More photos

On the road (part 4) has pictures from the last few weeks in California.

Now anyone can comment

I turned off the “Google Accounts Only” feature for commenting after talking to several people who said they would have commented but they didn’t have a Google account. So, now anyone reading this blog is welcome and encouraged to comment.

Thanks to everyone who’s left comments. I appreciate the feedback.

Porgy and Bess at the LA Opera

Tuesday I spent the evening with the LA Opera for their performance of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The twenty dollar student rush ticket less than twenty rows from the stage was definitely a good deal. From the opening with the classic "Summertime" to the non-Hollywood ending I was riveted to my seat. The story of Porgy, the town beggar, and Bess, the town tramp, in an old southern shanty town tells a tale of love and loss from a distinctly post-slavery African American point of view. (The program pointed out the interesting fact: the author was white and the composer was Jewish.)

San Diego Zoo

Croc

Here’s an up-close and personal picture from the San Diego Zoo. I had a great time exploring with Matt, Michelle, and Aunt Sue. Like I think I mentioned before, this zoo has one of the best wild experiences I’ve visited.

Southern California

Matt and I are about to break the imaginary (at least I hope) barrier between southern and northern California. I just uploaded several new pictures in the set Southern California
from the last few days including Michelle’s visit. You can see we had some good video game time with the new Nintendo Wii and the almost classic Area 51 shoot-’em-up.

GPS Bliss

I found an internet cafe and was able to download and process some GPS information (Thank you GPSvisualizer.com).
The links below have detailed travel information from my GPS over the past few weeks.
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

The Little Door, dinner with a friend

Hollywood

Dinner last night with Matt’s friend Bree from elementary school gave us an inside look at the entertainment business. She works for a agency for directors and producers that sources work and negociates deals. Hollywood sounds like an interesting place where lots of artists who want to make their art and tons of people that grease the wheels. The details involved with orchestratating the symphony of a movie certainly necessitate a small army especially given the large sums of money.

The difference between travel and vacation

Bree described her view of the difference between a vacation and travel: vacations are totally planned while travel incorporates the ability to "float with the wind". What do you think?

Route 101 to Sunset Strip

Today’s ride along the coast of California proved my map right; there really is no open space left unbuilt in the LA basin. The only space that might be considered unbuilt is Camp Pendelton, but that’s by design.

The continuous swath of buildings in an environment that gets less rain than a desert gives the impression of a never-ending oasis. I wonder how water supply issues are addressed to the inhabitants?

The turn from the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) north towards West Hollywood took us from beautiful ocean vistas to endless suburbia. Imagine 30 miles of the most direct non-interstate route passing through a low-rise city with regular non-synchronized stop lights. Seeing the neighborhoods change from one theme to another reminded me of watching the foliage change along the ridgeline of the Ouichita (sp?) mountains in Oklahoma. In both places, small and sometimes not noticeable changes in the terrain lead to vastly different ecosystems.

After having a good time staying at the Standard Hotel Downtown, we decided to stay at the equally as unusual. From a shag carpet in the lobby that wraps up to the ceiling to the blue astroturf floor beside the pool, it’s obvious that a team of designers had fun. I particularly like the bright orange, like a crayon, themed bathroom with orange tiles and an orange sink.

Encinitas, a tasty mexican dish

Or at least it sounds like one. Encinitas is really the beach town where Matt and I stayed with Michelle this weekend. Michelle’s awesome aunt and uncle, Sue and Steve, have been great hosts. We’ve had a couple of great meals, including one followed by showdown on Area 51, my favorite shoot’em up, .

The Pacific Ocean here has a different feel than the Atlantic in Jacksonville. Here there are fist sized pebbles rubbed smooth by the perpetual ebb and flow of the surf. The slowly melting sandstone cliffs reveal houses that will one day join the pebbles. Sea vegetables litter the shore in a variety of greens. In Jacksonville, the long sandy white beaches are bounded by lush sand dunes with almost no elevation change. The consistency of the white sand is relatively uniform with bits and pieces of small shells throughout.

Yesterday we spent the day at one of the coolest zoos I’ve ever visited, the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park downtown. If there were no animals in this zoo it would still be an amazing botanical garden. Almost all of the cages are surrounded by a myriad of plants from around the world. There are no straight paths giving the park a very large feel. The windy paths snake past each other weaving a complex feeling but easily navigable set of routes.

We also got a chance to play with the new Nintendo Wii, which has to be one of the most fun consoles ever. With motion sensitive controls players have the ability to interact in a totally new way. Instead of mashing buttons to bowl or to golf, the player is required to make motions as if he is actually playing. It certainly brings a new level of interaction to gaming. Instead of sitting around on a couch passively playing, players get actively involved, rotating who’s in the playing area.

Tent farm @ Coachella

Tent farm

Matt and I each had a 7′x7′ square for our tents. After a fun weekend sleeping in the desert, I was certainly glad to return to civilization. My tent turned into an oven as soon as the sun came up.

This picture shows only a part of the giant field that was set up for campers. The white tent in the left background is in the middle of the field, so this image shows less than a quarter of the tents. Amazingly it was very civil and quiet (at least where we were, we slept through the helicopter and riot police visit).