosa Slough. This is one of the birding hotspots in San Diego, and though we'd driven by it many times on the way to Point Loma, we'd never quite figured out how to visit it. Famosa Slough is a 30 acre wetlands owned by the city of San Diego. Note, that's I-8 in the background of the photo. An urban wetlands indeed!

It turns out to be quite easy to get there. There is a trail that goes from one end to the other, more or less, though some of it is along a road, and you have to cross a very busy street to get to the northern part of the Slough. We followed the directions in 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: San Diego

When we go again (and we will), we'll park on the street between the two sections of the Slough; the birding was best in the middle.

Unfortunately, the parking lot was closed due to a special project (but there was plenty of street parking). Fortunately, the project was restoration of parts of the wetland that was silted up and overgrown by non-native plants. The crew was largely comprised of the California Conservation Corps, an organization started in 1976 by then-and-now Governor Jerry Brown as a work program for young people.

We stopped and watched for a bit and chatted with David Kimball, the San Diego Bird Festival guru. He and Jim Peugh, respectively the Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Friends of Famosa Slough, were there to check on the work and also get their boots dirty helping out.

The full accounting of the birding that day will be on my birding blog. It proved to be a great place to bird, as advertised, and a very pleasant oasis in the midst of a busy town.

Here's the far northern end of the Slough:

Fred in front of a cactus and bougainvillea patch. There's been enough rain so that things are in bloom.

We had worked up quite an appetite, so we went to our second stop of the day, the Kaiserhof German restaurant, where we enjoyed a hearty German meal (sauerbraten for me and lamb shank for Fred) that more than made up for the calories we had worked off. It was just barely warm enough to eat outside (with the help of a space heater). Good food, good service. The Kaiserhof is closed on Mondays, usually, but will be open on Valentine's Day. When I asked about people proposing at the restaurant, our waiter said "No, Germans aren't very romantic." (Write the Kaiserhof, not me.)

We decided to put off our planned third stop, to the Ocean Beach pier to look for loons, for another day and take a nap instead.

In San Diego and not a minute too soon!

2011-02-03T04:58:00.001-08:00

We had a pleasant flight out to San Diego from Baltimore on Southwest Airlines. Our rowmate was a young mother with a 13 month old boy named Adam. He really was quite good. By far not the worst rowmate we've had. (Did I ever tell you about the woman who was concerned that the change to daylight savings time would cause the earth to wobble on its axis?)

I won't say much about the weather we found when we arrived in San Diego, because I know you don't want to hear it. But a picture is worth a thousand words, they say...

Above, waiting for the rental car shuttle. Below, after picking up the car, we went off to lunch at the Prado in Balboa Park.

The Prado has wonderful fish tacos, I wish I'd taken a picture...but here's a picture of the flan we had for dessert.

And, the view from the condo...

-- Posted from my iPad!

Burlington, Vermont

2010-10-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

The wedding went well yesterday, even if it was a bit cool for an outdoor wedding...the setting was gorgeous, the receptions was great fun, and we could see the Milky Way (and our breath) as we left the reception that evening. Tonight we are at the Hilton in Burlington and this is our view, taken from the hotel window:

-- Posted from my iPad!

Vermont Teddy Bear factory

2010-10-10T10:41:00.001-07:00

Fred insisted that we visit the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory Saturday morning before the wedding, which wasn't until late afternoon. We had quite a nice visit. A few pics from the factory tour... the first one is the very first teddy bear made by the founder. The rest are from the factory and store.

-- Posted from my iPad!

Our New England Vacation, part 1

2010-10-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Fred and I went to Vermont to attend the wedding of our neighbor's daughter. And squeeze in a mini vacation. So far, it's been great. A bit of rain as we crossed Lake Champlain on the ferry, and it got rather cool, but overall, it's been beautiful since we left Virginia on Thursday.

Below, Fred and I on the Lake Champlain ferry on Friday, October 8th. It was cold and damp. A professional photographer took our picture with my little Pentax. : )

-- Posted from my iPad!

Teddy Roosevelt's Retreat in Virginia

2010-08-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading The RIver of Doubt, about Teddy Roosevelt's trip to map a remote river in Brazil; a trip that nearly killed him. At the beginning of the book, there's a mention of his Presidential retreat in Virginia: Pine Knot (www.pineknot.org). Curious, I looked it up (the Internet is a wondrous place) and found it was en route to the Mountain Lake Resort in southwestern VA where we were planning on spending a few days to beat the heat. More on that in future posts. So we arranged a visit--it's open by appointment only--and set off.

Keene is about 20 minutes south of Charlottesville. The retreat itself is on a road that is paved for about the first 1/4 mile, then one comes to a four-board black wooden fence with a gated driveway. This is where we met Paula, the docent.

A short drive inside the gate we parked and walked up the hill, through the woods to Pine Knot. The shade of the woods was very welcome as it was a very hot day. On the walk Paula shared some of the history of Pine Knot. TR's wife, Edith, bought it for him as a retreat from the pressures and city life of Washington, knowing that he loved the wilderness. They would attach their car to the mail train for the four-hour trip from Washington, disembark at North Garden, and make their way the 10 miles to Pine Knot either by carriage or horseback for a weekend or seven days, often at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Edith bought 15 acres originally, and bought more when TR ran for re-election, so that the total propery was 90 acres. However, running as a Progressive candidate splintered the Republican vote, and Teddy lost. They only came back one more time to Pine Knot before Teddy's death at age 60. Edith kept it, however, until she was in her 80s, selling it to a family friend. Teddy Roosevelt IV bought the property back in 1986 and donated the property to the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

Pine Knot is a very modest place, not only by Presidential standards, but by most standards. No running water, no electricity. It is very rustic. Water came from a spring 300 yards away down the hill and it was 7-year old Archie Roosevelt's job to carry the water to the house.

Edith bought it for $280, including renovations. The Roosevelts added the covered porch--when you are on the porch, you can see the windows on the second floor that look out into the inside of the porch's roof. She also had the central staircase moved and the main floor opened into one large room instead of two smaller rooms, and added a fireplace on each end. The staircase would have been about where Fred and Paula are standing. The cabin is virutally unchanged since the Roosevelts used it.

It was primarily a retreat for the Roosevelt family, so they had few visitors there. One of them, on what was to be TR's last visit to Pine Knot, was the naturalist John Burroughs. TR birded the area with Burroughs, and they each showed the other two new birds! TR and Burroughs documented 75 birds in all at Pine Knot. Roosevelt's complete bird list at Pine Knot included what must have been one of the last passenger pigeon sightings in the US.

We had a great talk with Paula, who is a native Virginian from the Warrenton area. Legend has it that George Washington's will was hidden during the Revolutionary War at the farm her family now owns. Anyone who knows Fred knows we had a hard time leaving, but the Mountain Lake Resort beckoned. And dinner was only served until 8:30 pm... The fear of no dinner finally got us moving--we bid Paula thanks and farewell, left a donation, and were on our way to what we hoped would be a respite from the heat! (Have I mentioned it was a very hot day?)

-- Posted from my iPad!

Wright-Patterson AF Museum, Part II

2010-07-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

There was a wonderful exhibit on the Berlin Airlift.
When we first saw this photo, we thought it was of Fred and Peg when they were young, playing with Fred's parachute doll. It was actually depicting the "Chocolate Drop,"a program that delivered candy to the children via these little parachutes.

The XB-36. This plane is 163 feet long. Only 4 of them still exist, I believe. That's another plane under the wing on the right. A bit smaller than a 747, but it looks even longer as the fusilage is very and thin compared to the 747.

Fred under the belly of the beast (the B-36). He spoke to this docent for about 30-40 minutes. Actually, the docent kept following him around and starting new conversations, so it wasn't all Fred's fault. I had a book, but finally left for the gift shop.

Fred next to one of the original wheels/tires for the XB-36. The landing pressures were too great, so this was replaced by a set of four wheels and tires.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum, Part I

2010-07-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

On our recent trip to Dayton, Ohio for Mini Meet East, we again visited the Air Force Museum. Wonderful as always, although we only spent a few hours there. It's free, so we feel we got our money's worth, and then some! The Museum is located on the grounds of Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. Be sure to allow plenty of time!

P-51D Mustang

These French boxcars, known as Forty and Eight's, were used to haul troops, Allied POWs to prisoner-of-war camps, and Holocaust victims to the death camps. This diorama depicts US POWs being delivered to a POW camp. The Forty and Eight referred to the cars' supposed capacity were 40 men or 8 horses. Frequently as many as 90 people were forced onto these cars.

Nose Art

C-47s were used to snatch gliders into the air.

Dolphins in the Mission Bay channel (San Diego)

2010-02-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

This is the reason I love the location we stay at when in San Diego. Got to see these two dolphins swimming by in the Channel today. Along with loons, kayakers, sailboats and fishing boats.

Meanwhile, back home....

2010-02-08T02:40:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood digs out from Friday & Saturday's monster storm. Here's our street (photos courtesy of our neighbors as we're clearly NOT there to take them):

Our house in the snow....

Those lumps in the driveway ARE cars. Two are ours, two are the neighbors'. You can see the construction NOT happening on the nieghbor's house....

I'm dreaming of a white Valentine's Day....more snow to come.
This stuff is going to be around awhile...

Hanging out in Mission Beach

2010-02-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

It really was cloudy on Thursday; rains are expected today. We just hung around the condo. A regatta finished right outside in the Bay channel!

We took our first hot tub of the season last night! Come on in, the water's fine!

Balboa Park on a "Cloudy" Day

2010-02-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

We had to go up the valley today to run errands, so we decided to bop over to Balboa Park for lunch and strolling. I love the bell tower of the California Building (built in 1914) there. Note that this was a cloudy day in San Diego.

From the base of the California Building.

The Lawn Bowling green in Balboa Park.

Yet another view of the California Building in Balboa Park, on a typical cloudy day in San Diego.

Balboa Park is one of my favorite places on earth. It was established in 1868. It includes, among other things, the San Diego Zoo. We will be heading over to the zoo soon--they have a new baby panda!

A bad day in San Diego....

2010-02-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

Is still a very very good day!

Cloudy today in San Diego. Which means occasionally the sun is obscured by clouds. It was cloudy in the morning, but we had a lot of bright sunshine all day long.

Some pics from my morning walk.

The moon hadn't set yet....

I had a good morning birding, including this :California Quail.

Arlington National Cemetery

2009-11-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

Fred has been reading "The Lady of Arlington" about Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, Robert E. Lee's wife, so we decided to head over to Arlington National Cemetery to sightsee.

Mary was the daughter of George Washington Park Custis, who was adopted and raised by George Washington (his step-grandfather). GWP Custis designed and built Arlington House in honor of his adopted father. It became the home of Robert E. Lee upon his marriage to Mary Custis. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Federal government seized the Custis-Lee mansion (Arlington House) which overlooked the city and quartered troops there. The Federal government decided the mansion was the perfect place for a badly needed cemetery both practically (the Lees/Custises had a lot of land) and as an act of retribution against the Lees. After the war, the courts ruled that the land had to be returned to the Lee family, but it was no longer livable. By war's end, 16,000 graves surrounded the mansion. Robert E. Lee's son and heir, George Washington Custis Lee, sold the home back to the government for $150,000.

Above, the view of Washington, DC from the front yard of Arlington House. The people in the foreground below are visiting the grave of President John F. Kennedy. That's Memorial Bridge crossing the Potomac River into Washington, DC with the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and also the Capitol dome visible.

It's been years since I'd been to the Kennedy grave site at Arlington. When I was a kid, we visited soon after the burial. The last time I remember being there, it had a gravel walkway past it. Now it's very formal. That's the front portico of Arlington House atop the hill. Below, the visitors file by the grave site. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the two children who died as infants are also buried there.

President Kennedy's brothers Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy are also buried near the President's grave site. Below, Edward (Teddy) Kennedy's grave.

Arlington National Cemetery, part II

2009-11-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

The grave of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, in front of Arlington House, with a view of the city he designed under direction of President George Washington. L'Enfant was originally buried in Maryland and was re-interred here in 1909.

President William Howard Taft dedicated the L'Enfant monument on May 22, 1911. President Taft, one of two Presidents buried at Arlington Cemetery, is the only person to have been both President of the US (1908-1912) and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930). He died five weeks after his retirement from the Court. His wife Helen Taft, also buried here, was instrumental in bringing the cherry trees to Washington.

Abner Doubleday, who aimed the first Union gun fired in defense of Ft Sumter but who did NOT invent baseball, is buried in Section 1, near the Arlington House. He DID later start the first cable car company in San Francisco.

More information about Abner Doubleday and other famous people buried at Arlington Cemetary can be found here:
www.arlingtoncemetery.org (the official site)
and
www.arlingtoncemetery.net (private site)

Tired, hungry and a bit cold, we headed home!

London--Soho and Jersey Boys

2009-08-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Fred and I always like to see a play while in Lond0n--there is a huge variety and, compared to US prices, you can get some deals. We decided to go see Jersey Boys. The Prince Edward Theatre is down in Soho, and it was packed. Here are some of the crowds outside one of the bars as we left the theatre (it was a great show!)

A view of the theatre as we left, with all the little bicycle carts picking up people.

One quite often finds musicians in London's Underground. Here a quite talented violinist entertains us on a long escalator ride.

Quiet Day in London

2009-08-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

Fred and I waved goodbye to Peg and Sue, then got up and took the laundry to be washed at the laundramat almost next to the hotel. Saw this MINI and Fiat 500 parked next to the hotel.

Then, we went for a walk in Hyde Park. Saw some cool birds (see www.birdlist.blogspot.com)

A doggy water fountain in Hyde Park.

A glimpse of the Memorial to Prince Albert that Queen Victoria had built. It's quite huge. It had to be painted black during WW II so the Germans couldn't bomb it.

London Sights

2009-08-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

On our way back from the War Museum, we checked out the London Eye, which we rode on our last trip. This immense Ferris wheel never stops moving, one has to step on to the car as it slowly moves by. It was quite controversial, I suppose it still may be, but the crowds to get on were immense.

The Eye is right across the Thames from Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey (the low white double towers to the right of Big Ben).

There will always be an England...

Imperial War Museum, London--Part II

2009-08-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

There was a maze in the basement that took one through both WWI and WWII. We spent a good bit of time in the WWI exhibit as we didn't know much about it, compared to WWII.

There were display cases about many different aspects of the war. This was part of one about protective gear, both German and British. That's some kind of gas mask.

A scene from trench life. There would be three trenches: a front line trench, a supply trench and a recovery trench. I believe this scene would have been in the recovery trench, the furthest from the front line. Communication passages linked the trenches. There were signs "Do Not Leave the Trenches in Daylight."

We did go through a bit of the WWII exhibit. Here is an Enigma machine, the German encoder/decoder broken by the Allies.

Fred posing by the guns outside the Museum (see pic below) to show scale. We had lunch ("jacket potatos") at a park stand near the museum.

London--Imperial War Museum

2009-08-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we visited the Imperial War Museum. The building was built as a hospital in 1815 and continued there until 1930. The dome was added in 1846. The museum was established there in 1936.

There were several children's exhibits, including one about the trenches. We did not go to this one, but we did go to the regular exhibit about the trenches.

When you first walk in, this is the view, at least part of it. There are German V2 bombs, a P-51 and a Spitfire Mark 1A among others....

A Sherman tank on display.

Serpentine, Hyde Park, London

2009-08-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

Another picture from last night that for some reason didn't publish...that's the full moon reflecting in the pool.

We Arrive in London!

2009-08-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

9 AM Monday morning, we drove from Turku to Helsinki to catch our 2 PM flight to London. Everything went smoothly and I think everyone was grateful not to have to be crammed into Opel station wagon we'd been using. We left Outi at the airport--she was going to take the bus back to Heinola. It was sad to part after 12 days together!The flight went smoothly (except for some turbulence and a cross wind as we were landing), we took the Heathrow Express to London (did you know Return = Round Trip in British) and a short cab to our hotel. After a rest we headed out to a nearby pub, The Victoria, to meet some friends now living in London.

Peg with Mary Ann and Jim in front of the pub.

Our hotel is just across from Hyde Park, so we walked through a bit of it before turning in. Below, flowers in front of little cottage near the Serpentine.

The Serpentine as night fell.

Turku, Finland Part II

2009-08-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Castle was great study in light and shadow, and wonderful textures. It was started, I think, in the 14th century and continually expanded through the 19th century.

The Catholic chapel.

After the castle, we had a wonderful lunch cruise, then went to the "underground" museum; it has a great tour of the underground ruins of medieval Turku.

Skeletal remains of a dog.

An early chapel, recreated.

Turku, Finland

2009-08-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

The last part of our Finland trip, Turku. Turku was once the capital of Finland until 1809, when the Russians took control. The day we arrived, the annual midsummer's festival (I think) was taking place. Tons of people, loud music, and lots of alcohol. The river was lined with people, there was bungee jumping, and people everywhere. That's the Turku Cathedral in the background.

Paavo Nurmi, the great long distance runner and Olympic gold medalist of the late 50s early 60s was the first Finn I ever heard of. This statue of him was in a small park near the river.

Turku Castle, a medieval castle.

A passageway in the castle.

St Petersburg Food--Part II

2009-08-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

Our lunch stop on our guided tour. I won't make any other comment except that the restaurant is named after Dostoevsky's book "The Idiot."

These crepe style pancakes are a staple. We saw them in several places, for breakfast and lunch. I had them with sour cream and caviar.

Peg's came stuffed with mushrooms and tied into these little "purses."

We also ate at a restaurant named after another famous Russian. We sat outside here. It was quite good, also.

This was a caviar terrine, with marzapone cheese and caviar. Yummy!

Our last meal in St Petersburg was at DaVinci's. We had beef stroganoff and borscht. Quite a nice ending before we went back to the train!

St Petersburg Food --Part I

2009-08-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

We ate, the first night, at a little restaurant right next to our hotel. It was quite good, but service was s-l-o-w. Sue and Peg said it was a "one wok restaurant," a saying of their after being at a Chinese restauarant where each dish came out one at at time. Pretty much like ours did here. This was borscht (beet soup). Very good! It can be hot or cold, apparently. Mine was hot.

Fred got a pork cutlet. His was very good.

I got a potato, mushroom and "meat," local style. It was good, but the meat was a little chewy. Horse?

Here's the window for the restaurant.

The Hermitage, Part II (St Petersburg)

2009-08-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

One of the miles of halls we walked at the Hermitage. Fred and our guide Inna have their backs to us.

One of the beautiful rooms. I believe this was a ballroom.

Richly decorated hall.

And an even more richly decorated hall.

The Hermitage, Part I (St Petersburg)

2009-08-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

The Hermitage is one of the world's great art museums! Here is a bit of what we saw...

One of the great staircases...

One of the many beautiful parquet floors.

One of the rooms, now a display hall. The glass display contains a clock. That's our guide with her back to us.

Detail from the peacock clock. On the hour, the wings would move, the rooster at right would crow and an owl not seen would blink its eyes.

St Petersburg, Part II

2009-07-31T22:00:00.002-07:00

This was one of the few reminders of the Soviet period, other than blocks of apartment buildings in the modern part of St. Petersburg. Our guide said that there were still a number of statues to Soviet leaders in the city.

As I said earlier, my favorite thing to photograph, the Church of the Spilled Blood...

The Summer Palace and some of its famous fountains. No pictures were allowed inside.

Another view of the gardens and the fountains of the Summer Palace of Catherine the Great, among others...

St Petersburg, Russia

2009-07-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have tons of pics from St Petersburg, just a few for the blog right now...

Without a doubt my favorite thing to photograph in St Petersburg, the Church of the Spilled Blood, here shown with the Canal going by. I didn't realize there are canals all over St Petersburg, and 412 bridges.

One of the many typical Russian restaurants. Our guide's favorite was McDonalds...

The Hermitage, after possibly the Vatican, the world's greatest art museum.

Oh, and Palace. The Hermitage was also a palace. I've been through many glorious mansions in the US, but none of them had throne rooms.

Estonia, Tallinn

2009-07-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

A view of the "old" city.

The gang, except Sue who is taking the picture.

An Eastern Orthodox church in Talinn, Estonia.

The ferries that go to Finland...we were on the green one!

2009-07-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

An old tower. The whole town had been rebuilt after bombing by the Russians.

There are some people dressed in traditional garb. Note the shoes!

Then, there are more modern devices.

The Talinn opera house, also showing the film "Milk."

Finland Day 5--Estonia

2009-07-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

We took a 2 hour ferry ride over to Tallinn, Estonia. Here we are going through the city gate towards a fine Estonian restaurant.

The old wall has a ton of artisans with hand made crafts. We looked but didn't buy!

Some churches in Estonia

Lake House & Sauna, Heinola, Finland

2009-07-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Fred enjoying his sauna

Fred cooling off after his sauna

The wonderful lunch Kaisu and Oula fixed for us.

The view of the lake from the cabin. This is where Fred is swimming in the earlier picture.

Saturday in Heinola, Finland

2009-07-26T14:05:00.001-07:00

Outi's friend Kaisu invited us to spend the day at her summer home. It was quite lovely.

In the afternoon, having coffee in the sun. Outi, Peg, Kaisu, another friend Oula, and Fred.

Some of the beautiful flowers and the lake behind.

Another shot of the flowers.

Lahti, Finland

2009-07-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

Another view of the ski jumps in Lahti, we were at the top of the tallest one.

Peg, Outi's friend who took us around Lahti, Outi and Fred in front of the Sibellius Concert Hall in Lahti.

Market at Heinola

2009-07-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

We went shopping with Outi at the local market in Heinola. It had wonderful fruits and vegetables as well as clothing, brooms, hardware and other things. Heinola is a town of 22,000 people.

Fred and Outi in front of the oldest town in Heinola, from 1785.

In Lahti, the ski jump. At the bottom is a pool, open in the summer. In the winter, that is covered and is where the ski jumpers finish after they land the jump. These ski jumps are used in the world champtionships when they come to Finland.

15th century church in Lahti, with the 18th century bell tower. It began as Catholic and became Lutheran after the reformation. About 90 per cent of Finns are Lutheran. Eastern Orthodox is the next largest denomination because of the Russian influence in Finland.

View from Hotel in Heinola, Finland

2009-07-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

We are on a river, don't know the name, that feeds to the Gulf of Finland. It's beautiful, great birding, the temperature and weather last night and this morning are perfect! Fred just arrived, so we're heading off to breakfast!

Finland Day 1 - Helsinki & Heinola

2009-07-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

Peg arriving off our plane in Helsinki. You can see Sue on the steps behind the lady in blue. Fred and I were already on the bus. The plane held about 200 people, and was full. All of us slept for most of the trip (except lunch). Sue slept for the whole trip!

Another view of the plane and ramp and the kind of bus that took us to the terminal. It was a beautiful sunny day!

Outi's house in Finland and the stagion wagon that took five of us (including Outi) and our luggage from the airport.

Fred reading in Outi's garden. I took this picture before I raided the raspberries!

Sunday's Organ Concert

2009-03-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

It was so hot and sunny people at the organ concert rented umbrellas to sit under. We had to sit on the shady side for a change.

Fred and I picked Peg up at the airport in style. A big change from the weather she left behind in DC.

Wednesday, cool and clear!

2009-02-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

In the low 40s this morning, I could see my breath! I didn't venture past the patio, but still managed to see the moon set and the sun rise.Here's the just-past-full moon in the western sky, over the roof of the condo.

The view of the sunrise from the patio, across the channel!

Yesterday was a quiet day enjoying the sunshine, running errands. The San Diegans were wearing heavy jackets. I told someone I was from Virginia and they accused me of bringing the cold! (Although since most people here think Virginia is quite warm, being in the deep South : ) I was surprised at the comment!)

Rainy Sunday in San Diego

2009-02-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday was supposed to be rain off and on, we decided to take advantage of the off and go to the outdoor organ concert in Balboa Park. Clouds would obscure the sun, and it would be cool, but in the sun it was quite warm. We got home just ahead of the next storm.

Storm clouds do make for spectacular sunsets. This from our balcony at the condo.

A Rainy Day in San Diego is better than a sunny day most other places...

2009-02-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Saturday) was a classic rainy day in San Diego. It rained in the morning and the evening, but most of the middle of the day was sunny. We hung around the condo for awhile and then went out in the evening to have dinner with a friend here. It started to rain as we headed north to Poway, and rained some coming home, but this morning, forecast to be another rainy day, the sun is again shining brightly. Hopefully it will hold for this afternoon's organ concert. Here's what I woke up to this morning (slept past sunrise!!!!)

Our neighbors told us that a gull had been tapping on their window begging, so they fed it every morning. The Western Gull
was back this morning, though I'm afraid they left today!

A Change in the Weather

2009-02-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Fred and I took a bike ride around Mission Bay, saw some people enjoying the day before the rain arrived in the evening.

Friday night we went downtown to see the silent movie Phantom of the Opera, 1925/1929 version, at the San Diego Symphony Hall, near the Gaslamp district. We were just parking the car when we heard this huge crash. Two cars had met in the intersection maybe 50 feet away. Don't know which one ran the red light, but no one was hurt seriously. The three people are all shown below. The gentleman in white was in a BMW SUV, pretty badly damaged in the front. His airbag deployed, and, after the intial impact, he rolled into a parked BMW sedan which bumped the car in front, for a total of 4 cars involved. The young Marine in black later complained of back pain and went off in an ambulance. His wife, right side with back to us, said she was OK. She had to exit their car on the driver's side.

We finally went on to dinner and the movie, both of which were uneventful but very pleasant. The 1921 organ is not fully restored, so the organist used it sparingly but effectively. The symphony hall was an old Fox theatre embedded in a modern building. I'm going to have to do more research on it.

No beautiful sunrise this morning. Here's the view from our window this morning. That's Dog Beach across the channel... Fred ran this morning and then this afternoon we're going to go visit our friend Dean for dinner, stopping for a little birding on the way.

As I post this, it's brighter and more blue sky is visible. Rain predicted, off and on, through Monday.

Sunrise Thursday February 5, 2009

2009-02-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

This morning's sunrise picture. It's supposed to rain for the next few days, the temperature here will only be a little warmer than that predicted for the Washington, DC area.

We tried to take a bike ride yesterday, but the business we can get free bikes through was closed. We're going to try a different place today. Biking is supposed to be good for my knee. Fred just got back from running and we're debating a hot tub.

Yes, another morning in paradise

2009-02-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

Here is yesterday morning's sunrise. I'm getting ready to go out this morning, probably the last good morning for a few days as SD's rainy season is supposed to hit for a few days. I think this is the last morning Fred will join me. Three is a record for him, I think.

I love watching pelicans fly...

Apparently, this Mission Bay resident is collecting abandoned shoes.

Wednesday morning, a real volleyball game was going on. Usually at that hour, there are just people practicing. This is very near to our condo, just down the street on the beach on Mission Point. There are six to eight cours and one or two are usually in use when we (I) go by in the morning.

Tuesday, Part II

2009-02-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

Forgot that I can only upload four pictures at a time using Picasa' s blogger interface. Here are the last two pics. Here's the PT Cruiser Convertible we rented. It doesn't look so bad from this angle. We do like putting the top down in this weather!

Another day, another sunset.

Tuesday's Photos

2009-02-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

I'm getting caught up, pictures are only one day late in posting now. Here's a shot just after sunrise of Mission Bay with the early light on the boats. So beautiful!

Birds of Paradise are everywhere, as are poinsettias, jade plants and all sorts of things we in the
East are not used to seeing growing in outdoor gardens.

We looked out the window in the condo and saw this kayaker going by. Unusual paddling style.

Small lizard at Cabrillo National Monument. We haven't looked him up yet, any ideas? It was probably the most perfect weather we've ever had at Cabrillo, we were perfectly comfortable with short sleeves, even out on the point. We didn't see any whales, we did see one small child on a bike almost go over the edge. Pretty scarey, but all ended well. Very few birds on that trip, though we did see some feral parakeets on the way out to Pt Loma (more on the bird blog).

Our first couple days

2009-02-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

It's so beautiful here; we got into town Sunday night, picked up the rental car (we were forced to take a PT Cruiser convertible, it was all they had at the rental car agency) and headed right to Balboa Park, five minutes away, to catch most of the free outdoor organ concert. The weather was beautiful; people were actually in shorts! The next morning, Fred actually joined me for the sunrise walk. Above, a fisherman makes his predawn passage to the ocean from the bay on the channel that goes by our front door. Below, a pelican, like us, greets the dawn.

We joined several others in watching the sunset Monday evening after a perfect day. We got settled into the condo, got our groceries, walked on the boardwalk and the bay and met the neighbors. It's very peaceful here. Tuesday we will go out to Pt. Loma.

Last look at the condo

2007-03-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Here's the infamous hot tub that we spent so many hours soaking in and calling people in the snowbound east.

A last look at the view from our balcony.

A fishing boat goes out the channel for the day's work.

Last Sunset at Mission Beach

2007-03-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

Well, the last one we'll see this year, anyway.

Moon over Mission Point

2007-03-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

As we watched the sunset, I looked back and saw that the moon had risen over Mission Point. You can't see our condo in this shot, but it's just in front of and to the left of that white building that you can see. The road and the jetty that run right past our condo.

Fred, sunset at Mission Beach

2007-03-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

Fred watches our last sunset at Mission Beach for this year. It was a beauty!

Wild Animal Park

2007-03-02T23:58:00.000-08:00

These Okapi are the only animal related to the giraffe. They have long blue tongues, like giraffes.

Pink flamingos. The Land Rover is part of the exhibit.

Abyssinian Ground-Hornbills. (Thanks to Larry from Missouri for this info.) They looked prehistoric.

One of our favorites, the gorilla exhibit. Signs warn you not to make eye contact.

Wild Animal Park

2007-03-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

On or trip to the Wild Animal Park, we saw these white rhinos.

The giraffes were far away, but we could see that one was a baby!

Black rhino.

Marabou Stork. (Thanks to Larry from Missouri for that information!) Love that curly hair! Lots of fly-in birds were hanging around these birds, as they had just been fed cow spleens. Great blue heron, snowy egrets, a great egret and a black-crowned night heron were all hanging around.

San Diego Sunset

2007-03-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

The view from our rented condo at sunset. Aaahhhh.

Flamingo Parade

2007-02-28T09:58:00.000-08:00

While Fred and I were on the Pelagic Bird Trip (see earlier posts), I met Mary who works with the birds at SeaWorld. She told us, if we came to SeaWorld, not to miss the Flamingo Parade every day at 10:30. We managed to find them (it wasn't really difficult--we looked for flamingos in the middle of the sidewalk and a crowd of people taking photographs.)

These are young flamingos who have been hand-raised. I think they are about six months old at this point and just beginning to get their color, which comes from their diet. In the picture above, you can see a bit of the salmon color under the wing, which Mary said is the first place it appears. Below, Mary is bonding with a flamingo.

This handler was one of the two who hand-raised the flamingos and this one in particular was very bonded to him. It kept approaching him and nudging him with its head. He would mimic the flamingo behavior to include making croaking calls. The flamingos have a strong flock instinct, and when he would leave, they would all follow.

Sea World Dolphin Show

2007-02-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

We decided to sit way up at the Dolphin show. There were seats in the "spash zone" which we declined to take. The second picture shows why. The dolphins and pilot whales started the show by swimming around the enclosure purposely splashing water over the edge.

One can't really get a true perspective on how high this dolphin was jumping. It was incredible!

This dolphin was propelling itself around the pool "standing up!"

Dolphin Show

2007-02-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

I believe this was an audience participant? At least it was supposed to be. Glad it wasn't me.

At the end of the show, each of the handlers did a stunt with their charge.

Pilot Whale

2007-02-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

As part of the Dolphin Show, this pilot whale did various tricks, including this pose on a shelf.

Penguin

2007-02-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

The main penguin exhibit was closed but we could look at these Magellanic penguins outside. There were about a dozen of them swimming very actively, popping up out of the water then diving again.

Polar Bears

2007-02-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

You know I would have pictures of the polar bears, didn't you? This was the best polar bear exhibit I'd seen. We could watch them from above the water and below. There were two bears, and they were very active. They spent a lot of time playing with floating objects in the water. It was hysterical to see one of them trying to climb on the little plastic iceburg in the middle picture. Of course, it sank and he fell off!

Beluga Whales

2007-02-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

Seaworld had a great Beluga whale exhibit. I didn't know anything about them, including the fact that they were white. Beluga means "white" in Russian. This was another exhibit where we could see the creatures from above and below the water.

This creepy looking fish was swimming with the manatees.

Manatees

2007-02-28T08:33:00.001-08:00

We were surprised to see that San Diego SeaWorld had a manatee exhibit. Injured manatees from Florida are flown to San Diego for rehabilitation. When healthy, they are returned to Florida and the wild. In the lower two pictures you can see the white scars from propellers on one of the manatees. In the middle picture, the scar is in the lower right corner of the picture. It was a massive scar; only a little is shown in the picture. It was awe inspiring to see these incredible creatures float gently through the water like giant balloons.

Sea Turtles and Shamu

2007-02-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

It took us awhile, but we finally found the sea turtles. There about seven or eight that we could see, and they weren't all the same kind, it did not appear. This one's shell was overlapping plates, like a suit of armor.

We were going to attend the Shamu show, but the noon show was cancelled due to "technical difficulties." Ahh, those killer whales are so hard to mike up, aren't they?
We did go to Shamu enclosure to see them. You could go to a lower level and watch them underwater. As this one circled, these two kids would race it along the glass.

Goodbye to SeaWorld

2007-02-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

When we entered SeaWorld, a Penguin greeted us. As we left, this Walrus waved good-bye.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

--Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html

Good-bye to Seaworld

2007-02-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

When we arrived at Seaworld, a Penguin greeted us. Now, as we left after a very satisfying day, this mournful Walrus was at the gate waving goodbye. I guess the handler was there to keep him from mauling anyone, LOL!

Good Morning!

2007-02-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

No words necessary.

Hot Tub on a cool day

2007-02-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

Fred and I decided to enjoy the hot tub for a bit this morning.

Catching up on posts

2007-02-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

As we traveled cross country, we didn't always have internet access (though we had it more often than previous years, even in small towns). I didn't get some posts made that I really wanted to make, so I'm going to do catch up this week. I'll leave these "catchup" posts at the head of the blog for a few days and then move them to their proper date. Be sure to page down to catch the San Diego posts that I made this week!

Montgomery, Alabama

2007-02-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

We left Birmingham and drove down to Montgomery, getting there just in time to go into the Southern Poverty Law Center to see Montgomery's Civil Rights Memorial. Below, the state capitol.

Montgonery's Civil Rights Memorial was designed by Maya Lin, who designed Washington, DC's Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. It is as beautiful and poignant as the Vietnam Memorial. There is a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. on the wall; the cone-shaped fountain has a flat surface with the names of those martyred during the fight for civil rights. See http://ww.splcenter.org/crm/memorial.jsp for more information.

Birmingham, Alabama

2007-02-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Sixteenth Street Baptist. This is the church that was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963, killing four little girls and injuring 22 people, including a four-year old girl. It was undergoing major restoration while we were there.

The sanctuary of the church. The windows on the right were damaged in the 1963 bombing.

One of the stained glass windows. This window essentially survived the explosion except for the face of Jesus, which was blown out, and a very small bit of his red robe. Pictures after the explosion show the oval hole where the face used to be. Eerie.

As in more recent events, the world reacted to the horrific act. An artist in Wales designed this window, with a black Jesus being crucified, for the church after a dream. It replaced a window destroyed in the bombing. School children from Wales sent money to help in the restoration of the church.

Birmingham: Kelly Ingram Park

2007-02-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

More pictures from the Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham.

These children are turning their backs to the water cannon.

There's a memorial to the people who had the dogs set on them.

Several homeless men hang out in the park and give tours for a donation. They were very good.

Pelagic Trip to Los Coronados, Mexico

2007-02-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

Fred and I took a Pelagic Birding Trip as part of the San Diego Birding Festival. To Fred's dismay and regret, the bus left at 6AM. According to Webster's pelagic means "of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea." With birds, it means birds which spend the greater part of their time at sea. The albatross is an example of a pelagic bird.

Here we are waiting for the boat at Harbor Island. Fred is by the tree, with the blue cap.

A black crowned night heron watches us dubiously. There were five or six of these, that we saw, as we walked onto the dock.

Downtown San Diego, from the boat, through the fog. The sun is trying to burn the fog off, and eventually succeeded. We had a beautiful day despite the earlier dismal forecasts.

Sea lion. Our guides told us that the sea lions do this to cool off. Looks like fun.

Pelagic Trip to Los Coronados Islands, Mexico

2007-02-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

The view of the old Pt Loma Lighthouse from the boat. The fog is burning off.

The new Point Loma Lighthouse. It was still pretty foggy at water level.

Three of a whole flight of pelicans.

Dolphins swam with the boat. These were common dolphins.

Pelagic Trip to Mexico's Los Coronados Islands

2007-02-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

An America's Cup yacht goes by as we leave the harbor. The harbor near Shelter Island is "America's Cup Harbor."

The highlight of the trip was this Blue-Footed Booby. A very rare bird indeed for Los Coronados Islands.

Pat Coe of California spotted the Blue-Footed Booby. She was the star of the trip.

Los Coronados as we pull away from them.

Pelagic Trip to Mexico's Los Coronados

2007-02-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

Brown Booby flying right at us. We saw many of these on the islands.

Elephant seals on the beach. These seals are enormous. They can hold their breath up to 45 minutes underwater.

Los Coronados Islands. There are cormorants on top of the the white rock, for scale. (This rock is probably not naturally white.)

Los Coronados Islands.

Sunset Cliffs and Point Loma

2007-02-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

Fred and I drove out along Sunset Cliffs. This peace symbol, on Cormorant Rock, is new since last year. Apparently the cormorants wanted to make a statement.

We got to our favorite lunch spot at Point Loma, just below the visitor center and enjoyed the warm sun. See my bird blog at www.birdlist.blogspot.com for pictures of some of the birds we saw there.

This is the view from the Visitor Center. There were four submarines at the docks.

San Diego Bay, with the fog coming in.

Point Loma, San Diego

2007-02-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

It was foggy today at Mission Bay, so we drove up to Point Loma to see how things were there.

When we got there, it was quite sunny and hot.

Miata at Point Loma. San Diego in the back ground.

The original Point Loma lighthouse. The current lighthouse is below this. Fred and I stayed there once when we knew the Coast Guard person living at the light house. We heard the fog horn up close and personal all night long.

The Cabrillo National Monument visitor center, with downtown San Diego in the distance behind it, and the Cabrillo statue on the right.

Fog and No Fog

2007-02-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd show the difference in our view on a clear day (top, yesterday) and a day when the "marine layer" rolls in (bottom, today). It's not ALL sunshine here! And it's only going to be in the 60s today instead of yesterday's record 83!

Miscellaneous Pics from Saturday

2007-02-05T08:13:00.001-08:00

Fred coming back from his run. Always a good thing.

I guess these people don't have a motor, so they row out of the channel. Never saw this before on such a large boat.

The beach volleyball games were in full swing.

The couple that surfs together stays together. I wonder how long they've been surfing together? No spring chickens, these!

Dolphins in the Channel

2007-02-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

First thing I saw when I got up was this view of a pair of dolphins swimming into the channel. About a half hour later they, or another pair, swam back out. In addition to the dolphin, I saw about a dozen loons swimming in (there will be pictures on the bird blog www.birdlist.blogspot.com) and a sea lion. And of course, some cormorants, fishing boats, dogs on Dog Beach behind the dolphins.

Balboa Park, Sunday afternoon

2007-02-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Sunday turned out to be one of the best weather days we've ever had in San Diego. (Sorry to our East Coast friends who might be reading this.) We headed out to Balboa Park to take advantage of the weather. Below is one of the buildings at the park; don't know which one, it was just beautiful, though.

One of the many street performers at the park today. He was just outside the Botanical Building.

Botanical Building and Lily Pond, Balboa Park

2007-02-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

This spectacular building is the Botanical Building at Balboa Park, built for the 1915 Exposition. According to www.balboapark.org, it's one of the most photographed spots in the park. Ok, so I'm trite. It's still great. Inside was a great orchid exhibit.

Fun on a Sunday at Balboa Park

2007-02-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

Balboa Park was full of people enjoying the very warm day. Some looked like they had come from church. The fountains are always kid magnets.

There's an artisan village at Balboa Park. This lady (below) was a glass blower.

Balboa Park Carousel

2007-02-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

The carousel is one of our must go to places, whether we ride or just watch. It's one of the few carousels that still offers a gold ring for a free ride.

Today, the boy shown below was compelling. He really wanted that golden ring
!

In this first picture (above) the carousel is not moving yet. He's working on his form.

Reach for it!

Got it!

And here's the ticket for the free ride. Even the giraffe seems to be celebrating!

Balboa Park Organ Concert

2007-02-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

We went, as always, to the Sunday afternoon outdoor organ concert at Balboa Park. It was such a beautiful day; and we knew it would be even warmer inland at the Park.

The Spreckels Pavillion was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition and deeded to the city. The organ now has 4518 pipes in 73 ranks. That means something to organ people. To me it means there are a whole lotta pipes. The smallest one is the size of a pencil. I forget how big the largest is. There is an outdoor concert here every Sunday, rain or shine. If it rains, the console is kept right next to the pavillion. There is a metal wall that slides down over the pipes and the console when not in use. For more info, see http://www.sosorgan.com

Carole Williams, the Civic Organist for San Diego and Lyle Blackington, Curator of the Spreckels Organ

Fred at the Spreckels Organ console.

La Jolla

2007-02-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

We decided the Miata deserved a good washing, so took it to our favorite car wash in La Jolla and gave it the "gold" treatment. Then we cruised with the top down through La Jolla. We had lunch outside in one of our favorite places. It was a beautiful day, but we did manage to find a parking space (Betsy's Rule: if you find a parking space in La Jolla along the cove, take it, even if you weren't going to stop!) The pelicans and cormorants were enjoying the day too.

Waking Up in San DIego

2007-02-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a view of our first morning in San Diego this year. From top to botton, the view across the Mission Bay; two views of sunrise, and the view from our window. Today will be spent getting organized, going grocery shopping, perhaps lunch in La Jolla. The good weather comes this weekend, we hear.

We Arrive in San Diego

2007-02-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Here is Art and Kathy's Miata parked in front of the condo while we unload. Picture taken from the balcony of our unit. Tough view, huh? Below, Fred gives the Miata a pat for a job well done after parking it in its garage, around the corner from the condo.

Kelly Ingram Park

2007-01-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

Across from the museum is the Kelly Ingram Park, the site of large scale demonstrations during the civil rights era. There is a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. and memorials to the demonstrations. Fred is shown with the monument depicting the water cannons which were trained on the children. We arrived fairly late on the 26th, so came back on the 27th to tour the Institute.