Unexpected from Street View

[click to enlarge photos per usual]

I long assumed that Google's Street View was focused almost exclusively on urban areas.  And perhaps that was correct in its initial roll-out.  In any case, I've learned that the product long since has reached into rural areas as well.

Street View also is not about the art of composing photos.  Yet it often yields marvelous views.

July 2009:  looking south on U.S. Highway 169 in the heart of St. Joe, Iowa.  I really like how
the clouds look; also the light on the church.  The Street View car passed through
fairly early in the morning judging by the shadows on the highway etc.

A couple months ago I was poking around in Google Maps - checking out the (yes, rather dear) places in northern Iowa where I grew up - and was pleased to see that Street View is offering what turn out to be some thoroughly enjoyable perspectives on these decidedly rural places.

August 2009:  Highway 169 heading south on left side of picture; county blacktop heading west
on the right.  So this vantage point is a few hundred yards north of the picture above.  Three things of note:
(1) EMG mowing grass on the vacant lot just north of his house - where his uncle Billy Devine ran
a country store when I was a kid; (2) my parents' house on mid-left side of picture; (3) not very visible, but
the farm where my dad grew up is the first clump of trees on the right side of the road on right side of picture.

The purpose of this post is to keep track of screenshots of three Street Views from 2009 that I find unexpectedly effective.  They are posted here in the chronological order taken (oldest on top).

Note on the middle photo:  my dad tipped us off to this Street View gem - which includes him, a few months after his 80th birthday, mowing grass just north of their St. Joe residence.  Nice!

September 2009:  here's the farm on which I grew up.  I really like this photo.  
Partly because of the fall colors here - corn has turned color quite a bit, the trees in the grove just starting.  
The county blacktop - "P56" - heads straight north.

Suns Charities "Slam Dunk"

Ah , what rings.

A quick note about a fun little event in downtown Phoenix on Saturday, October 11 (though actually the main reason I'm posting about this is to have an excuse to display the above photo with our fancy rings).

Getting ready to sit down for dinner on Central Ave.

Anyway:  CPG has been involved with the Phoenix Suns charity organization; they have a neat event starting with drinks and appetizers on the Suns basketball court, followed by dinner on Central Ave, followed by dessert and dancing (also on Central Ave but a couple blocks south of the dinner location).  So it's a pretty solid concept.  CPG, PJ, NOC, POC and I had a fine evening.

As the evening wears on.

Purple and orange attire preferred.

Wupatki, Lockett Meadow, Flagstaff

Wupatki main building (taken from behind the "ball court")

PJ and I took a little trip over the weekend of October 3-5.  Five years having somehow passed since this hiking trip, it was now the 25th anniversary of our first visit to Lockett Meadow (initial visit with five kids in tow ranging from two to eight years old).  Hiked on Saturday (after carb-loading, or whatever you call it, at Martanne's); the hike is just as delightful as ever (though we were a bit surprised that a decent percentage of the aspens still were fairly green).  The hike via the revised route is about 5.5 miles, we climb about 1200 feet to the 9800 foot level.  Gorgeous, again.

PJ tours Wupatki ball court.

On Friday we had stopped at Wupatki National Monument for the first time since July 1990.  We would happily return, and in less than 24 years.  There are six places to stop-and-wander; we selected the right three.  Started with the visitors center at eponymous pueblo remains - this was our only stop in 1990.  The buildings, ball court, etc. - dating back to 1100 AD or so (or is it CE now) - are remarkably well-maintained.  Made obligatory visit to the blow-hole:  the earth was sucking in air (opposite of our 1990 experience).  Then we visited the Doney Mountain overlook - yes, these were fine views (360 degrees).  Final stop was at the Lomaki ruins - probably the most interesting of all.

NOC, CPG, EPG loving Wupatki (July 22, 1990).  (NOC holding one of our pre-internet
travel reference books - AZ Highways published something about the "back roads" of Arizona)

We find this kind of landscape entirely compelling.  Though we wonder why these old-timey farmers - and that's what they were - selected such an un-promising area for settlement.

Blowhole:  it's science.

Other than that:  the usual relentless wandering around and fine eating and refreshments in downtown Flagstaff.  Typically we have pretty good luck with weather up there, but it was absolutely ideal for this trip - rain a couple days earlier had really cleared out the atmosphere.

 Delightful weekend . . .

PJ heading back down the Doney Mountain path; glorious views all around; 
here we are looking NE toward the Painted Desert.  These "mountains" are volcano-remnants,
which makes for an unusual, interesting hiking surface.

Lomaki ruins; built along arroyo; San Francisco Peaks in background.  Great setting.
One can (sort of) imagine old things looking at this kind of place . . .

On the Inner Basin Trail ascending from Lockett Meadow.

Entering the "Inner Basin" - amidst highest of St. Francisco Peaks.

Me, musing at ~10,000 feet.  Mt. Humphreys in background, I think.

Lockett Meadow (as we start to drive back to Flagstaff).

Somebody needed a cat shirt.

Oregon trip, v.3

Third year in a row that PJ and I made a September visit to Oregon.  We continue to have exceptional luck with the weather in an often-rainy destination (though we had learned early on that September typically is a good month).

Salmon-cleaners along the Columbia River in Astoria.  Our hotel in background (beneath Megler Bridge).

We like Oregon better each time - easily accessed, a great mix of things we really enjoy.

PJ at our lovely Saturday dinner at Clemente's, downtown Astoria.

We happily repeated the same cities, hotels and many of the same activities and restaurants.  So I won't repeat descriptions, or post additional photos, of those (prior Oregon discussions can be found by clicking this link).  But there were a few twists.

Cioppino for Sunday lunch at Clemente's - amazing.  With delightful bread and Buoy Beer's "Cream Ale."

1.  Chatted with two commercial fisherman (Finnish, of course) over lunch at Bridgewater restaurant bar in Astoria - just in from an overnight fishing trip and had just sold their salmon catch to a small local processor at a spot near our hotel.  Interesting chat, and it was interesting to wander over and watch the action as freshly-caught salmon were processed.  Much goes straight to local restaurants.

I'm standing in our Astoria hotel room, PJ is on our balcony; we never tire of watching
these ocean-going ships glide right by.

2.  In general we had even better seafood encounters than on prior trips.  Chinook salmon in season and delightful.  Willapa Bay oysters continue to be a favorite - PJ must have had a meal of those at least a half dozen times.  We were sad that razor clams were unavailable this year (unlike the prior two years); I guess that's a downside of the fresh-ness factor.

Cape Disappointment lighthouse - photo taken from visitors center just after hiking over 
to the lighthouse and back.  With weather changing minute-by-minute.

3.  Took a short car trip across the Columbia into Washington and visited Cape Disappointment - there is a quite-fine Lewis & Clark visitors center there, plus a great (and short) hike over to the 19th-century lighthouse.  (Which we learned had unfortunately been placed in a location where quite a few ships coming in from the north simply couldn't see it - so lighthouse #1 quickly was abandoned after ships kept sinking on the Bar.)  Then we drove over to the replacement lighthouse - called "North Head" - and took what they called a "tour".  As with last year's visit to South Jetty - these places are almost thrilling in their wildness and end-of-the-world feel.  We much enjoyed.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

4.  As for hiking in the Mt. Hood area - the footbridge PJ is standing on in the Sandy River video halfway down this post was washed out about three weeks before our trip (taking along downstream a hiker who drowned).  So we ruled out visiting Ramona Falls.  Instead did a 5.3 mile loop to Tamanawas Falls - on the east side of Mt. Hood.  We think we liked this hike even more; Tamanawas Falls itself is a marvel.  Much of the loop follows the gorgeous Cold Spring Creek, or the larger East Fork of the Hood River.  Pretty amazing, especially to someone who grew up on an Iowa dirt farm and lives in the desert.  Take a look at the two very-short videos just below, they give a bit of the feel of these falls.

I like PJ's photo here - looking from Cape Disappointment across the Columbia to South Jetty.
"End of the world" feeling to be sure.

PJ at North Head Lighthouse - functioning, open to visitors.

I like this view of the Megler Bridge across the Columbia in Astoria.  Taken as we wander neighborhoods.

Approaching Tamanawas Falls.  East flank of Mt. Hood.  
On top of the visuals:  sound effects here were astonishing.

5.  Oregon beer industry continues to impress.  We did a better job of touring the Portland brewpubs east of the Willamette River (Burnside, Base Camp, and our favorite - Cascade, the home of sour beers).

6.  We walked and walked - in Astoria, Cape Disappointment, Welches, Tamanawas Falls hike, all over Portland (My Tracks app reported 8.5 miles on one of those days - when we visited International Rose Test Garden etc.)  It's our favorite way to see places we visit.

[7.  Also:  several meals at Bridgewater Bistro; Sunday Market in Astoria (peaches!!); walking all through Astoria neighborhoods; wondrous beer-tasting at Ft. George Brewery, Astoria; nightly wine-and-cheese at Cannery Pier Hotel; great luck with meals at Rendezvous in Welches; Full Sail brewery in Hood River; scouted Columbia Gorge Hotel as possible destination there; Hotel Lucia; Andina; Veritable Quandary; Public Domain; Japanese Gardens; Deschutes Brewpub; Tilt for lunch on return-day; etc.; etc.]

By the delightful Cold Spring Creek on trail to Tamanawas Falls.

International Rose Test Garden on a beautiful Friday morning.

CA (again) (August 21-25, 2014)

PJ on balcony of our Laguna Beach hotel room.

Unusual timing this summer on some of our travels; just four days after driving back from CA (on the fine trip recounted here), PJ and I were back on the road to Laguna Beach for what has become our annual visit.  

A view from our balcony . . . some Pacific storm gave a little more life to the normally-gentle wave action here.

Hard to believe this is our fifth Laguna Beach visit (first one mentioned here).  Harder to believe it's the fourth time that our visit included a stopover with EPG in Santa Monica (first one mentioned here).  (That boy continues to thrive as he proceeds through year four of his CA era.)

At Huntington botanical gardens.

Similar pattern as prior trips - two nights in Laguna - we park the car, walk the town, look at the ocean, enjoy the local restaurants, etc.  Then two nights in Santa Monica at EPG's apartment.  Then a return drive with (typically unfruitful) stop at the Cabazon outlet mall, simple dinner somewhere in downtown Phoenix, and home again.

Trying to get connected for fantasy draft.

EPG does keep coming up with interesting new ideas (in addition to reliable staples like the Sunday market).  Highlight restaurant this year:  Bestia (Sunday night).  Interesting food, interesting refurbished warehouse-style building, in an area of downtown LA that looked a bit iffy, I'd say.  Fun.  Also had a great late lunch at AKA Bistro in Pasadena on Sunday.

Chinese section of the botanical garden was pretty amazing.

We were in Pasadena because EPG led us to The Huntington - top billing for the botanical gardens, but we also learned that there are can't-miss art museum and library (including rare book) elements.  In short - heaven.  We spent several hours there and were thoroughly entertained.  Would happily return.

One amusing element was that EPG and PJ did their fantasy football draft from a bench in the botanical gardens.  After a few glitches getting internet access, all went well.

Happy diners following Sunday dinner at Bestia.

Another excellent trip.

Stone Brewery (San Diego trip) (August 15-17, 2014)

We think pretty highly of Stone Brewery north of San Diego.  PJr and Nedda had attended Stone's 17th anniversary event last year, and recommended that a larger group attend #18 this year (Brewers Reception, August 15, 2014).  Happily, we fell for it.

Round 1

Ended up renting a minivan so that six AZ attendees could travel together in style - that approach ended up working out really well.  And I can report that Chrysler minivan amenities have advanced significantly in the near-20 model years since purchasing our one-and-only.  Easy travel in both directions, other than constant requests to stop (it was like traveling with the kids in days of yore, except the requests were coming from an unexpected direction).  PJ was quite indispensable as our designated driver for the event.  PJr had lined up a fine downtown hotel.  POC and CPG had assembled a tasting chart which the attendees filled out with varying degrees of diligence.  EPG joined us - drove down right after work and pretty much arrived on time.  Also met Mike C there; the man does know his beer and was a good add.

EPG has arrived.

The outdoor event was held on the campus of Cal State San Marcos.  We all were quite delighted with the beers on Friday evening, and also satisfied with the food.  Weather was perfect, some live music kicked up toward the end of the evening, very nice.  One of the very first beers - Stone's "Passion Project" - was my favorite.  But there were lots from which to choose.  Thoroughly tested the casked beers.  PJ then drove us back to the hotel, with plenty of advice from back seat drivers.  Then we recapped the situation back at the hotel.

Ice sculpture makes things official.  Always.

DD in center (just a pose, POCs hands were full).

Saturday - we wandered around San Diego.  Perfect weather again.  Much enjoyed brunch/lunch at a recently-opened place named Zymology - new enough where we had personal attention from the owner and several staffers.  Then wandered around, including check-ins at Monkey Paws Brewery and Mission Brewery.  I was kind of amazed at all the hobos hanging around, but that was a minor observation on a most pleasant day.  Dinner at a neighborhood Italian place.

Zymology.  We were entertained by the chemistry lab equipment . . .

. . . as used for example in Zymology's presentation of a "margarita flight"

Picked up EPG's car (the indefatigable 2003 Kia Sorento) from an otherwise deserted parking lot at Cal State on Sunday morning (and were pleased to see it hadn't been towed).  We intended on having lunch at the Stone Brewery site but the wait was pretty long.  So after a couple Yelp-inspired dud stop-offs, we - out of time and options - walked into a Hooters(!) for lunch instead.  While we waited for a table a bar patron in a Buffalo Wild Wings T-shirt was called up to be paddled with an oar by a hostess as punishment for his wardrobe selection.  That set something of a tone.  After an interesting experience (but decent food) we said our goodbyes to EPG.  Easy drive back to Phoenix.

Monkey Paws Brewery

Fine traveling companions, a delight to be able to do such a trip together.

commencing year 10

Starting the 10th year of posting on this website.

Here's post #1 (and I still love spotting Gambel's quails).

Nieces and nephews

My mom and dad have 20 grandchildren.  There have been two occasions where we lined up all available hands for a picture; those photos are combined below.  Top half was taken on August 5, 2002 as part of the celebration of my parents' golden wedding anniversary; bottom half was taken on July 11, 2014 just prior to Margaret/Jeremy wedding ceremony.

It's a fine crew!

[click photo to enlarge per usual]

L-R Alison (bottom half only), Emily, Mark, Julia, Tom, Kieran, Clare, Kristen, Jenna, Joe (top half only),
Paul Jr., Michael, Patrick, Nick, Margaret, Kate, Kerry, Angie, Chris, Nicole

And here are the same two photos, just cropped differently:

MN wedding

[As always, click any photo to enlarge all.]

Margaret & Jeremy, with a few well-wishers.
Guess what:  everyone was pretty fired up to celebrate this wedding.
(Photo taken in House back yard on a gorgeous late Saturday afternoon.)

All nine of us traveled (from AZ, VA, CA) to Minnesota for the social event of the season:  the wedding of Margaret House (my estimable god-daughter) and Jeremy Elliott!  We had a great time throughout.  As was the case a few years ago, the House clan certainly knows how to put on excellent wedding weekends.

Happy b'day to K (lovely afternoon on W.A. Frost patio)

***
An aside:

Something I keep noticing:  the "next generation" - generally widely separated by geography their entire lives - somehow gets along unbelievably well.  It makes me very happy to observe how they interact at these formal family events, and also the effort they make to visit one another while traveling between times.  They (and the in-laws in my generation) have sparked things up for my Gales generation, and in an entirely positive way.  These family get-togethers are becoming funner and funner.

***

Just prior to the formal photo shoot and ceremony.

Panis Angelicus practice (Cullen accompanists offstage)

I do like this photo.

Summarizing the weekend:

CPG traveled with PJ and me (on Thursday, July 10); then we waited a bit for K (coming in from DC); found out EPG was on delay; finally got organized with car etc. and the four of us grabbed a quick lunch at W.A. Frost (to wish K happy b'day!)   Then checked into hotel, hung around with folks awhile there - fun.  EPG eventually arrived from CA.  Rehearsal dinner was at back yard of some friends of the House family - beautiful evening, everything worked out great there.  Back to hotel; cards/shenanigans well into the early morning hours.  At which time POC, NOC, PJr, Nedda arrived on a late flight.

Pre-ceremony family photo.

Reprising the 2002 photo of Ernest & Helen Gales grandchildren.  (That 2002 photo was taken
in the lot just north of the house in St. Joe, and included the single 2014 absentee (Joe).)

Wedding date was Friday July 11.  Ceremony was at a beautiful country club in the north end of town.  Easy trip up there.  We so much enjoyed catching up with so many folks before, during, after ceremony, dinner and dance - a great evening.  Even had a mini-reunion for 40th anniversary of graduating from Garrigan High School (Bob & Margaret Muller, Joe Illg, me).  Everyone very happy for Margaret and Jeremy.  Not surprisingly:  more late night cards/shenanigans back at the hotel.

I like this photo.  (Still pre-ceremony.)

Our table at the reception.

Saturday, July 12 - slow-ish start to the day; had lunch at Barley John's to wish POC a happy birthday - nice.  Pretty rainy.  Softball game was cancelled.  But nonetheless had a completely enjoyable day at the House house - they do a great job hosting large numbers.  Sampled some of Nick's home-brews; that boy is on the right track.  The party moved outside as the weather improved into a marvelous evening; various of us spent quite a bit of time with the "Polish golf" set (built by Dan Haag's dad).  Michael had brought along a Mike & Ally homebrew (along with Ally herself) plus a sausage hoarded from Phantom Ranch - this was amusing, and tasty, for the 13 Grand Canyon hikers in attendance.

Celebrating POC birthday at Barley John's.  Nice!

Party-goers at House house on Saturday (Barb, Clare, Dolores)

Basically repeated the experience of the prior two days:  just very enjoyable to move around within the group and catch up with folks.  Also repeated the experience of the prior two nights:  late night cards/shenanigans back at the hotel.  Including a nice tribute to the bride & groom as folks made their comments and gave their best wishes.  Said our goodbyes to the Lancaster crew as they were scheduled for early departure the following morning.

Psychedelic kitty continues to inspire all who see him, or her, or it.

Grandma supplied cookies at House house.

Sunday, July 13 - PJ and I took K to airport mid-morning, sorry to lose her as next visit isn't clearly scheduled at this time.  PJr/Nedda also had a morning flight.  Checked out of hotel; said goodbye to my parents and Steve & Liz.  Perfectly gorgeous Minnesota summer day.  Brunch with a good-sized group at some fine place in Minneapolis - delightful company (Dolores, Clare, Tom, Kieran; Carol, Jim; Therese, Mark; Jenna, Walter; Nick, Maeve, Socrates; us).  This was quite fun.  Then up to the Aster - all the remnants of our group met with Cecilia, Steve, Angie, Tilly - plus celebrity guests the Bumbernicks.  Great lunch and drinks; then a delightful walk across some old Mississippi Bridge that we've somehow missed all these years.  Airport; our first Uber ride; home.

Great trip. We are lucky in many ways.

Lovely afternoon in House backyard.  Ally, Mike, Beth, Mark.  Photo bombers at work.

Clare, Alison, Emily, Mark, Kristen

Grill-master sympathizing with Packer fan.

Liz, Nedda, Steve, Chris, Walter, Jenna.  EPG photo-bomb.

Mark, Therese, Mike, Ally, Mike, Mary, Jim.

Mike supplies 13 Grand Canyon hike alums with their favorite trail snack.

Godfather and goddaughter in
charge of evenly splitting our treat - 13 ways.

POC, Tilly at Aster for Sunday lunch.

Mississippi River bridge stroll after Aster lunch.  With Kevin & Lindsey Bumbernick.