Paris, 06 Dec 11

Dinner surprise chez Christian et Olivier pour l'anniversaire de Thierry. 50 ans ça se fête bien sur.

All aboard

The bus that used to take sugar cane plantation workers to the train station.

Coucher de soleil sur le centre ville

Tableau - Painting

Ma dernière acquisition; un original Doug Cooper.
My latest acquisition; a Doug Cooper original.

Old Mission dam. Mission Trails, San Diego

San Luis Reservoir

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"Where in the world is D?"

Manly on a sunny day

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Mission San Jose

"Where in the world is D?"

Videos des vacances de Juillet 2011

SEAWORLD



LAS VEGAS



HOOVER DAM



ZION et GRAND CANYON

San Francisco

Nous avons passé une super journée à San Francisco hier. Les points d'intérêt ont inclus le Golden Gate Bridge, le Palace of Fine Arts, Lombard Street, la Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf où nous avons déjeuné. Nous nous sommes baladés en voiture mais le brouillard est venu très tôt sur la ville et la visibilité était quasi nulle au delà d'une certaine altitude. Nous sommes passés vite fait à Sausalito avant de rentrer au camping.

We spent a wonderful day in San Francisco yesterday. The highlights included the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts, Lombard Street, the Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf where we had lunch. We drove bait around town but the fog got in very early and we couldn't see anything past a certain altitude. We zipped through Sausalito on the way to the campground.

Long drive (part 2) - la route est longue (2ème partie)

Yesterday we drove from Page, AZ, to Salt Lake City, UT. Although we saw some amazing sights, that was a long drive.
We spent the night and woke up anew with a Denny's style breakfast prepared by sis and I... scrambled eggs with "bacon" and toasts with coffee or hot chocolate.
We strolled around Temple Square to take some pictures of the church and the Tabernacle and it was time to get back on the road.
Today we are driving to Reno. We will be crossing west almost half of Utah and almost the entirety of Nevada. We will spent the night in Reno and tomorrow we will visit Yosemite.

Hier nous avons conduit de Page dans l'Arizona jusqu'à Salt Lake City dans L'Utah. Bien que nous ayons traversés des paysages extraordinaires, ce fut un long voyage.
Nous passons une nuit tranquille et nous réveillons avec un petit-déjeuner préparé par Patou et moi... Oeufs brouillés, "bacon" et toasts avec café ou chocolat chaud.
On s'est promené dans Temple Square pour prendre quelques photos de l'église et du tabernacle et avons repris la route aussitôt après.
Aujourd'hui on va à Reno. On traversera presque la moitié de l'Utah et presque la totalité du Nevada. On passera la nuit à Reno et demain on visitera Yosemite.

Lake Powell

Absolutely stunning.

A day of wonder - use journée de merveilles

Since we arrived into Zion at night, we had no idea where we were. When we stepped outside in the morning, we gasped. The campground was surrounded by sheer red cliffs. Trying to have an earlier start to our day, we had breakfast at breakfast time and got ready. Zion was waiting for us. It's rather difficult to find adjectives to really describe what we were seeing, and I'm sure the pictures won't do it justice. You are at the bottom of the canyon pretty much looking up the whole time. The tour lasts about 180 minutes if you don't get out of the tram. We only did one stop and enjoyed every second of the whole trip

Are we there yet? On est bientôt arrivés?

Le petit déjeuner à midi et encore une fois nous sommes décalés dans notre programme. Nous quittons Las Vegas vers 15h pour une viisite obligatoire du Hoover Dam ou nous arrivons vers 16h.
Ensuite c'est direction Zion. Traversée du Nevada, d'une partie de l'Arizona et nous voilà enfin dans l'Utah. Nous arrivons au camping assez tard. Un BBQ impromptu et nous dinons vers minuit (décalage horaire)....au menu, salades, saucisses et cotes grillées. Température impeccable par rapport a la vague de chaleur du jour précédent.

Breakfast at noon and once again we are late into our plans. We leave Las Vegas around 3pm for an obligatory visit to the Hoover Dam where we arrive around 4.
Then we head towards Zion. We cross Nevada, a small part of Arizona and then we finally get into Utah. We get to the camping site rather late. An impromptu BBQ and we eat around midnight (UT time)....on the menu, salads, sausages and ribs. The temperature is perfect compare to the heat wave of the previous day.

La voiture de Jeannot

Grasse matinée - sleeping late

On a été diner encore une fois à 1h du mat puis nous sommes promenés jusqu'à 5h sur Las Vegas Boulevard. Il y a du monde à toute heure dans les rues. Les tenues TRÈS risquées, les abus d'alcool apparents et bien sur la ville même nous ont donnés bien des "ho" et des "ha".....

Once again we had dinner at 1am and then strolled around town until 5 on the Vegas strip. There are people out at any time. The risky outfits, the visibly drunks and of course the sights gave us lots of "ooh" and "aah"...

Las Vegas.....

Finalement à LAS Vegas. Il est minuit 45 et il fait 31•
On se promène et on apprécie la vue.

Finally in Las Vegas. It's 0:45am and it is 88•
We're just walking around taking the sights.

Aurelie s'amuse avec les dauphins

Van pour transporter la famille a l'aise

Famille Sadikhossen

Marine

Thomas

Petit-déjeuner en famille

Mission Café mardi matin.

Arrivée de la famille

J'ai récupéré la famille a l'aéroport et a part une valise égarée, ils ont passé de bons vols. Ils avaient tous faim malgré l'heure tardive donc nous sommes allés diner a IHOP qui était encore ouvert.
Finalement au lit vers minuit et demi.

Pride 2011

A day at Seaworld

Beautiful day in Waikiki

J'adore ces arbres

Lay-over in Honolulu. Enjoying the afternoon.

The finished work

The new 10'x4' addition

Almost done

Norman at work

Before picture

Trip to Home Depot to get the wood for the deck addition

Vivid Sydney 2011

Building Noah's ark....or an addition to the deck.

Vivid Sydney June 2011

The Promenade at Mission Beach

Mission Beach

Spending time at Mission Beach with "Kuya" Michael and the kids.

Doing a little hiking with Steve. Great 360• views of San Diego.

Montgomery Field with John & Steve

Breakfast with Norman & Ralph at The Mission

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Flash: Standard
Film: Ina's 1969

Looks familiar

Vacances de Juillet 2011

Apres des heures passées sur l'ordinateur, voila enfin un itinéraire pour nos vacances d'été. Nous louerons une caravane et seront en famille pendant 9 jours tout en visitant différents sites touristiques a travers 4 états de l'ouest américain. Au menu:
San Diego, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Zion, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco, Los Angeles

After hours spent on the computer, here is finally an itinerary for our summer vacations. We will rent a motorhome and will be together for 9 days while visiting different touristic sites through 4 states of the american west. On the menu:
San Diego, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Zion, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco, Los Angeles

Jeu/Game

Regardez pendant 10 secondes les trois points formant le nez sur la photo et ensuite regardez tout de suite pendant 15 secondes le plafond. (ne marche pas avec les téléphones portables)

For 10 seconds stare at the 3 points forming the lady's nose then right away look up and stare at the ceiling for at least 15 seconds. (does not work if you look on your phone)

85 years and going strong.

I turned 85 this year. Thank God for good moisturizers......

Nomination

I have been nominated for the President's Award by one of my co-workers. Such an awesome gesture. I received my "plaque" tonight.

Dessert

Beignets et café au lait au Café du Monde avec Myles.

Yummy

Strolling in New Orleans.

Special

We were so delayed getting into Las Vegas that they put all our passengers on an earlier SFO flight.....except one, Lisa who got a crew of four and an entire B757 at her disposal.

Flying home

Since the wether is supposed to be bad for the next few days I decided to fly back home. We woke up bright and early, well early, and Michael dropped me at SFO for the first flight to San Diego.

Dinner in Dublin

Last stop before getting to San Francisco. Afraid that restaurants might be closed by the time we get there, we decided to stop here to grab a quick bite.

The California Aqueducts system

California Aqueduct

After a good nap Michael takes back the wheel at the Dos Amigos Pumping Plant on the California Aqueduct feeding water to Southern California. (too dark for a picture so I'm using one from Wikipedia).

Coffee stop

5:30pm and we stopped at a Starbucks in Buttonwillow for a coffee and cake. No I'll be driving for a little bit while Michael takes a nap and does some homework.

Lunch at the Ranch House with Michael

Left San Diego around 12:30. Drive is fine so far. Stopped for a late lunch in Gorman and now back on the road.

New dramatic video: Tsunami wave spills over seawall, smashes boats, cars

Made the early but delayed flight to Carlsbad. Yeah. I'm ready for a nap.

Ocean Beach Pier

Snow and Sea

Mount Laguna covered in snow in the background viewed from Ocean Beach.

Just arrived in Orlando. My day is almost over. For the first time in 2 months my ears behaved as they should with the change of pressure in the cabin.

Gorgeous day at O'Hare. United's new lively.