John & Anne Wiley

2013/07/08

Cabo

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 05:51

Friends and family have sung the praises of Cabo San Lucas (and San Jose del Cabo) for many years, so we’re glad to have finally been there. After our hurricane volleyball and other evening fun with family, we cozied in for a sweet sleep with the song of surf. In the (very late) morning, I began learning my way around Pepito (my new ukelele) on our balcony.

1169 Pepito Awakes

The day passed with many fun times, but few pix until we gathered around a beach bonfire like our familes used to enjoy on SoCA beaches.

0894 Beach Bonfire

The next day was a beautiful blur with the highlight being the wedding ceremony we’d all flown in to celebrate.

0900 Procession

By this time I was in the throes of the Mexican rite of passage some call “Traveler’s Illness.” At the delicious reception dinner my meal consisted of a single glass of water. Happily the next day I was well enough to enjoy more time with family, and after many had departed for the airport we moved to a second hotel for our own two-day vacation.

0953 New Digs

This room had a better view, and the large hotel/timeshare complex had multiple swimming pools including this “infinity” bar pool over the beach.

0988 Infinity & Beyond

Our “honeymoon” continued with a stroll on the beach, and later a very brief snorkeling expedition by yours truly.

0981 On The Beach

The water at this beach less than 5 miles from the other hotel was at least 10 degrees colder! Still there was so much marine life that beyond innumerable large crabs I saw at least a dozen fish the size of dinner plates along with smaller varieties and even a fleeting ray swam by. The next day we drove the hour and some to explore Todos Santos for a couple of interesting hours though somehow the only pic I have to share is this one of the hotel of song, taken with my cellphone.

491 Hotel California

Back in Cabo we hired a panga for the Arches ride, and joined the many tourists marveling at the rock formations.

1038 Pelican Spire

The arch was cool, though there are so many other interesting features there it can sorta blend in.

1049 Arch

Then our captain put us ashore to explore the beach for a few minutes, and Anne was transported.

1167 Beach Bunny

The interactions of water, sun and sand have sculpted the stones all along Cabo’s shores into artworks like this.

1184 Rock Relations

After touring art galleries, everything is Art we find. So maybe that’s why I paused to stand entranced for a time by this curtain doing a slow motion veil dance in the breeze as we walked back to the car.

1210 Simple Enchantment

After more fun without fotos this grand adventure ended the next day much as it had begun, watching Baja pass 32,000 feet below like a silent dream.

1331 Distant Shore

Comments Off

2013/07/04

Where Were We?

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 22:47

Back on 6/23 I had reached the FL Keys in the series reviewing pix from our Islander Adventure. But if you’re among those who follow this blog, you may have been wondering why it’s taken so long for me to post again. Well, sometimes Life gets in the way of Art. But this time lack of internet was a big factor too. We just spent a week at Cabo San Lucas as I’ll share in coming posts, but before that we enjoyed another SB Solstice Playful People’s Parade.

0678 Solstice Memories

We cherish memories from every annual parade since moving here 19 years ago, and the little girl at the right will probably have fond memories of the fuzzy float above. Looking the other way, up State, the merriment continues on to the parade’s turn toward the park with color and creativity everywhere.

0671 Creativity Alive

In the park where everyone congregates after the parade, quieter accents magically mingle from the stately old park to join exhuberant music and dancing amid the parked floats next to art with food and crafts for sale.

0711 Wider Spectrum

Two days later we found a similar creativity at Venice Beach after (gasp!) driving there to catch our LAX commercial flight to Cabo the next morning.

1141 Venice Variety

Wish we’d stayed with Plan A and flown to Cabo in Tripp, but the flight was still beautiful and Alaska Airlines seems to keep their windows much cleaner than other airlines we’ve flown.

0790 Cabo Approach

I had fun following along on Avare and got some fuzzy high altitude pix of places we might stop if we ever do take Tripp there. It’s a complex topic with many factors, but we’re still open to the notion of flying Baja in Spring when it’s cooler and greener. But this trip was for the wedding of our precious niece, and we didn’t want to take any chance of missing it due to weather. Turned out it would’ve been made difficult by those clouds from a distant hurricane. Arriving at the hotel we enjoyed a family beach volleyball game.

0809 Hurricane Volleyball

The winds were gentle, but those big waves got even bigger, eventually covering this beach and washing clear into the swimming pool behind me. Anyway, before getting back to the Islander Adventure review I’ll share more of Cabo in the next post.

Comments Off

2013/06/23

To Keys (2)

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 08:49

After great fun with friends Georgia & Bob in Boca, we flew the Florida Keys in a few hours. I’ve long wanted to do that, and now we very much want to go back and spend some time there. For now tho, we have a lot of pix. So here are a few from just the part of that flight from Boca to Keys.

1279 Boca Takeoff

Even after our flights in the Bahamas, this was a beautiful beginning. I’ll spare you most of the things that caught our eye, and zip ahead to this small detail almost lost in our expansive view out toward the vast Atlantic from the inland waters off Miami.

1283 Miami Monument

I haven’t looked it up, but all true Miamites probably know everything about this statue on a tiny sheltered island. I guess it was once visited by thousands, but now it’s fenced off and the trail to it from the surrounding shore doesn’t look especially well-traveled. There are innumerable other oddities in these waters, including a golf course community on the top-middle islet in this next shot.

1285 Storm Golfers

Now keep in mind that we saw ample evidence of storm ravages all along the Gulf, on the Bahamas, a good portion of the way up the East Coast, and of course everywhere in the Keys. So an islet barely above sea level exposed to a raging Atlantic for me conjures images of storm golfers. People so dedicated to the sport that a mere hurricane wouldn’t interrupt a game. Something does seem to have interrupted whatever used to happen at this viewing stand on the bay.

1290 Empty Stands

Traveling the continent as we have, it’s endlessly fascinating to plumb the psyche of those who live in each region, state and city. People ask where we’re from, and next express their terror at the notion of living where earthquakes can crush them in an instant. Of course, here in California the idea of hurricanes punctuating stifling heat is not attractive. 🙂

But I digress. Continuing our beautiful and intriguing jaunt, we crossed this narrow emerald marble of water near Homestead AFB out to the Keys.

1299 Quiet Gem

It reminds me of quiet moments in childhood, gazing into a marble and imagining an enchanted world inside. But in mere minutes we were turning up the island chain and flying over Key Largo. If you ever saw the old Bogart flick, like me you might have imagined something other than what we saw.

1309 Key Largo

Now it’s a small city astride the bustling highway. But still, in undeveloped areas along the coast are glimpses of a slow life intimate with the sea.

1316 Lost Key

Comments (1)

2013/06/21

Abaco (2)

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,Random — John @ 01:58

Some angles of light on water were truly remarkable during our flight from Grand Bahama Island to the neighboring Abaco.

5717 Light On Water

I liked how reflections of waves mingled with ripples of sand, especially on the exposed coast of Abaco.

1086 Treasure Cay

On the sheltered side there were interesting sights too, like this abandoned catamaran that evokes dreams of cruising the world’s oceans that ended on this deserted beach.

1097 Broken Dream

The channels cut to Marsh Harbor are so straight, they add a geometry to the aerial view.

1152 Marsh Harbor Lines

This last pic somehow says “Farewell Bahamas” for me, even though of course we were there for a few more days.

1179 Bye Bye Bahamas

But that’s the last of my collected pix from our stay there, and next my review will move on to our return to Florida.

Comments Off

2013/06/20

Freeport Fun (2)

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,Random — John @ 01:26

Revisiting pix from our time on Grand Bahama Island, it seems like years ago we had so much fun in Freeport and Lucaya. For example, this sunset by the pool in our second hotel.

0068 Enchantment

Enchanting as this iconic scene was with so much Islander ambiance and gentle warm breezes rustling the palms, we had so much more to discover! For example, the next day checking in to our third hotel where we remained for another five nights.

0841 Grand Lucayan

It required three photos stitched together for my wide angle lens to take in this entire view from our balcony. Looking at it now is still somewhat overwhelming. Then there were the many small things, like the night I taught Anne chess on this walk-around board below our room.

784 By a Nose

She didn’t think it possible for her to learn chess, yet in the end she nearly won. A change came over her when the pieces became her “children” and she began fiercely defending every one of them. 🙂

But with our love of flying, you can easily imagine how our day flight out over Abaco Island and back was also an Islander highlight. Taking off past Freeport, I noticed this abandoned resort that evokes impressions of past glory and memories other couples have from their Bahama vacations.

0895 Freeport Past

Among the many exquisite memories we had from that brief flight, was the amazing tropical colors. Like the variations in blue along Grand Bahama’s mostly deserted coastline.

0974 Colors

It’s not just that you need to see it to believe it. You need to see it to even imagine it, because photos don’t begin to capture the colors so strong they make your teeth throb. I guess boaters see it some, especially sailors who climb up into the rigging. But I think to really experience Bahamas water colors you need to fly on a low lazy wander like we did that day. I’ll post a few more fav pix from Abaco before moving on in this review of Islander images and memories.

Comments Off

« Previous Page — Next Page »

John & Anne Wiley

2013/07/08

Cabo