Welcome to San Diego!!

[SteveDallas]

I have now arrived in sunny San Diego for a conference that starts tomorrow. Whew, what a trip.

Well the first bit was when I got up at 5AM to go for my 7:30 flight. Disgusting, but it was either that, take an evening flight & get to San Diego at 11PM (with my first seminar at 8AM the next morning), or take a flight with a layover and add a good 3 hours to the travel time.

The view out the window waiting to leave Philadelphia....



We actually left the ground at 7:35AM... not bad. All appeared to be going well.




However, about an hour and a half into the flight (or so? I wasn't keeping close track) the captain came on and said there was a problem with an oxygen tank valve, and it was not serious, but that we'd be landing in Indianapolis in about 20 minutes to fix it. So a bit later, we've made a big curve to come around, and based on my meager experience plus the original time estimate I'm thinking it's time to land.

But no, the captain comes back and says while we were getting ready to make our approach they talked it over with the folks back home and determined they could turn the repair around faster in Pittsburgh because US Air has a bigger maintenance shop and more mechanics there. So we turned around and landed in Pittsburgh....




where we all stayed on the plane (an Airbus A320, and it was full) for about 45 minutes while they fixed things up, and took off again.


OK, I admit I don't know where these two are, except somewhere between Pittsburgh and San Diego.







And finally to my hotel room... after landing "only" 2 1/2 hours behind schedule.

[xoxoxoBruce]

problem with an oxygen tank valve

I'd have freaked at that point remembering how an oxygen cannister drove that EZ Jet (?) flight, full tilt boogie into the Everglades.

Have fun in Tijuana.

[fargon]

Steve while you are in San Diego, you must go to the Red Sails Inn on Shelter Island Dr. Good FISH!!! Sit out side and you can watch the fish swim in the pond. Also the Star of India is worth the time. There is so much to do in my favorite town.

[Bullitt]

If you like mexican food, the absolute BEST place in town is the Old Town Mexican Cafe. Pretty near the airport if I remember, I go eat there every time I go out to visit my uncle with alzheimers (sp?) in La Jolla, and it never gets old..
Just down the street from it is a neat little park that has an old Mexican villa and some cool vendors and an little open air market.

mmm carne asada...

[Beestie]

I have been to San Diego twice. I don't remember much of either except there was this incredible underground bar that just went on forever. That I am not still there is the only proof I have that I found the way out.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Have fun in Tijuana.

Thanks, I was planning to do some research on their famous theological publications.

[xoxoxoBruce]

When you see God....it's time to come home. We'll leave a light on.

[SteveDallas]

Thank you all for your fine suggestions. What I did was I sat in the meeting rooms and listened to conference presentations. (They were excellent.)

(WARNING: None of these pictures are huge--most about 200K or less. But there's a buttload of them.)

Before I get started I have to explain something. I have to explain it, though I expect most of you won't care. I usually shoot in RAW format, which means my camera doesn't do any processing on the shot. This gives me a lot of leeway to monkey with the exposure and the color balance and stuff like that. The downside of this is that it's not as easy to view as the more common JPEG format. My camera has a mode that takes a low-quality JPEG along with the RAW file. That way you have a quickie preview if you're in a situation where you can't handle the RAW format--like right now, since the machine I brought along doesn't have Photoshop.

What I'm saying is since these files were done from the basic quality JPEG with almost no processing except for some cropping and resizing, the image quality isn't as great as it could be. Like I said, most of you probably don't care.


Here's the chandelier in the entrance of the conference hotel.


Sunday night I had dinner at the Yard House restaurant. Mrs. Dallas said on the phone that I should "have a drink for me." So I did.


When you went downstairs to the restrooms, you could see into the room where they have all their beer kegs and related stuff.


Here's the hotel from outside at night.


There's a fountain with an aquatic-themed sculpture out front. Here's a closeup and a full view.




Also out front is this scary-sounding warning. I wish they would actually tell us what the chemical is!!


Self-portrait in the mirror of a conference room.


The hotel staff prepares to serve lunch on Monday.


I'm uncertain what the nature of this obelisk is, outside the Horton Plaza shopping center.

[SteveDallas]

At noon Tuesday everything was over. I decided to take a hike up to Balboa Park, about 2 miles away from the hotel. I got this shot of the trolley as I walked up First Ave., which was up hill most of the way.


After climbing up, I then took Laurel St. toward the park. On the way I passed the Ohr Shalom Synagogue.


Jaywalking is frowned upon in San Diego. The locals don't do it for the most part, and when visitors do somebody usually tells them (more or less politely) that they can get ticketed for it. Of course to a denizen of the east coast like me, this is counter to the laws of nature. But, when in Rome.


Here's a view of the downtown skyline from Banker's Hill, the neighborhood I was walking through.


This is the California Building, which is in Balboa Park as you get toward the area with all the museums & such.

[SteveDallas]

My first stop was at the San Diego Museum of Man. I was there for one reason--the ancient Egypt exhibit--but this dress from the Kuchi Tribe caught my eye.


There were also several Mayan pieces that were very impressive.




Now to the Egypt room.... we see a couple hieroglyph examples and some mummies.






This mummy is missing its head.


Ushabtis were small figures inscribed with spells that were buried with the mummy. They would come alive to serve the deceased in the underworld.


This is a very rare piece showing the name (enclosed in the oval loop, or cartouche) of Nefertiti.


OK, I forgot to make a note of this one so I don't know exactly what it is. The funerary god Anubis is shown.


As I was leaving the museum, this papier-mache deer head by Sergio Bustamante caught my eye in the "new donations" display.

[SteveDallas]

I then began walking toward my next destination, the Museum of Photographic Arts. On the way I shot some other sights: The Old Globe Theater...


The San Diego Museum of Art...


A fountain in front of the art museum...


and this tower at one end of the Casa de Balboa, which houses (among other things) the Museum of Photographic Arts.


That museum does not permit photography, so I have no shots from there. At this point I decided it was time to go back. I took pictures of some things I missed on the way, including the Botanical Building...


and the Alcazar Garden.

[SteveDallas]

At this point I will warn you that the final few photos depict, shall we say, a different type of scenic attraction. Those of you who have delusions regarding my moral rectitude and/or maturity, should probably not scroll past the photo of the traffic on the interstate.

As I was walking back on First Ave. (much easier going downhill!) I noticed that you could see the airport from there.


Part of the reason I noticed this was that a plane came in practically overhead on its way to land. I thought I'd hang out and see if I could get a picture of one. While I was ambling around trying not to be too obvious about just standing there doing nothing, I noticed this sign, which I found mildly amusing for its lack of punctuation.


However, my patience was rewarded as another plane came along in a few minutes.


Here's another view of downtown from up on the hill.


And finally, some traffic on Interstate 5 as I walked over it on a bridge. This was about 4:45PM so it was just starting to get rush hour-ish.

[SteveDallas]

Finally, a little coda of other attractions enjoyed on the walk back.

Bruce...... this one's for you.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Why thank you Sir. PM your flight info and I'll meet you at the airport to pick her up.

[Elspode]

What th'!?? I can see every single damn picture except for the apparently amoral ones!

Bruce...did you steal them for yourself, or is our netnanny smarter than I thought?