Monsters, Inc. Mosaic

Every time I go to Disneyland or Disney's California Adventure (DCA) I try to add to my collections. One such collection is photos of the various Disney Mosaics, like this one. Each mosaic is composed of lots of tiny photographs of visitors, Disney Characters, or other such items. When put together right, they form these neat pictures. Clearly someone wrote a pretty good program to create all these mosaics -- there are probably 100 or so of them. I can't see doing that by hand.

Thi photo isn't one of my better ones, but it was night and all I had was my pocket camera -- I did the best I could under such circumstances.

Other photo items I collect are the Mickey's 50 Ears and the "gold car" when applicable, for each ride. All these cool things are in celebration of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary, which is still being celebrated.

I don't really have my collections on line at this time, so you'll just have to wait until such time as I do post them. Just trust that I am growing my collection on each visit to the Disney parks.

Old Fashioned Kitchen

My photo club did something very San Diego Touristy this month -- well, nothing unusual there, really. This time though, it was more about what was San Diego like 100 years ago rather than what's new today. We started our downtown Gaslamp tour at the William Heath Davis House, which is the oldest surviving structure from what was "New Town" over 150 years ago. It was originally built in 1850 and now stands as a museum, and the starting point for a tour of the Gaslamp District and beyond.

This photo is of course, of their kitchen, equipped as one might expect to see it 100 years ago or so. OK, maybe back then there wasn't a photo on the stove, but let your mind wander to the past -- and your mouse to the title above and click. See some of the photos taken not only by me, but by the Photo Club of which I am a member.

If you're ever in the downtown area on a sunny afternoon and you want to kill a couple hours, I highly recommend checking out the tour, starting at the William Heath Davis House and run by the San Diego Historical Society.

World Baseball Classic Final Game

We had tickets for all three final World Baseball Classic games in San Diego. My sister and Brother-in-law left yesterday, so the whole family went with the Kenyons to this final game between Japan and Cuba. This was the pre-game show where the San Diego Symphony set up on 2nd base and performed several songs, one composed specifically for this event.

It was a fun game to watch with definite fans for each side, rooting their team on. We were in the minority -- not really caring who won, just wanting to watch a good game. It turned out to be more like triple-A ball maybe, but a fun game to watch nevertheless.

We did learn that maybe March is a little too early for baseball. It was pretty cold out there. Due to my Sister and Brother-in-Law's visit, I didn't go to the Saturday night game with the rest of the group -- which turned out to be a blessing 'cause it was wet and cold and miserable. The Saturday afternoon game was surprisingly pleasant and while a bit cold, this game was more or less dry.

This shot was taken with my pocket Nikon camera. I left the "good camera" at home.

World Baseball Classic

While my sister and brother-in-law were down visiting from Oregon, we went to watch the first of three World Classic Baseball games held at PetCo Park in downtown San Diego. We got to watch the Cuba vs. Dominican Republic semi-final game, where Cuba won, 3 to 1.

The weather had us worried. We came prepared for rain. We had parkas, blankets, coats, hats, umbrellas -- the works. Too bad it was very sunny -- and no one thought to bring sunscreen.

Click the title above for more photos from this day of baseball.

Heads or Tails?

Our theme park tour continues as we hit #4 in 4 days. To recap, Monday was the Zoo, Tuesday Seaworld, Wednesday was Disneyland and now we're at Wild Animal Park. Yet another day of walking around a lot. One bonus of the Wild Animal Park is the train that takes you around the large open spaces -- all for free, or should I say included with your admision. This photo of the zebras was taken from the train as we passed by -- pausing for pictures and a brief informative lecture from the train driver/tour guide.

Wild Animal Park doesn't quite have the collection that the zoo has, but what it does have is more natural, open spaces for the animals to wander, making you feel more like you're in Africa (or Asia -- whatever) than a visit to the zoo -- not that the zoo is bad, mind you.

Of course, as usual, the title link takes you to an album of photos taken today.

Day of Disney

What would a trip to So. Cal. be without a stop at Disneyland? Young or old, it doesn't matter -- everyone wants to go to Disneyland, so that's what we did. We spent the WHOLE day there, sort of. We didn't get there until about an hour after opening, and we did leave after the fireworks, but that's a pretty full day considering our days are back to back theme parks.

My sister and brother-in-law are pretty easy going folk. I kept trying to tell them we could do anything they wanted, since I have an annual pass to Disneyland and this was their sole visit. Still, they kept saying, "Whatever you want to do." At least I got my sister to commit to one ride she really wanted to do -- Small World. Yes, we did it too.

The associated album with this blog has photos of our exploits. Yes, we did small world, but we also did Splash Mountain, after convincing my sister she wouldn't really get that wet. Well, we were wrong -- we all got pretty wet. That is unusual, but clearly it can and did happen. Still, it was a great day and a lot of fun. You have to love a day at Disneyland!

I was also able to add a few mosaics and 50 ears to my collection. Every trip I try to find more of the mosaics around Disneyland and DCA and of course more of the 50 ears. The new mosaics and 50 ears are also found in this album, but the others -- well, there is no online album per se yet. Some day though. Until then, keep checking back.

See -- Lyin' Around

While some found time to nap, we were still on our fast paced theme park scramble. After spending Monday at the zoo, we spent Tuesday wandering around Seaworld. Pretty much did the typical stuff -- Shamu, et al. Shamu's tank is being redone so we saw the show from the small side tank -- smaller than where they used to be long ago, which is now "Friends of the Sea" or something like that. The show itself seemed abbreviated too. At least I have my annual pass so I can go back and see it again when they finish the upgrade to the tank.

The other shows were typical stuff, but still entertaining. We spent some time watching the manatees and of course checked out the sharks as well. You can check out our day by clicking the title above.

Meditating Mandrill

How can you let anyone visit San Diego without dragging them to the zoo? Well, I centainly can't so that's what we did -- a trip to the zoo. Some animals such as this Mandrill were more cooperative to wandering photographers. The Pandas were pleasant. The Peacocks were prime. The Polar Bears were... well, bearable. The waterfowl just ducky. Check out the link (click the title) to catch more of THIS zoo visit, but no where NEAR my collection of zoo photographs, which must number in the gazillions.

Hotel del Coronado

Day two of the visit from my sister and brother-in-law. Our big activity today was to go watch Triple Espresso downtown, and afterward we drove out to Coronado just for a look at the ocean. While there, my brother-in-law, Larry, snapped this photo of the Hotel Del with his new digital camera. 

Fresh Fruit

My sister and brother-in-law came down for a visit -- our first official guests since finishing the addition on our house. As happens with any guests from out of state, we walked up to the upper orchard and Shirley tried a fresh tangerine, right off the tree.

This photo was taken by my brother-in-law, Larry. He bought a new camera and he was learning how to use it on this trip to San Diego.

Birthday Celebrations

Caroline's 18th birthday was celebrated with a few of her friends meeting at our house for pizza and snacks, then off to downtown and the Horton Grand Theatre and "Triple Espresso." While the kids were at the play, the adults went to Croche's for dinner and to celebrate Harvey's birthday. After the dinner and play, all went back to the house for cake and presents. Since we parked at Horton Plaza for the time downtown, I had to get a couple night shots of this interesting mall when it was fairly empty.

Click the title above for more photos from the birthday party and Horton Plaza at night.