A quick trip to Los Angeles, CA

I had a quick trip to LA on Monday and flew back on Friday. Not a great trip, but thought I would post a few images. On the flight out to LA, I sat in the last row on a smaller regional jet and had a nice view of the engine for 4.5 hours. Another advantage of sitting next to the engine is the constant loud roar drowning out the noise of any unruly babies. I am not sure if there were any babies on my flight, but if there had been...

I stayed at the Westin hotel next to LAX airport. I was really fascinated by the variety and volume of aircraft flying in and out all day and night long. By the second night, I hardly heard the jets taking off at 2 am anymore. I think if I had been there another week, I would have been able to identify most types of planes by the roar of their engines. Here's a image showing my room with a view of LAX.


A constant stream of jets could be seen all day (and night) long. Where are all these people going?


A few more images of the jets.



There is a park near the hotel where you can get a better vantage point. Also, the park is conveniently located next to a "In and Out " restaurant where you can get a great greasy burger to eat while watching the planes land.

OK, enough planes. I managed to get to Dodger stadium and watch LA crush the NY Mets. It is a pretty nice stadium and the weather in LA was just about perfect, low 60's, no humidity and a pleasant cool breeze off the pacific. In the early part of the game, the stadium is mostly empty as the fans are probably caught up in the infamous LA traffic.


A beautiful sunset at Dodger stadium.




I also took a quick tour of Venice beach, their canals and the pier at Santa Monica.



Also, there was no sign of Arnold Schwarzenegger or any other body builder at Venice's famed outdoor gym.


A nice sunset over the pacific. I did not see any Baywatch lifeguards though.

More lake pix

Norris Lake is loads of fun when the weather gets hot.

Nick contemplates the day


Sarah enjoys knee boarding. She is getting a bit braver and seems to really like it now.



Nick thought he would try walking on water.

He was not successful.



Of course, jumping off the roof is always fun too. Say cheese on your way down for me, would ya?




As the sun goes down, the boat returns to harbor and everyone looks exhausted, even the captain. Another beautiful sunset on the lake.

Some more kid pix - May/June 2007

Here are some recent pix of the Sarah. I've been busy taking pictures and have not been very good about posting.

We all went to Dollywood last week and since Sarah and I enjoy the same rides, we walked around together and she agreed to pose for a few images for me in exchange for playing a couple of the carnival games. I thought it was a pretty fair deal.

Well, we had a deal, so she got to play a few carnival games and "won" the green bear. She had a new best friend and the three of us had a blast playing around. One of the highlights was catching 12 baby bull frogs. Seems one of the scenic ponds at Dollywood has a momma bull frog and she had about 15,000 babies. Literally. They were about a 1/8" long and many were being stepped on and killed by people walking by who did not even see them. Well, Sarah did and we took a dozen home. We ended up keeping them overnight and then releasing them in a nearby stream the next day. All in all, a good day.