Click through for pictures and video from Darlene’s almost nearly 50th birthday party!
Category: Events
Scottish Highland Games
Eric joined Darlene and I at a pair of events at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton: the Big Trees Scottish Gathering & Highland Games and the Harvest Faire & Steam Festival. Lots of bagpipes… and kilts… and steam:
Polynesian Festival and Races
Darlene and I dropped in to see the Polynesian Festival and Outrigger Races at the Santa Cruz Wharf on Sunday morning. Apparently anyone can sign up as teams in advance and compete in the races. We also stopped into the free Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center. It’s a small center with some nice exhibits and videos, including a tank where you can drive around a remote-operated submersible.
Maker Faire 2016
A bit of video from this year’s Bay Area Maker Faire:
Halloween Night 2015
Mike & Nanci hosted a Halloween party at their place in San Jose this year. Mike showed he was practicing to be a member of the Blue Man Group and Nanci tried to make rain as El Nino but it was more of a dribble. I showed up as an Arabian desert prince with my lovely genie-of-the-lamp, Darlene.
Click through for the rest of the picture gallery.
Bay to Breakers
Edwardian Ball 2015
Last weekend, Darlene and I attended both nights of the Edwardian World’s Faire and Ball in San Francisco again:
And then on Sunday we spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences:
Glenn’s 45th Birthday
My brother, Glenn, decided to run 45 miles over the week of his birthday, starting with a half-marathon and culminating with the final five miles to an eatery in downtown Portland specializing in fresh-baked pies. (Mmmm… pies….)
He made this commitment before he came down with a bronchial infection or knew that he’d have some nasty windy and rainy weather to run through during the week. However, with the aid of a mélange of drugs and the hesitant okay from his doctor, he ran the miles anyway and some of us joined him for his final five miles… and pie!!
Here’s his take on the experience…
Click through below for my pictures:
We also happened to catch the Portland Lighted Christmas Ship Parade on Sunday night:
Cycling Around Lake Tahoe
Darlene and I joined some of her cycling friends in a biking event around Lake Tahoe this past Sunday, June 1st: “23rd Annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride“. The main route is 72 miles around the lake and a total of about 4000 ft of elevation gain.
Here’s a short (three minute, 50 MB) video montage I put together of the whole ride around the lake:
Edwardian Ball 2014
Darlene and I went up to San Francisco this past weekend to attend both nights of the Edwardian Ball and World’s Faire, January 17th and 18th. On Saturday, we also visited the Exploratorium in its new location at Pier 15.
Click through for pictures:
Resi & Troy’s Baby Shower
Maker Faire 2013
Pictures and a bit of video from a day at the Bay Area Maker Faire:
Wicked
Several pictures from a night out in SF with Darlene to see the musical Wicked – in appropriate costume, of course!
Greg & Erin’s Wedding Reception
Space Shuttle Flyover
I went down to the NASA Ames Research Center / Moffett Field this morning to watch the flyover of the space shuttle Endeavour on its way to a museum in southern California.
There were a number of booths set up showing some of the science and technology developed at Ames to support the shuttle program as well as a number of guest speakers including a couple of shuttle astronauts. Unfortunately, the host speaker built up expectation a bit much by describing how the shuttle and its 747 carrier were expected to come down the length of the runway potentially as low as 200 ft. As the supposed 20,000 of us were gathered along the length of the runway, this would have been quite spectacular to see. Alas, the pilots clearly had other plans.
After we were told the shuttle was approaching, it was the escort jet that became first visible and we were all watching *it* as the shuttle itself made a stealthy approach hidden behind the large hanger frame on the opposite side to the runway. It was nearly on top of us when it popped into view and everyone turned (and hastily swung their cameras around) to see it fly over — at a more mundane 1500 ft or so.
Here’s a short video I created of the event:
Still it was fun to get to see it with the big crowd and to hang out with others while waiting for its appearance! I was there with the Geek Club Meetup group.
Here’s a great time-lapse video of the shuttle being maneuvered along the streets of Los Angeles.