North Carolina Trip - June 2014

Home Sweet Home

I am writing this at home having just returned from five days visiting Liam and his family in Charlotte.  After four trips in five weeks, I will be home till July 15 when we leave for Kansas City to celebrate Mom's 102nd birthday.  While I was in Charlotte, I learned of the passing of Joe Hetzler, a good friend and a member of our men's spirituality group.  Joe had been struggling with a number of health issues.  He showed courage, great wit, and unshakable faith to the end.  Today's gospel speaks of building our house on rock rather than sand and that is what Joe did.  He will be missed.

I had a great visit in Charlotte.  Normally there are a lot of sports activities but this was kind of a in-between time with everyone relaxing and getting used to summer.  The weather was hot and humid and didn't make for a lot of outdoor activity.  In fact, I did go on a bike ride with Liam and we had to cut it short before he had a chance to be a "secret shopper" hauling me into an emergency department!  I do a lot of bike riding here in comfy old Rochester but the combination of an unfamiliar bike and a heat index into the nineties got the better of me.  We were cycling because Liam is training for a triathlon in early August.  Hopefully this will be early in the morning.

He has run in four marathons so he is adding cycling and open water swimming to his portfolio  as well as all the NECESSARY equipment. While there may be some--his wife might be one--who think that the issue is looking good, it is important to have the right hardware and clothing to compete at this level.  Of course, looking good certainly doesn't slow you down.

What would slow you down, however, might be trips to the Nothing Bundt Cake store or Gigi's Cupcakes, both of which trips we took while I was there.  Having consumed goods from both places plus Marcie's brownies and all those delicious meals, I need to get back to normal eating.

We spent some time at the community pool.  Eibhlin had fun with a friend while Liam tried to swim laps avoiding the kids and even an occassional adult who keep wandering into his lane.  You can see some of Eihblin in action in the video below.

You can see more videos of Liam swimming and Liam Jacob at his OTA for high school football by clicking this link:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX11SvLDSKuQCNvm-iGvFbYaoW5hTuTTl

You can also view photos in the Picasa album by clicking here.

Southern California Trip - Fourth and Last Day in San Diego

Saturday was our last day in San Diego and we decided to visit multiple sites rather than spend the day at Sea World.  It will be there for our next trip.  Of course, so will all the places we went.  We spent four full days here and still have days more of places to see and experience.  We began this day at Mission San Diego de Alcala, founded by Blessed Junipero Serra, OSF, on July 16, 1769.  It was the first of the 21 missions established in Alta California.  It still functions as a parish today.  In fact, there was a wedding underway so that we to wait to enter the interior of the mission church.  The grounds and several restored rooms kept us busy until we could get inside and take a couple of photos.  The bougainvillea was in full and glorious bloom as it is throughout much of the year.  The picture at the left can serve as a icon for San Diego:  white buildings, Spanish influence, flowers and blue, blue skies.

After spending an hour walking the campus of the Unviersity of San Diego where I worked for seven years, we went to Seaport Village, one of our favorite spots.  We had lunch at Harbor House and walked around looking at people, the bay, the kites, and the shops.  My favorite shot is above which shows a Ben & Jerry's side by side with a Fudge Factory.  "Is this heaven?"  "No, it's San Diego."

Our next stop was the Cabrillo National Monument on Pt. Loma.  This is the spot where Europeans first saw the bay. Just 50 years after the voyage of Columbus,Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo set foot on the West Coast of California in 1542. Unfortunately we arrived just 15 minutes before closing and so only able to get to a single vantage point and take few photos. Much remains to seen and experienced here on a future trip.

(l-r) Submarine base, North Island NAS, downtown San Diego, Coronado, Mexico

You might think that finished our day but it did not.  We drove from Pt. Loma to Balboa Park where we walked through this marvelous collection of buildings, the core of which were constructed for two world's fairs held here:  the 1915-15 California-Panama Exposition and the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition.  The park is home not only to the San Diego Zoo but to a variety of museums, stage theaters and cultural institutions.  The park's tag line--A landscape of art and culture--says it all.  There were photos everywhere I looked.  

Finally, our day ended with a pizza and then catching a 10:40 PM flight home where we arrived Sunday morning and began recuperating on our own photogenic deck.  

You can view all the photos from our last day by clicking here and going to the Picasa album.

Southern California Trip - Third Day in San Diego

What would a trip to San Diego be without a visit to the world famous San Diego Zoo?  Especially if one of the tourists had never been and the other one had been for 30 years?  Not much.  So Friday saw us head for the zoo and we stayed from 9:30 until 6:00.  What a day!

We began by listening to a concert by three New Guinea Singing Dogs.  We had just entered and I got this nice picture but didn't get the video cranked up in time.  However, you can click here to listen to a short YouTube video of a chorus.

We spent the day walking, riding a narrated tour bus, flying high above the zoo on the gondola, and taking the handy moving sidewalks up steep hills.  We were constantly lost even though we had a map but were entertained no matter where we turned or what we saw.  We even experienced a 4D showing of clips from Ice Age and it was a hoot.  Our first experience of what that 4th D was happened when a character on screen sneezed and we were all sprayed with water and that was only the beginning.

My favorite exhibit 30 years ago was there and it did not fail to entertain:  the aviary that climbs one of the steep canyon sides.  As you go higher you find yourself at eye with birds living, working, and singing at tree top level.

We saw all the classic favorites:  elephants, zebras, lions, tigers, and a hippo.  We happened by the hippo exhibit just as he/she was taking a dip in the pool and then coming over to the underwater window to get up close and personal with some kids.  Well, here, just play the video below.




We also saw the pandas although not the preemie that was delivered Caesarian last month.  We did see the male who sat with his back to all of us which the guide said was not unusual.  I did get a bit of view of the face when we were high above the exhibit on a tour bus.

And of course I couldn't resist taking photos of Marilyn.  I especially like this one with the tower of the Prado in Balboa Park in the distance.  We kept hearing that this zoo is more than a zoo.  It is also a certified botanical garden, an animal conservancy, a breeding facility for endangered species--The California Condor breeding program has brought the population in the wild from less than 20 to over 300--and a world-wide research facility.  You can read more about the zoo by clicking here.  If you really want to see something cool, check out the animal live cams.  Here is the link to the Koala Cam.  Note the grass moving in the live feed but no motion from the star.  Apparently they sleep about 22 hours a day.  All that eucalyptus makes them sleepy.

That evening we had a special time with Paula Fitzgibbons and her husband, Peter, and their three children.  We met at Fletcher Cove Park in Solana Beach about half way between where we were staying and their home in Vista.  Paula was Amy's closest  high school girl friend and they have re-connected through FaceBook and so did I.  In addition to a lovely evening of catching up, we also saw a spectacular sunset as only California can provide.

There are many more photos in the Picasa album which you can view by clicking here.

Southern California Trip - Second Day in San Diego

The day after Robert's commencement, we drove down to San Diego.  Following the suggestion of Paula Fitzgibbon, a friend from my San Diego day who has moved back home, we stopped at the San Diego Botanical Garden just off I-5 in Encinitas.  What a great place.  We spent at least four hours waking through the gardens and displays.

While Rochester is known as the Flower City (originally the Flour City in the 19th C for all the milling along the river) Encinitas is the heart of the Ecke poinsettia empire.  Truly anything will grow here with some water, of course.  They have a wonderful children's garden where the big kid I was traveling with had a grand time in the tree house.

The woman who was volunteering at the coffee cart had attended Brockport State College and Marilyn struck up an interesting conversation with her.  She suggested that we also stop at the Meditation Garden on the grounds of the Self Realization Fellowship in Encinitas.  This was the original location of the temple and the fellowship established by Paramahansa Yogananda.  The original temple on this site had to be demolished because of extreme cliff erosion and collapse.  A retreat center now occupies the grounds with beautiful gardens open to the public.  The setting is peaceful and the views of the Pacific inspiring.

Words can hardly do justice to these two settings.  You can find 40 or so images in the Picasa album by clicking here.

After checking into our hotel, we were treated to dinner by Sean who was in San Diego for a business meeting.  It was great to see him twice in three weeks.  We will be seeing him in Kansas City next month for Mom's 102nd birthday.

Southern California Trip - Huntington Beach

We spent two full days in Huntington Beach staying with Galen and his family.  We celebrated Thomas and Maggie's eleventh birthday with a family dinner at a local Japanese restaurant, one of their favorite places to eat.  We also spent several hours on the Long Beach campus sitting in on one of Galen's lectures and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.  Marilyn also got in some shopping at the campus store and found some great bargains.

The next day was a time for graduations or, in the case of Thomas, a "culmination."  This is the local term of art for promotion from primary to middle school.  Maggie's event happened after we had left but we did get to see Thomas culminating.  He had a very good year at his new school.  Next year he and Maggie will be going to the same middle school.  Both are very excited about going.

The big event was Robert's graduation from Huntington Beach High School.  He graduated with high academic honors with a 3.9 GPA.  Next fall he will begin at the University of California-Santa Cruz.  We think is an excellent choice for him because of its strong emphasis on undergraduate education and the resident nature of the student body.  While he will begin in engineering, he wisely remains open to any area in which he becomes intrigued and engaged.  This is the strength of our educational system at the higher levels and it will serve a student like Robert very well.  He is delightful young man.  My only regret is that there apparently is no DVD of his performance on guitar of Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances."  He was in the Performing Arts Program at Huntington Beach High School and this was part of the spring concert.

Laura's parents, Ken and Anita, joined us for the celebration was well.  it was good to see them.  I had seen Anita a couple of times on my visits but it has been 20 years since I had seen Ken, at the wedding.  They are still taking all sorts of wonderful and adventurous vacations most recently three weeks in Madrid and Seville.

We left for San Diego the next morning having had another wonderful visit.  Bill had his unusual early morning conversations with Galen and once again he tricked himself into thinking he understood something about quantum mechanics!  Well, maybe this time, some of it will stick.

You can see a lot of great photos in the Picasa album by clicking here.

Southern California Trip - First Day in San Diego

We are on our week long trip to Southern California.  After finishing our 2014 Tour de Cure--thanks to all those who supported us--we got an afternoon flight and arrived in San Diego after 11:00 West Coast time.  We stayed at a nearby La Quinta and got started around 9:00.  We walked about six blocks to Old Towne where we looked around a bit and then boarded the San Diego Trolley for a trip downtown to the Santa Fe station.

The trolley was new to me and proved a very pleasant and efficient way to getting down to the harbor.  The Santa Fe station is small since, of course, it was the end of the line.  it has been beautifully rehabilitated and serves now as a transportation hub.

We spent the day down at the harbor.  First we toured the USS Midway.  Bill probably enjoyed that more than Marilyn but we both had an interesting and physically challenging time.  Going from deck to deck on the original ladders gave us an appreciation of how fit sailors must have been and perhaps how slender they might have been.

There were many interesting places on the ship and there are plenty of photos in the album below.  Here is one from the highest point on the ship where the air boss ran everything dealing with the aircraft.

We had lunch at one of the harbor-side restaurants.  Although this is the time for the "June gloom," it was pleasant enough to enjoy eating outside.

After lunch we took a two hour harbor cruise that include both north and south parts of the harbor.  We saw a lot of Navy ships--there are over 50 homeported in San Diego.  And then we saw some of the commercial and recreational areas as well.  Best of all we got some wonderful views of the San Diego skyline from the water.  Unfortunately with clouds and no sun, they were not a spectacular as they could have been.

When we finished the harbor tour, we hopped back on the trolley and headed back to Old Towne where we did a little shopping and a lot of eating of delicious Mexican food.  We also enjoyed watching some energetic dancing on a stage in the outdoor restaurant area.  check it out below.

You can click here to view a photo album of that busy day.