Lou's Cosmic Connection
Welcome to my little corner of the Web. This site was last updated on November 15, 2009.
I completed the 32-floor (700 steps) "Fight for Air" climb without stopping in 9:09! My legs held up great but my lungs were burning. The view from the roof was great! There were about 200 people participating (raised over $65,000 for the American Lung Association). The best time was 3:57 (must be a marathon runner) and the slowest time was around 21 minutes. I got a "high five" from Yolanda Griffith of the Sacramento Monarchs at the start and a "congratulations" from her on the roof (guess she took the elevator). You can still donate through my Donor Web Page. Due to the generosity of my family and friends, I raised $500. Thanks to all!
I just added my latest trip report: "Climbing Mount St. Helens" under "Something to Read". While I enjoy writing about my trips, it's a lot of work to create the web pages with photos so I don't do too many anymore.
Wow! August 15-17, 2009 was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. I had just moved to Japan in August 1969 so I couldn't go (OK, I woulnd't have gone anyway) but I did see the movie when I came back to the States for a few weeks in 1970.
Our fist trip of the year was a week in Hollywood, California. We took four studio tours: Paramount, Sony/Columbia (formerly MGM), Universal and Warner Brothers. We saw The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and two other TV tapings and a million other current and historic Hollywood sites.
It was interesting seeing the "'til Death" taping...took about 3 1/2 hours and they have a comedian who keeps you amused between takes, they feed you pizza, etc. They do at least two takes of each scene and sometimes change lines if they don't get enough laughs, etc. They also flubbed their lines several times.
All the studio tours were good and each was a little different. The Universal VIP tour probably wasn't worth $200 per person - going through the prop warehouse and going in to the set of "Life" was cool (regular tours don't do those), the valet parking and "gourmet" lunch was good but the "front-of-line" privilege for the rides and attractions probably wasn't necessary as the the crowds weren't that big. On the tours, we saw the sets of "Two and a Half Men", "Life", "My Boys", "ER" (outside), Central Perk from "Friends" and "Jeopardy". We also saw about seven other historic studios from the outside.
Before driving home, Kathy wanted to see the "Dr. Phil" taping. The subject which we didn't know in advance was "What's Wrong With Men?". It was a light-hearted show with a few funny moments.
In March, we went to Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cirque du Soleil show "Love" was awesome and we did some hiking in the surrounding desert.In April we went to Georgia and Alabama where we saw the race at the largest NASCAR track in the country at Talladega. The race had a wild finish with leader Carl Ewdwards' car going airborne and hitting the safety fence right below us just before the finish. We also saw Selma, Birmingham, Montgomery and Atlanta and Andersonville, Tuskegee Airmen, Tuskegee Institute and Martin Luther King Jr. National Monuments.
In May for Mother's Day, Kathy and her son went to Utah to hike in several National Parks. They came back with some great photos of arches, hoodoos and other formations unique to Utah.
In July, we flew to Denver, Colorado, drove up Pike's Peak, saw our San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field and took the train back home through the Rockies and Sierra Nevada mountains.
In August, Kathy went to Australia to visit a friend who lives there. I took a special tour of the Nuclear Test Site about 65 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada. The site is still a restricted area and you can't take any photos. They also do a background check on you before they let you go on the tour. Hopefully, I won't turn into a mutant now!
In September, we went to Oregon and Washington seeing Fort Vancouver NHS, Lewis and Clark NHP, Astoria and two light houses on the coast, the capitol building in Salem and the "Spruce Goose". We hiked along the Columbia River Gorge seeing "Stonehenge", Multnomah Falls and we climbed Beacon Rock. I climbed to the rim of Mount St. Helens. It took me 6 1/2 hours to climb 4,500' in five miles to reach the rim at 8,365'. I didn't get down off the mountain until after dark and it was the most gureling climb I've done - two mile of rock hopping and about a mile of volcanic ash.
We already have three trips planned for 2010: In Januray, we are driving to Phoenix, Las Vegas and Death Valley National Park. In March we are taking a Danube River cruise from Budapest to the Black Sea. On the way home we are stopping in Paris for five nights. And in May, we are going to Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Iowa.
I added the Trip Advisor map below in the "About Me" section. It shows some of the places I've been to and plan to go to. The map looks very crowded with "pins" but if you click on it, you can zoom in on any area.
Last year, more than 100 million voters from around the world, myself included, voted to determine the "New Seven Wonders of the World". They are the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal in India, the ruins of Petra in Jordan, Machu Pichu in Peru and Chichen Itza in Mexico. I have seen all except the Taj Mahal and that is only because when I went to India to see it, I couldn't get into Agra due to religous riots - probably my biggest travel disappointment ever. I've also seen 12 of the 14 other finalists. The newest campaign from the Zurich-based New7Wonders is going to determine the seven natural wonders of the world. You can vote at New7Wonders.com. Results will be announced in the autumn 2010.
Starting with my Philippines and Route 66 trip reports, I have inserted a slide show at the bottom of the report. This way, I can post more photos and I don't have to try and line the photos up so they work with all browsers. You have to click on the buttons below the photos to advance to the next photo. Happy Trails!
"Don't tell me how educated you are...tell me how much you've traveled." - Mohammad
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." - St. Augustine
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." - Jack London
"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." - Robert Louis Stevenson
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." - Dorothy
About me.... |
| Lou's
Profile: some useless information about me. |
 Various incarnations of me |
| Zweibrucken AFB, Germany 1977
"Buggin' out" Bad hair day 1980 Rebel without a clue 1996 A puzzled look 2004 |
 Photo Gallery"There I was, there I was, there I was...in the Congo". OK, I haven't been to the Congo yet but here are some photos of a few of the places on every continent I've been to. I also included a few comet photos I took. |
| Angkor Wat, Cambodia Antarctica Athens, Greece Australia Chichen Itza, Mexico Easter Island, Chile Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Great Wall, China |
Machu
Picchu, Peru Moscow, USSR Stonehenge, England Rafting the Zambezi, Zimbabwe 1996 Tandem Skydiving 10,000' over Lodi, CA 2000 |
Comet Hyukatake 3/27/96 Comet Hale-Bopp 3/24/97 |
 Art GalleryTwo of my favorite artists are Albrecht Dürer and M.C. Escher (not to be confused with M.C. Hammer). Here's some of their work: |
Biography Gallery |
Official Web Site (biography, gallary, etc.) |
 Something to read: |
Sacramento - where I live
Sacramento International Airport - where I volunteer
Calirornia State Railroad Museum - where I volunteer
Creations by Kat - some great photos for sale
World War II Honoree - my Dad
My Sister's Web Page (it's gone to the dogs)
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)
The Official Jimi Hendrix Web Page
Amazon.com! Earth's Biggest Bookstore
Lonely Planet (travel)
Overseas Brats
NASA / Kennedy Space Center
The Crop Circle Connector
Music:
City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie
Jessica - Allman Brothers
Unchain My Heart - Joe Cocker
California Dreamin' - The Mamas and Papas
L.A. Woman - The Doors
Lazy - Deep Purple
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
CQ Boogie
Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source