Capitol building in San Francisco

A shot of the Capitol building in San Francisco, California on a cloudy day.

Doors and guitars

The entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hard Rock Cafe is known for its walls covered with rock-and-rock memorabilia. Apparently, it was named after The Doors album, Morrison Hotel.

Red road under the blue sky

This was taken in the Mojave National Preserve in California, about 80 miles south-west of Las Vegas. If you are on your way back to California, you could enter through the north entrance off the I-15 freeway, drive south through the park, and exit through the south entrance and head west on the I-40 freeway. If you do this, make sure to stop by the Kelso Dunes in the middle of the park. At 600 feet in height, they are the third highest in North America.

The road, when we were driving, was reddish in one direction but the usual black in the other. It was probably due to the interplay between the sun and the contents of the tar. Whatever it was, it was beautiful, especially when juxtaposed against the blue sky.

Moon among the lights

This was taken at the Ethel M chocolate factory in Las Vegas, Nevada. During Christmas, they light up the garden outside the factory. Definitely one of the best Christmas light displays I've ever seen.



In the picture below, you can see the full moon camouflaged by the brilliance of the lights. It's that little bright circle in the center.



You can do a tour inside the factory and that ends in the main chocolate room where you will succumb to buying some if you like chocolate even a little.

Red doors

This is from inside the Red Rock casino near Las Vegas, Nevada. It was during Christmas but I think the color of the doors had nothing to do with that.

Mirage in Vegas

A night shot of the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Didn't have a tripod and had to use a wall.

A church and a lamp

This is the church next to the mission in the city of San Juan Capistrano in Southern California. The mission itself was founded in 1776, which, coincidentally, is also the year when the United States declared its independence from the British Empire. It is very much a touristy little town, with a Starbucks bang opposite the mission across the street.

Now showing: Harry Potter at the church

What's Harry Potter got to do with the church? Take a gander at this snap I took outside a church in Belmont, California.




An innovative way to get the kids streaming into the church?

Mosque in Fortezza

A mosque inside the Fortezza complex on Crete in Greece.

Lunar eclipse (this time, the real deal)

Yesterday night, rather today very early in the morning, we got to see a total lunar eclipse in California, which was a pleasant change unlike last time.

To boot, it was a full moon. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of that. However, this is what it looked like at approximately 3 a.m. when the sun started its shadowy encroachment.



After about 15 minutes later, at 3:15 a.m., notice how the bronze color gets deeper.



At 3:30 a.m., it got even darker.

Sunset in Chania

Chania is the second largest city on the Greek island of Crete. This port city is a bustling place especially in the spring and summer, with lots of people sitting and enjoying sunsets like these in dozens of little open air restaurants by the water.

What do you call a baby lizard?

I don't really know. But, I can tell you that they look reddish like in the picture below. This was taken in early summer in Yosemite National Park. Saw a few dozen of these babies while hiking. They moved very slowly and I was able to get very close to take pictures without scaring them off.

Lupines in Yosemite

Taken in the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite National Park in California. Early summer. Depending on the rains/snowfall of the preceding winter and the elevation, wildflowers can be in bloom as late as August.



Hetch Hetchy is a great place for backpacking. It's away from the main Yosemite valley, which means far less crowds. In addition, the ranger station is open till 9 p.m. during the summer and apart from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir (which supplies a good amount of San Francisco's municipal water) there aren't too many places for short day hikes. What this means is that if you are a backpacker, you don't have to encounter the hordes of people like in the Valley, and can afford to get here late and still get a backpacking permit.

By the ocean in Santorini

Taken on Santorini in Greece on a beautiful spring day.

Is 4 IV or IIII?

Looking at this image of a clock that I chanced upon in St.Goar in Germany, I was surprised to see why the number 4 was written as "IIII" and not "IV." Reading up a little bit, I found there is no single explanation for this. Rather, there are multiple explanations and several of them might be true. The one that I found interesting was this on Wikipedia:

With IIII, the number of symbols on the clock totals twenty 'I's, four 'V's, and four 'X's, so clock makers need only a single mold with a V, five 'I's, and an X in order to make the correct number of numerals for their clocks: VIIIIIX. This is cast four times for each clock and the twelve required numerals are separated:
o V IIII IX
o VI II IIX
o VII III X
o VIII I IX
The IIX and one of the IX’s are rotated 180° to form XI and XII. The alternative with IV uses seventeen 'I's, five 'V's, and four 'X's, possibly requiring the clock maker to have several different molds.

Church in Santorini

A church in Santorini in Greece. Santorini is a group of volcanic islands. There seem to be as many churches there as people. Well, not quite, but you get the idea.

Icy reflection

A reflection of the ice floating in the waters in Prince William Sound in Alaska. The sound was the site of one of the largest man-made disasters back in 1989 when the Exxon-Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ocean.

The reflection is on the glass windows of the cruise boat we were in. You can take half-day and full-day cruises in the Prince William Sound by going to Whittier which is about a 1.5 hour drive from Anchorage. There's a one-way tunnel (Anton Anderson tunnel) that you will need to pass through to get to Whittier. It's open in one direction for 15 minutes in every one hour. So, if you miss one time slot, you might have to wait up to an hour. The cruise boat company should be able to give you a schedule for this.

The stone ceiling

This was taken inside a mosque in the 40+ year old Fortezza complex in Rethymnon on Crete in Greece. That's the ceiling of the dome.

Under the bridge

This was taken on the island of Crete in Greece while hiking through the Aradena gorge.



This was shot from down below in the gorge while looking up at the bridge crossing it. The little square jutting out in the middle of the bridge is a bungee jumping platform. The hike itself starts near the bridge where you go down into the gorge and follow the trail and finally arrive at a black pebble beach - a great way to stop and recharge your tired feet. On a normal day, you should be able to see dozens of goats embedded in seemingly impossible places all along the walls of the gorge. Most of these are owned by people and have little bells around their necks, which form the source of a beautiful symphony when the goats run around. Goat-powered music at its best.

Life imitating television

Recently, 7-11 converted some of their stores to "Kwik-E-Marts" - the fictional store in the television series The Simpsons. Twelve of the 7-11 stores in the country underwent this transformation as part of a promotion for "The Simpsons Movie." Below is a pic of the one in Mountain View, California.



I saw a line of people queued up outside the store waiting to get in. Once you got in, you could buy cookies in the form of Homer Simpson and "Squishees" and pink donuts, among other things that until now part of the virtual world. We've seen product placement in movies, e.g., the BMW automobile in the James Bond movies. The 7-11 idea seems to be a neat twist on the idea - life imitating television. Reverse product placement?