tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34286364918595541262024-03-05T01:20:30.719-08:00Traveling TexanDuring vacation I frequently travel to various states taking in sights, visiting capitals. Now I'm attempting to blog my travels.teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-62338422038437349012017-06-11T20:58:00.003-07:002017-06-11T21:01:09.299-07:00Coupland, Texas, June 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong>Coupland</strong><br />
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I found a real town, although I'm not sure how real it is. Main street is called Hoxie St. The business district is about two blocks long. Over the hill is the local post office. It has a well maintained old inn and tavern exterior and some office buildings across the street. Up the road from the tavern is a section of railroad with a car and a small station. All of this (except the offices) seems to be for tourists. However, the inn was closed when I was there.<br />
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This is an addendum to my series of posts about cities and towns in Williamson County, Texas, if that wasn't obvious.<br />
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<strong>Final Note</strong><br />
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After visiting some actual cities and towns in the southeast of Williamson County, I went looking for what I thought would be villages. These had names on my county map like Beyersville, Structure and Noack. However, each of these locations had between zero and two buildings other than homes. Even some of the buildings were obviously abandoned. One of these locations (Structure) even had a sign. I'm curious to know whether these are historic towns, now back to farm land or vanity towns that one person or a group decided to register just for fun. I was mostly driving on county roads between farms. Once I stopped at an historic marker and two cars pulled up to see if I needed help -- within 5 minutes of each other. I guess they don't get much tourist traffic in the area.<br />
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Also, this series started with a post about Georgetown, Texas, if you want to get an explanation of what this current set of posts is about.<br />
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<strong>Thorndale</strong><br />
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This is actually in the next county, but a good place to turn around. This city has a developed main street as well as a municipal building across 79. Although the buildings looked recently painted or cleaned, the street was mostly deserted.<br />
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<strong>Thrall</strong><br />
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This town is actually named after a person. This is a very small community with most roads being gravel. There is a new-looking municipal building but also several completely dilapidated buildings.<br />
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<strong>Taylor</strong><br />
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It was much easier to find city center here since this is a fairly developed city. However, I didn't find city hall until I was wondering around looking for parking. There was a nice looking church near by that looked like its bell tower had been lopped off at the top. Although there were plenty of store fronts, the area was not very active while I was there and looked like a depressed or distressed city.<br />
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<strong>Hutto</strong><br />
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I found city hall on a frontage right next to State 79, after wandering in houses for a while. The city center seemed to be an intersection at 79 but there was just a gas station and a couple of houses. 79 is parallel to a frequently used railroad track. I also noticed some silos on the other side of 79 by a railroad siding.<br />
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Brushy Creek<br />
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I never found the town center. Have theorized it is really part of Cedar Park, but I'm not really sure. I took a picture of the Elementary School insteand. The whole area looks like developments with recent main road, but with rural (older?) roads around the edges.teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-5480704084086176982017-06-11T20:27:00.000-07:002017-06-11T20:28:11.028-07:00Leander, Texas, June 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong>Leander</strong><br />
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Although easy to miss driving on 183 (all you see is a 7-11 and a weighing station), this is a city that is increasing in size rapidly. The "downtown" is still rather sleepy with several local businesses often in converted homes. However, there is a lot of development in the area.<br />
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<strong>Round Rock</strong><br />
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This city has a much more modern city hall, right next to a business development building (and a parking lot). The main street was full of local shops and appeared quite busy (although it was a long weekend). I also discovered that the city center was not too far from where I got on the 35 to drive up to Dallas when I first moved down to Austin.<br />
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There were plenty of eating establishments to choose from, as well as sweet shops and other trinkets. There were no bookstores that I saw. I stopped in for a drink and then got back on the road.<br />
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Also, sorry about the blurry photos. It was overcast and the camera had a hard time dealing with it.<br />
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<strong>Intro</strong>
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On June 4 and 5, 2017 I decided to start visiting other cities and towns in Williamson County, Texas since this is now where I live. Although I live in a rural area, I'm still part of the Austin developed area. Driving further away from the state capital puts me into decidedly rural areas, even within Williamson County. The cities and towns are listed in the order I visited them, except for a collection of peculiar locations listed as my last post.
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<strong>Georgetown</strong>
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This is the county seat so I found the county courthouse, effectively in a center square. In the square were many markers and some statues usually about people that were significant in the founding or development of Georgetown. One marker of more recent vintage was dedicated to a lawyer who was one of the first in the nation to prosecute the KKK. Around the central square were a wide variety of shops and some office fronts all for local businesses. There is a university in the town which I didn't visit, but I did make it to Lake George. I spent some time at the shoreline around a picnic area. Later I found out if I had driven in a different direction I could have gone over the dam that created Lake George.<br />
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Left Great Falls heading down Interstate 15. Part of this retraced my drive up from Alpine, but I kept going south into southern Idaho but took some other roads to avoid going into Utah (too far west). I don't remember exactly where I took the pictures but I was obviously still in the Rockies. I do remember that once I got off the Interstate I found a valley that looked almost perfect. There were wheat fields on both sides of the road and a few houses here and there. Further in it wasn't quite so perfect with at least one abandoned hotel and a somewhat cheesy water park before I found my hotel.<br />
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teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-9671935464806197982014-08-18T13:58:00.001-07:002014-08-18T14:00:47.908-07:00Saturday August 9, 2014 Great Falls, Montana<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today I went out to see several sites around Great Falls. The first stop was a sculpture on the banks of the Missouri showing Lewis & Clark and Sacagawea looking upriver. Up close the sculpture is abstract made up of metal pieces.<br />
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Next we went to the fishery and park around a river/spring that feeds into the Missouri. It's right on the river and you can see various birds floating on or flying over the water.<br />
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After that we went down-river to Rainbow Falls, which wasn't much of a falls with the new construction. A dam blocks off the river to feed it into a new generator plant. The river picks up again around the bend but the falls themselves are pretty dry. While we were at the lookout point there was a crowd of people who apparently just finished racing down the river. There was a tent in the middle of the parking lot and a lot of people around it. Other than overhearing some announcements, I didn't try to find out much more.<br />
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The last stop was the city visitors center which has a large traditional monument to Lewis and Clark near the parking lot and a life-size abstract Native American sculpture out front of the visitor center. There is also a great view of the city.<br />
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All and all a nice relaxing day.<br />
<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157646566803061" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-75861754523179891742014-08-18T13:48:00.003-07:002014-08-18T13:48:38.652-07:00Wednesday August 6, 2014 through Idaho to Montana<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Got on the road at 8:30 AM – earliest so far. It turns out that Alpine is only a few miles from the border with Idaho. Basically, I got gas at the edge of town, drove another mile or so and ran into a sign saying “Welcome to Idaho”. The morning was overcast but not raining, at least to start. The road ran next to the Snake River for some time. I stopped and took some pictures of a dam across the river, but it was one of many dams from what a sign said.<br />
I made it to Idaho Falls without much delay and immediately got on the I15. I was expecting this to be the simplest leg of the journey. Two things made this a bit of a challenge. The first part was the rain. It started again pretty much from when I got on the I15 and didn’t let up for about 70 miles. It was heavier some times and lighter at other times, but it was pretty much constant until I got over the crest of the Rockies (there was a sign announcing the location of the Continental Divide). Past that point the rain stopped almost immediately (at least that’s how I remember it).<br />
The second thing that proved a bit of a challenge (at least in testing whether I can read directions) was the intersection of the I15 and I90. It turns out there is about an 8 mile stretch where the two merge and to get back on the I15 requires that you go to surface streets (at least by my directions). Getting on the I90 for a while wasn’t a problem. Realizing that there was a turn while on the surface streets was. I almost missed the turn mostly because I hadn’t read the directions carefully until just before the turn.<br />
Back on the I15 I basically went over a series of mountains into different valleys – some developed, some not. I also saw a second sign indicating I had crossed the continental divide.<br />
Finally, after about 8 hours I sighted structures from the Great Falls Airport. I keep forgetting that the airport is south and west of the city. Total distance about 435 miles.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157646526039226" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-15619826828696120352014-08-18T13:42:00.001-07:002014-08-18T13:44:30.601-07:00Tuesday August 5, 2014 Cheyenne to Alpine, Wyoming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Started the day in Cheyenne and made it up to Alpine, but it wasn’t easy. No problem getting on the interstate. It turns out the exit was at the intersection of I80 and I25. However, not long after I got on I80 my side narrowed down to one lane due to construction. In fact, about the first 50 miles was intermittent construction. I was looking at the time and wondering if I was going to have to add some hours to my estimate. That did clear up, as well as the clouds. There were basically two parts to today’s travels. The first part (about 250 miles) was straight down I80; the second part (about 200 miles total) on a two lane US highway.<br />
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I decided to get gas around lunchtime to make sure I had enough gas to make It to Alpine. This was still on I80 a good 30 minutes or so before the move the two-lane road. It turned out I didn’t need to worry. The shift to the US highway occurs at a fairly significant town/city and there were plenty of services there.<br />
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After lunch I got back on the road. Although there had been some hills, the scenery was mainly scrubland with some wonderful clouds stacking up toward the horizon. There also seemed to be the threat of rain on the horizon.<br />
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I did see something rather unique as we headed into the hills. Along the road at one point there seemed to be a pointless arch across the road. However, as I got closer I realized that the upper surface of the arch as more grassland. The arch was intended to allow cows to cross the road without getting hit. I didn’t get a picture of the first arch, but had my camera ready when a second arch appeared.<br />
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As the road headed into the hills, the clouds got closer and closer. Finally, it started to rain. However, the first rain started has the road went over a hill, first as a light rain but climaxing with enough water that I had to turn on my lights and make sure I knew how far away the car in front of me really was. However, the rain stopped immediately after hitting the summit. The rain got much more intense as I got into the actual mountain pass. The speed limit went down from 75 to 65 and even lower in some sections. The rain varied in intensity and stopped at one point just as I crested the summit. There were also several stretches with no way to pass anyone. Fortunately, there wasn’t that much traffic.<br />
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The scenery by this point was lush pine forest. A river was flowing right next to the road at several points. The clouds were so thick that the headlights were necessary. At one point I wasn’t sure I was going to see any sun at all until I hit Montana tomorrow.<br />
Needless to say I did make it to my hotel without incident. While it did rain once I got there, it was a very light rain that caused no problems.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157646566277561" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-65694427639154998222014-08-18T13:35:00.001-07:002014-08-18T13:38:25.330-07:00Monday August 4, 2014 Amarillo to Cheyenne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today’s travels would take me through four states. I started out at Amarillo, Texas with a goal of reaching Denver, Colorado by the end of the day. After having breakfast I headed out. Even though I got up earlier, I only made it on the road at about 9:45 AM. Most of the travel was on US highways and not the Interstates, although I ended up on I25 toward the end.<br />
The scenery was still fairly green, but getting drier as the day progressed. Although mostly flat, there was a mountain pass going through Trinidad, Colorado (I think). Although many of the roads were divided highways, there was one state road that was just two lanes with just the yellow dotted line between them. This being Texas, the speed limit was 75 mph.<br />
Long story short, I did make it to Denver. I was in good enough shape that I decided to press on to Cheyenne, Wyoming (about and additional 100 miles). The I25 goes right through Denver and in late afternoon traffic was pretty bad. Shortly after deciding to continue, traffic slowed to a crawl. It turns out that a car had stalled in the middle of one of the lanes. Shortly after that another stalled car was off the side of the road, again causing a slowdown. It ate up about 30 miles to get clear of the Denver traffic. The rest of the way was uneventful and I made it to the I25/I80 intersection and pulled off to look for a hotel. Since I didn’t have any reservations this turned out to be harder than I expected. The first was only taking reserved guests. The second that I tried only had suites available. Even though I tried for something different, I ended up with Motel 6 as usual. After I was in a room, I heard in the news that bikers were all over the area because of the rally in Sturges, ND which started today. Hilarious. <br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157646167699980" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-4207465564779003372014-08-18T12:46:00.001-07:002014-08-18T13:14:20.281-07:00Sunday August 3, 2014 Dallas to Amarillo, Texas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I started my trip toward Montana at about 10 AM. The goal for the day was Amarillo Texas, right on the panhandle. I suspect the quickest route would be up the 35N to 40W, but I didn’t do that. Instead I took a route headed generally to the northwest using state roads. Generally, the route remained a divided highway with two lanes in each direction. The difference was that these highways weren’t as limited access as the interstates. Plus some of the route (part of the old Route 66) went straight through town, so you had to slow down to about 30 MPH from time to time.<br />
The towns seemed typical with one or a few streets intersecting the road I was on. Some towns looked rundown, others had new buildings. I noted one town (I forget which) that had a visible mix of rundown buildings, renovated buildings and new buildings.<br />
Along the way I saw a sign for a Muslim Cemetery. Nothing really extraordinary about that, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a sign before and I certainly didn’t expect it in rural northern Texas. I’d be interested to know if there was a group of families that emigrated from the Middle East (or elsewhere) at some time in the past and formed a community near where I saw the sign.<br />
The other thing I saw were several flatbed trucks carrying long tapered and twisted tubes which I thing were blades from wind turbines. I saw two groups of three flatbeds coming in from the other direction. About a half hour after I saw the first group of flatbeds I then saw an actual wind farm (pretty much in the middle of one or more farms). I have no idea whether the blades were new blades going to another site or bad blades going back for repair. It seemed a little odd that they would be traveling on Sunday, but I’m sure there are deadlines that have to be met.<br />
I saw several trains along the route as well. Most were modern box transfer trains, some stacked two high. One train appeared not to be moving, but when I saw some trees behind the train I realized that it was moving backward in reference to the direction the locomotive was facing. Since we were traveling in the same direction and I was traveling relatively faster, it seemed to be standing still until I got up close.<br />
The state highway fed right into the interstate (which caused some initial confusion) so I actually arrived at Amarillo about thirty to forty minutes sooner than I expected. After getting a hotel (on the I40) I drove into the city to have a look around. Unfortunately, I left my guide book in the hotel room and just navigating from a map I had printed found me nothing interesting. The city center seemed nice and shiny but it quickly petered out to used car lots and depressed-looking buildings.<br />
I had dinner at the Big Texas Steak Ranch which was a very kitschy place (all of the employees wore straw cowboy hats for instance). The review guide made note that it operated like Walls Drugs in the Dakotas by having signs many miles (hundreds?) ahead of the actual place so that people were interested in it well before they got near the place. The wait was a bit of a problem. They gave you plenty to look at while you were waiting with a gift shop a bar and some games. They also have a hotel painted in very bright colors and sort of looking like an 1800’s town (at least the Hollywood concept of one) and a horse hotel (i.e. horse stalls). There was a giant cow on a trailer (not real obviously, but not surprising given that it was a steakhouse. There was also a giant dinosaur (I think) with a cowboy hat and scarf climbing some poles for some reason. Oh yes, and there was a limo service with horns on the front of the car. It was all very cute. The food was fine, but the people watching was more interesting.
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157646571595042" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-91047343936268959142011-08-04T15:15:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:49:46.593-07:00Thursday July 14, 2011 Florida<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-IuGun2ulLLGpW9VUaAt7RhSxmD2id55aaLGS5k4KwRZvknHpKb7Ldr8xzUjDny1C7Dszti-3PPSlzUrRSpxyLcc_IECYosNU6o8cgYqEoihErzItk5grkIRZDgOQLK7OhxvmTJOW5c/s1600/SWFSciencea.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-IuGun2ulLLGpW9VUaAt7RhSxmD2id55aaLGS5k4KwRZvknHpKb7Ldr8xzUjDny1C7Dszti-3PPSlzUrRSpxyLcc_IECYosNU6o8cgYqEoihErzItk5grkIRZDgOQLK7OhxvmTJOW5c/s200/SWFSciencea.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637128549235921490" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>This was my last day in Florida. Since the flight was in the evening and I only had about 150 miles to drive to the airport, I planned to visit a few places along the way. In the town near where I was staying there was a museum/aquarium called the South Florida Museum. They had exhibits explaining the history of the area from the beginning of earth until now. There were exhibits on ancient life in the area, where florida was in all of the continental drifting and also the various pre-european cultures that were in the area.<br />
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There was also an aquarium pool that was used to host several manatees. The oldest was a permanent resident (in his 60s) and there were two younger ones that were recovering from injuries and would be released in the wild again. While I was there one of the attendents had a feeding and explained about the goals of the aquarium and their recovery program.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEUYfdj1yDyMUrp_aV2g5lfYt9_QoTrSuutDKVJnr8XlwyXk8rV-s96TvUtWuRGz-1mTZc9r52gpaa9kGRSbZQ1SD5FjR4HvvxXRwcqwmjttqpswOexmm93VtbRoFY-kYuCNjmg7-4O-M/s1600/FLWrighta.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEUYfdj1yDyMUrp_aV2g5lfYt9_QoTrSuutDKVJnr8XlwyXk8rV-s96TvUtWuRGz-1mTZc9r52gpaa9kGRSbZQ1SD5FjR4HvvxXRwcqwmjttqpswOexmm93VtbRoFY-kYuCNjmg7-4O-M/s200/FLWrighta.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637128554206271314" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Around lunch I had to head toward Orlando. Along the way, after about an hour, I exited the freeway to find a small college with the largest number of Frank Loyd Wright buildings in one area. There were lots of signs and a pamphlet to guide you to all of the buildings. There were also lots of covered walkways to admire. Unfortunately they were a bit short and made me a bit nervous. There was a pool with a nice fountain arrangement, called the Water Dome, that I was able to wait to see in action (it was on break when I arrived). All of this was in a quiet bucolic setting.<br />
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Finally, it was time to leave. I got back on the freeway and made it to Orlando with plenty of time. Things were rather hectic when I got there. After checking the bags I had dinner (or was it lunch) and then went through security. The flight home was uneventful (other than arriving early). The only major downside of the trip was I lost a bag on the flight home, which had my laptop among other things - hence the delayed posts. Fortunately, my photos and videos were all fine, but I lost my original notes. Kinda sucks.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627167098487" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-21610025620174467932011-08-04T15:14:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:50:05.885-07:00Wednesday July 13, 2011 FloridaThis was purely a travel day. I had to get from Key West to near Tampa by the end of the day. This was around 450 miles as I recall. With the Crown Vic that meant at least one fill-up along the way. I had no problems and the hotel was pretty easy to find. The area that I was in was basically gas stations, hotels and places to eat, I didn't have any problem with food.teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-37539948172286782022011-08-02T20:42:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:50:39.460-07:00Tuesday July 12, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeTt0l85ffAcEb73UL_S1SKulrn-EgMcQ_vtXRSNAofDve17Z0dGdUg0QbhPcGD113P_nZHdhsI21ZohB5vz7XsNlmV5YOXeFkE8owWYFJ6HVIkU7VTfdHT5ScunIHLDDRdzp0tGDxcws/s1600/hemingwaya.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeTt0l85ffAcEb73UL_S1SKulrn-EgMcQ_vtXRSNAofDve17Z0dGdUg0QbhPcGD113P_nZHdhsI21ZohB5vz7XsNlmV5YOXeFkE8owWYFJ6HVIkU7VTfdHT5ScunIHLDDRdzp0tGDxcws/s200/hemingwaya.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636471240202572338" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Well this day I had a plan, but I mainly improvised. I started out seeing Hemingway's house. He only really had the house when he was married to his first wife, but wrote many of his famous stories there. The house was kept up but very little of the furniture was the same as when he was there. There were a lot of cats, descended from one of the cats he owned. The house had a lot of pictures based on the story "The Old Man and the Sea". It turns out the fisherman was based on someone that Hemingway knew. The gardens were pretty nice too, including a very nice pool and an odd water fountain.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KVr977C_rEWE3MxBpaOdaJwWrIxJ9Gjn2ppulMTVDIf_WYnjpssSdqejn784JOSdM19DcS4dnqZHY_Rl6WvrcqIkPcG4eNeWCsFUG_9Tdh5xWWvaz-zIvqEjS_KLTP06AxAosdNY4lg/s1600/audubona.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KVr977C_rEWE3MxBpaOdaJwWrIxJ9Gjn2ppulMTVDIf_WYnjpssSdqejn784JOSdM19DcS4dnqZHY_Rl6WvrcqIkPcG4eNeWCsFUG_9Tdh5xWWvaz-zIvqEjS_KLTP06AxAosdNY4lg/s200/audubona.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636471241952103922" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Next, I found the Audubon house. The house has only a rather indirect relation to the artist. He only lived in the Florida area for a short time. When he was in Key West he stayed at the house next to the one now called the Audubon House. He did ask the owner to cut some leaves and draw them as background for some of his pieces. In all somewhere between 19 and 23 birds from the keys were illustrated by Audubon. The house has many of these prints in the house. Other rooms of the house show the arrangement for the owner (a wealthy sea captain). Again the gardens were nice as well, especially given the limited size of the property.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTAm7raW49OugRDyCIyTb5gzB4znO0OHXsjntcqVPp1JN2QzVIGTcMLks3lKw0LkQqnjmEd1pTKXlqYlplyTk47xlMm_Zws9QDP-K5Ai__QxeBchWpQxqZEadElyl2UokUwil2jhy3cQ/s1600/Mela.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTAm7raW49OugRDyCIyTb5gzB4znO0OHXsjntcqVPp1JN2QzVIGTcMLks3lKw0LkQqnjmEd1pTKXlqYlplyTk47xlMm_Zws9QDP-K5Ai__QxeBchWpQxqZEadElyl2UokUwil2jhy3cQ/s200/Mela.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636471247755325890" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Next I went to Mel's Shipwreck Museum (or something like that). This was established by someone who discovered one of the largest wrecks in the Keys. It took about a decade to find and another decade to get clear title. The museum partly told the story of the ship that was found and also how it was discovered. There were other displays about ships of the era (1600s) and even some things about pirates (there really was a pirate code, although not much observed).<br />
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One odd thing I noticed was there was investment office at the back of the gift shop for future expeditions. Most of the gift shop was also taken up by space to sell coins from various shipwrecks - not your usual museum gift shop.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyG5SbMmXQCPJTl1iVfQKX3q9OmgMgoJbiwnO9YH_Nu6D7YbTwpYQtceXuD_zqleBkhDe3rZdkVbeV969o6KLV59H2JFs1JvDsmi5aT2nwQuoRBIzqr58F8DcFqyq2lStZjqGZ7D3MK8/s1600/aquariuma.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyG5SbMmXQCPJTl1iVfQKX3q9OmgMgoJbiwnO9YH_Nu6D7YbTwpYQtceXuD_zqleBkhDe3rZdkVbeV969o6KLV59H2JFs1JvDsmi5aT2nwQuoRBIzqr58F8DcFqyq2lStZjqGZ7D3MK8/s200/aquariuma.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636471253046920034" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>After lunch I decided to go to the Aquarium. Here again were a series of pools with different fish in them. No dolphins this time, but lots of rays, turtles and nurse sharks. There were smaller tanks along the side with various smaller fish of the area. One of the large pools had a mixture of fish, including a huge grouper, and sharks. Gulls kept dropping in trying to grab the food that was being tossed to the fish.<br />
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I tried to find the square where it was recommended to view the sunset (for later) but I wasn't able to find it. I did find an odd commemorative square for the wreckers who had given Key West its start.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4nZM0bZzOY2-k1E9hgtuB_rwWklYU9OBtLo6elGU3624f6LT-3EcCpnj5-BYK6YZEDCZ726k6_6R_krb7yhZSHmX0P6lUWC2SYRFawyrQj4LrGqHC9yhIcdrfvda3l3RZPJAG_gw3Qc/s1600/sunset.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4nZM0bZzOY2-k1E9hgtuB_rwWklYU9OBtLo6elGU3624f6LT-3EcCpnj5-BYK6YZEDCZ726k6_6R_krb7yhZSHmX0P6lUWC2SYRFawyrQj4LrGqHC9yhIcdrfvda3l3RZPJAG_gw3Qc/s200/sunset.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636471257073991170" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>I headed back to the hotel to change and rest. I also took a walk with Mike's Pants to take a few photos. It was turning out that the material was a bit too flexible to really work well for long periods of time. The tape starts to come off almost immediately. Heat doesn't help. Although I had some good pictures, I need to rework the model a bit.<br />
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After some rest I went out for dinner. I went to a place recommended by my guide book. It was also very good. I headed for the square again and found it. I took some sunset pictures although I was a bit late. It was dark by the time I got to the hotel.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627290917836" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-10598639007762067162011-08-01T08:59:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:51:01.316-07:00Monday July 11, Florida KeysToday I was driving down to Key West. I hoped to stop at some attractions along the way. Before I left my hotel in Miami, I took a few pictures of Mike's Pants. I'm not sure if I'll use them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVf0falHmqxXedB-FS0nqPC2ZhY2prej9KGNnWjxJwrVpHr6_rkOgbl76r1OC3AFc9p5RVhhkXiWCIeNi3gYX7i3xApnPPqcmhskzdXuIZH_VILuQL-Rz_LMTSiJ0UJQIXiPfXG0q0nF8/s1600/theatera.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVf0falHmqxXedB-FS0nqPC2ZhY2prej9KGNnWjxJwrVpHr6_rkOgbl76r1OC3AFc9p5RVhhkXiWCIeNi3gYX7i3xApnPPqcmhskzdXuIZH_VILuQL-Rz_LMTSiJ0UJQIXiPfXG0q0nF8/s200/theatera.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635918489039422674" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Miami turned into the Keys rather gradually. I think I spent a half hour still on the mainland before I crossed over to Key Largo. Even Key Largo was still pretty densly populated. Eventually the towns got smaller and the road got narrower. I found the first place, Theater of the Sea, without any trouble. They had a very defined schedule of shows, with the dolphin show being the highlight. I saw part of the Seal show then went on the open bottom boat which had dolphins jumping up on the sides and in the middle of the boat. The walking tour ended up at several pools of various animals from the area. I remember turtles, some rays and nurse sharks. There were also various birds (they had a show) and alligator and crocodile. There was actually a demonstration feeding in the pools. I had lunch (skipping the bird show) and then waited for the afternoon dolphin show.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUHEf8zuxIeU5PiUJf1fxz6gWjwtUTHbG0rBOduhUuEpyFOYfAkbm8AwCKn1Ocs7Ve2DZwLncB1WgfV7LgtGlh4TOJcRp3Fjh3Kiubs0TLlfzWd4OOjYms8o-gymVLP0_SeGJfcCEjBQ/s1600/DRC.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUHEf8zuxIeU5PiUJf1fxz6gWjwtUTHbG0rBOduhUuEpyFOYfAkbm8AwCKn1Ocs7Ve2DZwLncB1WgfV7LgtGlh4TOJcRp3Fjh3Kiubs0TLlfzWd4OOjYms8o-gymVLP0_SeGJfcCEjBQ/s200/DRC.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635918499675224578" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Next I stopped at the Dolphin Research Center which was another half hour away. Although this had similar shows, they had several programs to allow people to come in and actually interact with the dolphins. The shows were much less formal than at the previous place which was kind of nice. I took video of one of the shows.<br />
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I was too late to go to the science museum along highway 1. I did see it, but would have had about 15 minutes before it closed. In retrospect maybe I should have missed one of the dolphin places to see something a little different.<br />
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Toward the end of the trek the bridges got very impressive. I wasn't able to stop to take pictures.<br />
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I found the hotel in Key West and unpacked. It was early so I walked down Duval Street to see what the place was like. This was effectively Old Town for Key West. Most of the historic houses were in the area and many fancy eating places. I did notice a few chain eateries (like Wendy's) but mostly it was custom to Key West. I walked up almost to the end (I also tried to see how to get to for the fort on the island, but it was too far to walk) then walked back. I chose a place that seemed interesting for dinner. They didn't seem to mind that I was rather sweaty from being outside for the last hour. I had the best fish I can remember tasting. I was very impressed. After the dinner I went back to the hotel for the night.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627165994685" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-56399269647833855572011-07-31T16:57:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:51:57.463-07:00Sunday July 10, 2011 MiamiThis day also followed two parts. First I went to two places in the Coral Gables area - Vezcaya and the Miami Science Center. Then I drove over a bridge to Miami Beach. One thing I learned from driving in Miami Beach was you shouldn't drive in a Crown Vic or anything similar in size.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz5HFBhWnGY1nKUG2W-h-QDwqmeIQ1sSwaK7ZI9XWJe2g6ydRFSI6NyXQy8NDquWPFum2f7gVlHwEoVFLJzKKPF3XPNgObrq6vKkFPH3ADwSejT0U7i4MOp-jW7wRhKEoG0f5gxXUmBY/s1600/vizcayaa.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz5HFBhWnGY1nKUG2W-h-QDwqmeIQ1sSwaK7ZI9XWJe2g6ydRFSI6NyXQy8NDquWPFum2f7gVlHwEoVFLJzKKPF3XPNgObrq6vKkFPH3ADwSejT0U7i4MOp-jW7wRhKEoG0f5gxXUmBY/s200/vizcayaa.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635671643800061106" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>First I went to Vezcaya. I actually parked in the parking lot of the Miami Science Center, but Vezcaya was just across the street. I had no problem getting in and used a little pamphlet to go around the building. It was all very impressive. This was built close to a hundred years ago but was made to look like it was older by decorating different rooms in different styles from eras hundreds of years apart. There were even pieces from European castles that had been imported to be wall coverings, or even a fire place in the new house. The grounds were very impressive also, although I didn't have time to look through all of them. There was a cement "boat" in the bay that people could walk out to, I guess during low tide. There was a lot of seaweed clogging the channel when I was there.<br />
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While I was looking around the gardens I saw an older woman laying on the floor of a building in the gardens. I asked her if she was alright. She was fine but was trying to get a sense of the place. She called herself a seer and gave me a reading. I enjoy these to a degree, not because I necessarily believe them, but they give me a different perspective. See told me about my spirit guides and said I should do something to help my stomach - flax seeds were recommended.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiazSrP78VjcMaE3dTSG4qyTI7KwmV0Ys0Tss5Ov-L7G9AugLJ45ATqV9bhNgT3Te7SVxeZYrM_yBZN6_JkzmBKEp1zxUkJ_xV3o-NMbE74v6mOpmOo-kL0aNIQNPbB36D2ByI-nDegJk/s1600/MiamiScienceb.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiazSrP78VjcMaE3dTSG4qyTI7KwmV0Ys0Tss5Ov-L7G9AugLJ45ATqV9bhNgT3Te7SVxeZYrM_yBZN6_JkzmBKEp1zxUkJ_xV3o-NMbE74v6mOpmOo-kL0aNIQNPbB36D2ByI-nDegJk/s200/MiamiScienceb.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635671649094280626" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 150px;" /></a>At this point I had to leave to get to the Science Center. I stopped by the gift shop to get a book on the place and walked over. The science center, I thought, was smaller than I expected. THere was the planetarium and then I only saw a couple of rooms with a satellite mapping exhibit and some kids experiments to explain physics. I waited around for the planetarium show. About a half hour before the show, I realized there were a lot more rooms including some snakes and spiders, a compressed air-powered car and various other things I don't remember. I had to rush through them to get back to the planetarium in time. In fact I got a little bit lost and couldn't figure out how to get back to the planetarium entrance. The show was on the history of the number of planets. I thought it would be trying to defend Pluto as a planet. Instead it explained about how the count of planets has gone up and down as we adjust what we call a planet. There was no final conclusion.<br />
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Then it was in the car and off to Miami Beach. The bridgeway was no problem but once I got onto the streets I saw that driving around was going to be a challenge. My first stop was the Wolfsonian, which was associated with a college or university in the area. It took me a bit of driving around before I found a parking structure - it cost $20. Every street seemed to have parallel parking and only two lanes of traffic. Add to that some big siteseeing busses and it was not fun to drive around in a big car.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9ZAj6efMdPYXFM7DKbtA2Ja4bJT7FdymjYKcFKINsKN26a4uwGazlq-JyCE58aB8KP_w1mOG8sa2Mh7Qjxf2uuvvz6kplSLeoQPsxlTTDM8pqsXQSeCHmyP-adU6EZft6S-5S5ekF3U/s1600/Wolfsoniana.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9ZAj6efMdPYXFM7DKbtA2Ja4bJT7FdymjYKcFKINsKN26a4uwGazlq-JyCE58aB8KP_w1mOG8sa2Mh7Qjxf2uuvvz6kplSLeoQPsxlTTDM8pqsXQSeCHmyP-adU6EZft6S-5S5ekF3U/s200/Wolfsoniana.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635671654509138194" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>The Wolfsonian was a small art museum containing mainly 20th century art up to about mid-century. This included a lot of industrial design, although the ground floor had an interesting metal statue, probably from the 1920s. I remember some pieces from various worlds fairs. There was also a floor of art connected with the London Underground, which has been going on for decades. As I said, it was a smallish museum with a few areas of specialization.<br />
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I drove over to my final stop and found another (much cheaper) parking structure. This was the Holocaust Memorial, which I always thought was peculiar to have in Miami Beach. I'll say more about it at the end of this post.<br />
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After the memorial I headed back to my hotel. It was too late to visit anything in central Miami. At this point I figured out that my debt card wasn't working. I called the number on the back and got it sorted out. When I got online, I saw that there had been an email sent earlier in the day. I was running low on cash and gas, although I still had my credit card. After that I went out for dinner and then called it a night.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfaxoxNL18fW8nXK_Fw8aaaiLgwnnTwwYZCnMkmMgjyF7ahL7a5E9jSYlCojTGXqwuG3Palsg5mxzTevvJ-04o_5XvBsqzW8M4g1zY-jN93kpFlxQvAsaqFtScWy1l127BHIVvBiV9nh8/s1600/memoriala.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfaxoxNL18fW8nXK_Fw8aaaiLgwnnTwwYZCnMkmMgjyF7ahL7a5E9jSYlCojTGXqwuG3Palsg5mxzTevvJ-04o_5XvBsqzW8M4g1zY-jN93kpFlxQvAsaqFtScWy1l127BHIVvBiV9nh8/s200/memoriala.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635671658514195554" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 133px;" /></a>The Holocaust Memorial was significantly more than I expected. When I found it, I saw the giant hand with all of the people on it, It wasn't until I went around the memorial that I found something very unexpected. If you went about halfway around from where you entered, there was an entryway into the area with the hand. The corridor had the names of various camps on the walls. When you got into the area where the arm was anchored, you saw many more individual statues of emaciated people. Some may have been dead, others were interacting with the people climbing on the arm. One was positioned to be viewed as you are walking down the corridor which sort of set the mood. It was rather shocking how the area was set up, probably to make the make the now abstract horror of the Holocaust more personal and individual.<br />
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The remainder of the memorial, outside the central area had plaques listing names of those remembered by people in the area and some history of the Nazi plans and construction of the campls. It was all very somber and left me moody on the drive back.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627289536166" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-53763298436117483592011-07-30T09:19:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:52:13.254-07:00Saturday July 9, 2011 Florida<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEEHFyWrajdrzUaznU7B8Ki8vMYYj7818_0HjbdKd2RxOcrCqoxqoByR57C7VDLKDROxptvaNORmF-EZXJ5FKnXtXx7VcOPXB2oIVqxn2XYSCPMfzpp8MnQhCVb_u15n4AxX9KlxG674s/s1600/KSC2a.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEEHFyWrajdrzUaznU7B8Ki8vMYYj7818_0HjbdKd2RxOcrCqoxqoByR57C7VDLKDROxptvaNORmF-EZXJ5FKnXtXx7VcOPXB2oIVqxn2XYSCPMfzpp8MnQhCVb_u15n4AxX9KlxG674s/s200/KSC2a.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635181718793914722" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>There were two parts to the day. In the morning I went back to the KSC Visitor's Center (I could use the ticket I got on Friday for a 2nd day) and see some more of the exhibits. Then for the afternoon I was driving down to Miami.<br />
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It was a very nice morning, so I started by dragging Mike's Pants with me into the Visitor's Center to take some candids. I got some pretty good pictures in the Rocket Garden. There was also an Enterprise bridge where I got some photos. After I was done with that, I took him back out to the car and then went into some of the other areas that I had missed before. There was an early spaceflight building where they had a mockup of the Soyuz as well as other early rockets and satellites. There were also some nice models of the rockets used in the man space program, including some early Saturn models.<br />
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In addition to the Enterprise bridge (original series) there was at least one other Star Treck exhibit tucked away. They included several modules I think were shooting models form various series and some movies. There was also a long cronology of the Star Trek universe.<br />
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I also saw the iMax 3D movie about the Space Telescope. This included footage from several different missions that launched and repaired the telescope (there were more than I had thought).<br />
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FInally, I got some pictures of the full scale (I think) Shuttle with SRBs and External Tanks.<br />
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Then it was time to leave. I made pretty good time down to Miami. I was continually worried about whether my tollway tags actually worked, but other than that, it was not very eventful.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627158850313" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-7799737239101146122011-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:52:33.259-07:00Friday July 8, 2011 Florida - Shuttle Launch<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pt3tUGeBRjynMvIowzZGcsEvUz2b1pmBrJMW0e59YTpZ59yhzTDoHXOWmiCn25bM9hyo0bw5n66OOWtoU8ICEo7uDOXancmTr5pMYMYmeJoKFvAc9C3WzezeaPM6E1dF6teweWx3-t8/s1600/launch.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pt3tUGeBRjynMvIowzZGcsEvUz2b1pmBrJMW0e59YTpZ59yhzTDoHXOWmiCn25bM9hyo0bw5n66OOWtoU8ICEo7uDOXancmTr5pMYMYmeJoKFvAc9C3WzezeaPM6E1dF6teweWx3-t8/s200/launch.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634813017885291874" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 137px;" /></a>This was really just a continuation of the previous day. At midnight I started driving over to the hotel in the Orlando area. I got there at about 1 AM and met up with the other people that I would be going with. The bus ticket was for 4 people. I met an older couple and then an older man who had provided the extra ticket. After some delay we got on the bus and headed to KSC (back where I had just come from). We got there about 3 PM or so - there wasn't much traffic. We talked for a bit but also got some rest. When we got to the Visitor's Center, the let us out and said we would be collected again at about 5 AM. We had the run of the place until then.<br />
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I walked to the bus access area shortly before 5 AM and it was a mass of people. When we had arrived a lot of people had set up chairs and sat there. I hadn't realized why. Then it turns out I was in the wrong section of the entry and had to go sideways completely to the other side. We ended up snaking through and exhibit and a bunch of barriers to go to a completely different area of the Visitor's Center. We had been told which bus to aim for but I never saw our guide. I ended up walking through a few rows of busses until I stumbled on the right one. The other three of our foursome were already there. We talked for a bit and then I nodded off to sleep. The busses were supposed to leave around 8:30 or so. I woke up well after that and we still hadn't moved. Somewhere around 10 or 11 AM we finally went off to the observation area. It took less than a half hour to get there. Everyone got out and ran for an observation point. I got trapped by a bush and ended up in sort of a second row. The people in front of me were in chairs so I could shoot over them. The camera with the full zoom did find the shuttle but the distance made the images rather fuzzy (I also may not have had the best auto settings). The plan was to put the camera on a tripod to hit the shutter once a second for launch and hand-hold the camcorder at the same time, trying to keep it steady.<br />
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We had about 2 hours before the launch, plus the continual reminder that the weather could still prevent launch. There was a PA system that allowed us to hear launch control. We had a visit from a helicopter while we waited. I spoke with a couple behind me who was there with their two year-old. They had driven down from one of the Carolinas. This was their second launch viewing.<br />
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The time went by fairly quickly and the weather got progressively better. Sometime in the last half hour rain started falling on Merrit Island. There was a slight possibility it could move over to the landing strip, but they decided to wave the requirement. The crowd cheered when the countdown started up from the last hold. The count went down smoothly until 31 seconds. There was a hold because a sensor indicated an arm hadn't fully moved away from the shuttle. It delayed the launch about 2 minutes. It was quite a cliffhanger. They started up right at 31 seconds and boom it was off. The clouds of exhaust and water vapor obscured the shuttle almost right away. It popped out of the top of the clouds and headed in a curve as it was turning on its back. The one thing that I didn't expect from the launch was the glow of the SRB exhaust. It looks very different in person. The Shuttle hit a cloud layer fairly quickly. It was really only visible for a few tens of seconds. I could see it though some openings in the clouds after a little bit but it went into the clouds a final time before the SRB separation. Although I was still listening to the PA system I almost immediately started breaking down the tripod and getting everything in my camera bag (so was everyone else). I waited to hear they were good after SRB seperation, but didn't wait until orbit insertion. Then it was back on the bus.<br />
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The bus ride back was expected to be long because everyone else would be using the roads out of the area. I napped off and on and we got back without it being too late. I said my thank-yous to my host (and the guide) and then drove back to my hotel. I arranged with the front desk that I was going to be leaving the next day (Saturday) rather than Sunday as I'd originally planned. Then I got some rest. I think I also made reservations for Miami and Key West then too (either that or the day before).<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627158401279" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-43232632921429000352011-07-28T08:32:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:52:49.924-07:00Thursday July 7, 2011 KSC Florida<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT10iV01BPT6n24zFCchkxvy3lc8JfscpLHML52wW_ajKn60I03QRwrFDjxjpWPaDdp11TzXwvcyf4zTOV3qIAX-cHp4m-Hg9-FZRy6mcxsFoCmEhTJUWLXi_FjepdjEHPUfEGOmEBBmo/s1600/KSC1a.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT10iV01BPT6n24zFCchkxvy3lc8JfscpLHML52wW_ajKn60I03QRwrFDjxjpWPaDdp11TzXwvcyf4zTOV3qIAX-cHp4m-Hg9-FZRy6mcxsFoCmEhTJUWLXi_FjepdjEHPUfEGOmEBBmo/s200/KSC1a.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634428214459139666" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>This was my first full day in Florida. Although I did get in touch with the person with my ticket to the launch, it took several calls to agree that I would just show up at about 1 AM at his hotel.<br />
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I got to the KSC Visitors Center later than I wanted (about 10 AM I think). The tickets for special tours were all sold out. I actually had to wait in line for about an hour before I got in. Things had changed quite a lot from when I was there in 1985. The place is run by a company for NASA now. There were some Star Trek displays around the Visitor area. However, for today none of that mattered. It was also very crowded, not surprisingly.<br />
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The Visitors Center was organized into 3 major locations - a tower to view the Shuttle Launch Pad (not used during actual launch), an indoor display of a Saturn V (and LEM) and other items from the 1960s and the main visitors complex where I started. Today I was mainly concerned with going to the other two sites.<br />
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Unfortunately, it was raining off and on all day. It made it hard to take good pictures out of the bus. I also left Mike's Pants in the car - hoping it would clear up later.<br />
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The tower was new to me. I could just make out the launch pad from the top level. Then the rain started getting heavy. I even have some pictures of the launch pad before the rain and then just a darker gray area after the rain got heavy. There was also a rocket engine on two of the levels (I don't remember what the engine was).<br />
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Next I went to the Saturn V exhibit. It was nice to see it inside. Last time I saw it was from a bus as we left the VAB area - outside exposed to the elements. It was in much better shape now. Plus, I could walk underneath it. That was fun. I took lots of pictures of each stage including some detail. There was also a LEM hanging from the roof and a see-thru model of the Saturn V to show what was inside. All of it very cool.<br />
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There was lots of other stuff, including an Apollo capsule. There were two different theaters in the building. The first was a recreation of the Apollo Launch control center with a countdown from about 5 minutes. They had network news clips showing as the countdown and launch happened as well as lights showing the different consoles when they were speaking (there were no people at the consoles). The other was a program about the mission, from a more cerebral view. It included a mock LEM landing on a stage and, later the ascent stage taking off (none of which I took pictures of).<br />
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I went back to the main visitors center and looked around. A major area outside the central area was a memorial wall which listed all of the astronauts killed on the job. This included those killed on missions (including X15) as well as those killed during training (mostly jet crashes).<br />
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Finally, I went on the shuttle launch simulator. They had a good setup to keep you entertained while you were in line. When you got in, you went to a holding area where they had more explanation of what to expect. Finally they let you into the simulator. I miscalculated on the amount of junk I had in my pockets. Right when I was lining up to go into the simulator I noticed the sign that listed all of the things you should not have (like a cell phone); it also explained all of the lockers outside the entrance. I ended up stuffing my hands in my pockets so nothing would fall out. I mostly succeeeded. The ride was fun - no falling, which I hate, but the weightless simulation was done by pointing our pod down. There was a nice view of the earth out of the top section of the simulator at the end.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVGRDi2RYtHi8IR0nJTT5i2jaBEqnPZZmwwMUs52Utx16jwns3iwZGh6Cc7eAGHzF6oltlpfpFV2dfxpn3myZ_f1RaQ_BOC31fJVpj1tLZ3X4a1RLa9PnDZaHJ7_T0TTgrMHVGlPIG1o/s1600/halloffamea.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVGRDi2RYtHi8IR0nJTT5i2jaBEqnPZZmwwMUs52Utx16jwns3iwZGh6Cc7eAGHzF6oltlpfpFV2dfxpn3myZ_f1RaQ_BOC31fJVpj1tLZ3X4a1RLa9PnDZaHJ7_T0TTgrMHVGlPIG1o/s200/halloffamea.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634428217803904626" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>It was getting late so I drove to the Astronauts Hall of Fame. This was set up seperately from the KSC Visitor's Center but then became part of it. They had a room with all of the recognized astronauts, including their different missions. There was also a Mercury capsule and a Gemini mockup. There was also this odd movie on a sphere aperatus that intrigued me. After looking around a while I figured out that there were four video projectors all perfectly lined up projecting onto the globe. The globe also appeared to be floating in the middle of the room. It was too dark to tell, but I'm pretty sure there were wires holding it up.<br />
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Both the Visitor's Center and the Hall of Fame were open until 7 or 8 PM. I left shortly before the Hall of Fame closed. It was still light out.<br />
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After that I went to have something to eat and rest at the hotel.<br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=42498266@N08&set_id=72157627282443586" width="300""></iframe>teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428636491859554126.post-46775180371829231042011-07-27T09:49:00.000-07:002014-08-18T12:53:06.048-07:00Wednesday July 6, 2011 Florida<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxWSIxmk8mNzJCxKnE521APbDkorKhamB6TCly0lQfJVMOvxS_aOidbIExya-3MBLCTOYmAwn-DlUquJJ-NT24M4stsEup7v0qE3aT0m3Ri14xjItt4X6BPL7cz82UedwFzJEyeCfYTc/s1600/sign.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxWSIxmk8mNzJCxKnE521APbDkorKhamB6TCly0lQfJVMOvxS_aOidbIExya-3MBLCTOYmAwn-DlUquJJ-NT24M4stsEup7v0qE3aT0m3Ri14xjItt4X6BPL7cz82UedwFzJEyeCfYTc/s200/sign.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634075732187821922" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>Flew into Orlando and got to my hotel. The flight arrived a little early I think. The hotel wasn't near much other than the freeway. I had to go over to the gas station to get online access.<br />
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The hotel across the road had a lighted sign that had an odd phrase on it - "topshelf karaoke". I can't imagine many things more "bottom-shelf" than karaoke, but they are entitled to their opinion.teddunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10482540118626085591noreply@blogger.com0