Just after sunset, northwest bound from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to San Jose, California.
Cruising along at 38,000 feet and 382 knots according to the FlightRadar24 app.
(Image from FlightRadar24)
I’m thinking I would much rather be going from San Jose to Puerto Vallarta than the other way around, but I guess you have to come back home at some point.
Filed under Critters, Photography, Sunsets, Travel
There are places on the planet where it is damn near impossible to take a bad picture, no matter your equipment, skill level, or whatever. I’m sure there are folks who somehow do manage to screw it up, but they’re in a different class from us mere mortals.
For example: Brussels
I was here on my European trip that was part of my Pepperdine University EMBA program. (We also went to Prague, which I absolutely loved! See that “Search” box up there in the upper right?)
These first couple of pictures are from the Grand Place, filled with a zillion statues as well as a ton of great places to eat and drink, plus other shops.
I felt very protected from demons and devils here, lots of saints slaying them over most doorways.
There was incredibly ornate stonework and statues at every turn, which I was obsessed with.
The details and sheer number of these statues was overwhelming.
I found this lovely little plaza with a statue at the top for Cervantes (IYKYK) and below, Bela Bartok. (If you don’t know who Cervantes or Bartok are, or who’s on the Cervantes statue, go to Wikipedia and while you’re there, sign up to make a monthly donation, even if it’s only for $5 or $2 a month. I just did, for $25/month. Why? Well, check out who thinks that Wikipedia should be shut down because it’s “woke”…)
Interior of the Brussels Basilica. I might not be a church-going guy, but I’m a sucker for amazing architecture and stained glass!
St Catherine’s Cathedral exterior. Spectacular churches everywhere.
Parc de Bruxelles. Lots of parks and green spaces, all with tons of statues (old and new, ancient and modern), busts, fountains, and lakes. I took hundreds and thousands of pictures of them all.
Filed under Critters, Photography, Travel
I feel like I’m having some writer’s block or a dry spell or sorts. I’m so busy and tapped out and tired that I really don’t spend as much time taking pictures and getting out as I used to, and now that Daylight Saving Time ended I don’t seem to have any time when it’s light out where I’m not at the office. And I’m AT THE OFFICE, which is a totally different time dynamic than working from home. And of course, there’s the world to deal with. IYKYK.
I’m off my game.
On the one hand I’m feeling accomplished at the moment with a number of critical projects off my plate and I feel like I’m making a lot of progress on getting ahead of the game, which also feels good, I’m going to the gym and working out, which also is good.
But creatively, it’s just data mining through twenty years of digitial photographs.
I guess it could be worse. I might not have tens of thousands of photos to flip through.
And flipping through the photos looking for something to share is often a pleasant trip down memory lane. For example, I only get to the Ventura Pier and the beach about once every two or three years, but I usually really enjoy it. I should go back more often!
This whole random train-of-thought thing is odd. Sorry.
Filed under Critters, Paul, Photography, Travel
There are places on the planet where it is damn near impossible to take a bad picture, no matter your equipment, skill level, or whatever. I’m sure there are folks who somehow do manage to screw it up, but they’re in a different class from us mere mortals.
For example: London
My first stop has repeatedly been the Thames and the Battle of Britain monument. A favorite, it’s HUGE and wonderful.
A short walk to Parliament and Big Ben. It was grey and raining all day. That happens there a lot.
Some nice person figured that I might like to have proof that I was there. They were correct. Thank you, nice person!
St. James Park, looking toward Buckingham Palace. Not seen are the viscious geese that figured if I was there I just MUST have bread and was holding out on them.
Buckingham Palace.
Picadilly Square. Now getting dark and raining.
Trafalgar Square. Behind me was a guy on a unicycle playing bagpipes with flames shooting out the top. Not something you see every day.
The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. It would be nice to get to see a concert or organ recital at Royal Albert Hall some day.
One of my favorite London pictures – an ancient, tiny cottage in Hyde Park, with a steel and glass skyscraper just behind it. That’s London to me. Things hundreds of years old cheek & jowl to things built yesterday.
This was my second (third?) trip to London, in 2016, and all three have been about 18 hours long and a rush of how-much-can-I-cram-into-18-hours and how-little-sleep-can-I-survive-on-I’ll-sleep-on-the-plane-or-when-I’m-dead. It would be nice to go back for a few days or a week and see the city at a more leisurely pace.
Someday…
Filed under Photography, Travel
Twenty years ago, my one and only trip to the tip of Cape Cod.
It was very, very flat and very, very windy and sandy. We did not go swimming, no matter how competent that lifeguard looked.
Does that sign say “Danger” or “Dancer”? Twenty years that’s haunted me…
Filed under Photography, Travel
Again, Vermont, along Route 5, headed north along the Connecticut River
Oh, to be on a bicycle with no schedule, no deadlines, nothing ahead of you but a nice lunch and a maple creamee somewhere in White River Junction.
Maybe stop for a while on the bank down below the train tracks to do some fishing for bluegills, finding a shady spot, hoping the mosquitos aren’t biting and the fish are.
Filed under Photography, Travel
A spectacular shrine in Kyoto, Japan. Fushimi Inari.
I spent half a day climbing the mountain and wandering the pathways. I could have spent ten times that. I would love to be able to go to someplace like this whenever I need to stop thinking and just be.
Filed under Photography, Travel
Burbank is a charming little airport. It’s also old. Back in the day, one of the folks who flew out of there and worked there was Amelia Earhart.
This is in the lobby before you get to the TSA screening area. One of the next few times through there I’ll have to remember to look and see who the artist is.
It’s probably on that plate at the bottom or one of the posters right there.
This was more of a hit-&-run photographic opportunity. The TSA inspection line awaited…
Filed under Art, Photography, Travel
I love doing these.
They’re long. 13:41 and 9:44. Enjoy
Last weekend’s trip, taking off from Burbank.
A hazy, late afternoon descent from Central Kansas into MCI in Kansas City. The river at the very beginning is the Missouri, right near Wyandotte County Lake, which means it’s very near where I grew up in my grade school years.
Home now, just a quick out-on-Saturday, go to the game on Sunday, back-on-Monday trip.
It was also my first trip through Kansas City’s new airport. It’s wonderful and gorgeous!
The previous airport was built pre-9/11 and was very artsy and avante garde architecturally, but the need to put in security & TSA stations made it nearly impossible to actually function.
Many, many years and many billions of dollars later, the new airport opened up a year or so ago.
Tall ceilings, a ton of glass and natural light, plus artwork and sculptures everywhere, it’s highly functional, easy to get around, has a ton of space for now and for expansion.
Fancy, techno art.
Hanging, colorful, bubble-like art.
Lots and lots of gates – today I was at B66, which is waaaaay down there at the far end in the distance.
Lots of restaurants and shops, many of them selling Chiefs souveniers and gear, one or two selling Diet Coke instead of Pepsi. That’s the way to stick it to The Man!
There are so many excellent reasons to visit KC – pick one and go see the airport as well!
Filed under Photography, Travel
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