Burlington, Vermont

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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....

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

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

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....

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.