Comic-Con!

San Diego's biggest event of the year is Comic-Con, a four day event where movie, TV series, comic, and video game enthusiasts gather for workshops, lectures, and who knows what.  Tickets sell out immediately, so most folks like us just show up and take to the streets to enjoy the spectacle. Saturday, Gail and I took the train down to spend all day Saturday soaking it up.

 On the train Captain Challenge posed with passengers.

 Approaching the Convention Center, you see festooned buildings.

 One also sees a peaceful confrontation between the pro Jesus camp and secularists.

 Extreme stilt walkers in front of the Convention Center.

It seems like many of the promotions are for movies and series with warriors and super heroes.

 About 130,000 attendees get tickets to go inside.  Luckily, there are actors and industry professionals who offer their time to everyone else out on the streets.

 A lot of free stuff, or swag, is given out, and most people carry their swag bags.

 A transformer?

 A whole area is devoted to The Simpsons, with games, blue cotton candy (Marge hair), and donuts.

 There was also a zip-line with a faux city backdrop.

 This vehicle is for a new show coming out on storm chasing.  It will be driven into the heart of tornadoes, apparently.

 Gail was excited to see a sister Twilek!

 These Clockwork Orange fans were rather scary.

 ???

 This area is kid friendly and free of charge.

 Hello Kitty!

 Loved Ones is a business that will be featured on a new series.  The premise is that Loved Ones will make replicas of your deceased loved ones.  $40,000 will get you life-like skin and human hair.  These replicas were so life-like, it took us awhile to realize they weren't living people.

 This makeup artist has spent his working life doing makeup on most of the big names in Hollywood, as well as directing his own movies.  He organized a demo on volunteers.

This robotic monster walked on the sidewalk, moving all parts of its body.

 Cool taxis.

 Two of the Steam Powered Giraffe were doing an interview, and some moves, right on the sidewalk.  They happen to be our favorite San Diego band.  That's Spine and Bunny (formerly Rabbit).

 How do you like this, Dave?

 More large scale promotion.

 Sharknado 2 is coming out!  Apparently Sharknado wasn't bad enough.

 ???

 The man in the brown cap is apparently a main actor in this series, as the crowd went wild.

 A beer keg sledgehammer!

 Petco Park was open to walk through, so we took in the great views from near the top.

 It just so happened that the cast from Sesame Street was doing a little interview.  Grover, Cookie Monster, and Murray took to the mikes.

Ok, the photos below are of the Zombie Walk.  No explanation will be provided.

 The streets got really crowded in the area by late afternoon.

 This woman had a very cool steam punk wheelchair.

 Sumo!

One of the mobile billboards driving around.

Well, it was 7:00 p.m. and time to take the train back to Carlsbad.

Summer Fun, Summer Fun!

Yesterday, Andria and the kids came up for lunch and afternoon pool fun.  You'd think that the kids at this point might turn their noses up at an inflatable pool, but oh contraire!

 Soren demonstrates a proper cartwheel.

 As soon as the big kids got in their pool, Susanna wanted nothing to do with the baby pool.

 Pool mayhem!

I gave surf lessons to Susanna -  she was shredding in no time.

 Soren was the master, though.  He could actually balance for 10 seconds or so.

 Showing style and poise, he drops in on a big one.

 Susanna claims herself  Number One.

 I bet Soren  that I could stay on for twenty seconds, and I did!  Of course the boogie board was flat on the bottom.  Soren thought that was hilarious!

 No Baba, this is how you do it - on top of the water!

 Sometimes kids need a time out, and jail is called for.

 You better watch it Soren, or you're going in, too!

 I told you so!

The kind jailer feeds the prisoners cheese.

Well, all too soon the fun was over  -  until next time!

Palm Springs, Again

We never thought Palm Springs would appeal to us, but we've been back 3 times this year.  Wednesday, we had some business to take care of at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, so we decided to stay over in Palm Springs and hike up to the top of San Jacinto Peak on Thursday.

 Outside of Temecula on Highway 79 is Ricardo Breceda's metal sculpture studio.  We stopped to check it out and fantasize about which ones would look good in our yard.

 Gail scale on a grizzly bear.

 A couple of  bad boys.

The reason for our trip was to donate this Jaguar skin to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens.  Gail's mom had acquired the skin in Panama in the 1950's.  She and Gail had been looking for the right place to donate it for several years.  The place would have to be educational, as Gail and her mom did not want it displayed as a trophy or ornament.  Trade in exotic animals and animal parts, and destruction of habitat are leading to extinction of wildlife, including Jaguars. Gail and Gwen wanted the skin to be used to teach others about the plight of animals worldwide.

When we were in Palm Springs in June, Gail had noticed in a local paper that two Jaguar cubs were born at The Living Desert.  She got in touch with Mike Chedester, Education Director, and arranged the donation.  He was thrilled, Gail and her mom are thrilled, and we had a fun trip in the process.

 Jaguars are more closely related to lions and tigers than mountain lions, as their ancestors came to North America from Asia 1.5 million years ago.  They now only live in the Americas.

The Living Desert has four Jaguars, including the two cubs.

At The Living Desert we admired this great Bald Eagle sculpture.

 We stayed at the Alcazar in Palm Springs.  I should say we stayed in the pool, as the temperature was well over 100.  The water was close to 100 - almost too warm!

 The rooms were in the Mid Century Modern style, so Gail came prepared to match.

 We took the tram 6,000 feet up the mountain to the top of that ridge.  The temperature is 40 degrees cooler when you step out of the tram at the top.

 The tram cars hold up to 75 people and rotate.  The ride takes about 15 minutes - very amazing!

 Looking back down with the desert in the distance.

 The ride gets very vertical towards the top.  The top of the tram is 8,500 feet elevation.  From there, we did the 11 mile round trip hike to the peak for a gain of another 2,334 feet.

 If only this tree could talk!  In an open area near the top of the mountain, we watched dozens of swallows feeding on insects.  While we were watching, what appeared to be a falcon came hurtling through at what seemed an impossible speed.  We were stunned beyond words!

 We were the only people at the top so we took this "selfie".

 Looking east over Palm Springs below.

 That mountain in the distance is the tallest mountain in Southern California at 11,500 feet.

 Along the trail are green meadows and deer - a welcome change from desert and scrub.

While waiting for the tram ride down, we had a spectacular full moon lighting up the mountain.  The ride down was other-worldly.  Not pictured was a 3 hour bike ride at night around very wealthy Palm Springs neighborhoods.  The landscaping and architecture kept us entertained.  We also saw Lesser Nighthawks flying bat-like catching insects around outdoor lighting. It was a long drive home, we got in around 1:00 a.m.

Fourth of July

I managed to click off a few photos on the Fourth of July.  Andria and Dave hosted a barbecue.

 Making the special strawberry lemonade.

 All hands on deck!

 Susanna finds everything a hoot.

Dave "mans" the grill.  In the back of everyone's mind was knowing that Dave is leaving on the 9th for his deployment to Guam for 6 months.  We'll miss you!