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Showing posts from 2007

US Vacation July-Aug 2007

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Vicki, Redington, and I went the US for summer vacation. We flew into San Diego for a few days on the beach and to visit with the Kings. US Vacation: San Diego We would then drive north through the desert via San Bernardino and up through the eastern slope fo the Sierra Nevadas along US395. Stopping at Lake Tahoe where we were lucky enough to find Kay and her family staying with Mark's brother. From there we drove through Mt Lassen, Crater Lake and on to Oregon. Sierras and Lassen In Oregon we visited with My dad and Joanne.

Skomer Island Wales July 7th 2007

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This past weekend Vicki, Redington, and I visited Skomer Island on the Pembrokeshore coast in Wales. This was a memorable place Vicki visited in childhood and especially so because of the Puffins there. We got out on a late start on Saturday after several weekends of lousy weather. After spending a frustrating few hours lost around Milford Haven we finally showed up minutes before the final sailing at noon. We were told there was a coach load of Spanish tourists ahead of us but they may not go. Discouraged we queued up and gratefully boarded the last boat. The day was spectacular. Skomer Island is maintained as a preserve with a small lodge for overnight visits. It is a favorite of twitchers (birdwatchers). In the summer months it is home to hundreds of thousands of nesting seabirds. Guilamots, Puffins, Manx Shearwaters, Oystercatchers and others. They nest on cliffs and in holes dug in the ground that peforate the island. The dark story about the island is the Manx Shearwater; a bird

Paris Conference April 2007

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This past April I went to Paris to give a paper at a wireless conference and had an afternoon free before I flew home. I havn't spent much time in Paris and the day was perfect. I walked extensively and these are some of the sites I saw. I need to go back an do things properly. Paris is impressive. The scale of the city is bigger than say London and the public buildings gleam as if polished. Paris Conference April 2007

Weekend in London With Jeff

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My good friend from San Diego brought his family out to London (all except the youngest two). He invited me to come out for the weekend to catch up. It had been almost 2 years since I had visited him in San Diego. That was the end of the California Vacation posted here . So I started out at Bath Spa train station and headed to the Embankment where his hotel is. These are some photos of what we saw as we walked around and caught up with each other. We managed to see the musical Cabaret which was a favorite of my Mother's. It was very entertaining and certainly racy. Click below to see more... London with Jeff 2007

Dad's Visit Misc Places in the UK

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When Dad came to visit we saw a number of places. He stayed the first couple of days in Bath (F on Map) and had a look around the place. Then we headed North to Bedford (B on map) to pickup Redington and then to Leeds for the night. The we went to York (C on map) and to Vicki's parents in Kirkbymoorside (D on map). From there across the Yorkshire Dales to the Lake District (F on map). Click on photo below to see more photos. Dad's Visit April 2007 Various Trips and North Yorkshire

Dad visits and we head to the Lake District

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When dad came over for the Easter holiday we took a three day side trip with Redington to visit the Lake District. We went for a couple of hikes and stayed in a typical British holiday hotel the Waterside in Grasmere. With a proper cooked breakfast in the morning we headed out for the hills. Click on the picture to see more. On our trip the Lake District is shown as E on the map below with F being Bath.

A Week in Istanbul with the Pope: Turkey 2006

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At the end of last November Vicki and I took the last of our holiday time and spent a week in Istanbul. With cheap flights from the UK and off-season rates it was quite cheap. The weather was cold and gray but not wet. While we were there the Pope decided to visit and we spent the time trying to dodge the Pope and his entourage of protesters. Despite this we found Istanbul to be quite friendly to one Brit and an unapologetic American. The first place we visited was Topkapi Palace. As usual click on photos below to see more on the album pages. Istanbul Topkapi Palace 2006 This is from our visit to the Blue Mosque the first Mosque I had ever visited. Istanbul I must admit was vaguely unsettling with the huge number of mosques and their new connotations of sinister intentions for the West these days. Istanbul Blue Mosque 2006 Istanbul is of course very old city; consequently though the Ottoman influence is the most easily recognized there is still evident Roman architecture in a few r