Happy Holidays

Trans Siberian Orchestra

For our holiday outing in 2012 we went to the Christmas Concert by the Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.  It was the boys first rock concert.  They has a great time

Here is a taste of the show. The end of the last encore.

Seattle

Had to go to Seattle for the annual CAVD meeting.  They had an exhibit of artefacts from the tomb of King Tut.  Saw the tours in 1978 and 2005.  So glad I was able to see this too.  Spectacular!

Also got to visit an exhibit of Chilluli Glass art.

The exhibition was displayed below the Space Needle in Seattle.

Bears Lose :(

Bears vs Seattle.  Great game.  We lost in overtime.  Bummer.  They score a field goal to tie after getting the baal with 24 seconds left in the game.  Alas, they lost in overtime.  The B-2 flyover at the start of the game was very cool.

Diane and I went to the Vikings game.  It was an unusually beautiful day for end of November.  Bears pounded them 28-10

Diane and I went to the Houston game.  It was raining throughout the game but we were in a covered area.  Bears lost 13-6 in a real thriller.  Both teams were 7-1.  It was the beginning of the collapse of the bears for the second half of the season.

It was Sunday Night Football.  Even Bob Costas was there.

Happy Thanksgiving

Shawnee National Forest

Its that time of year again for a trip to the south.  Here is a nice rub we found in the back part of the farm.

Gave the cousins a tour of the farm.

Did get lucky catching a nice little bass in the pond.  Love that pond.

REDWOODS

It had been many (25?) years since I had last visited the north coast of California and their delightful Redwood groves.  The tallest trees in the world.  They can grow over 300 ft.  They can live to be more than 2500 years old.

They had cut down many trees.  Here is the stump of a big one. 

We also got to enjoy some fall colors.

Dan with a tree that they didn't finish cutting down.

They are very fire resistant and can do well even after they have been gutted by fire.

I like this picture.

The forest shadows give this one the look an impressionist painting.

Trying the capture the magnificence of the Redwood forest can be challenging.

View from the bench in Ladybird Johnson Grove.

For sunset we went to a small beach near Crescent City and had it all to ourselves.

It was a great sunset.

The yellows, oranges, and reds were striking.  I like the sunset coloring the crashing wave and tide pool in this one.

This is the pastel version.

We stayed until it got dark.

There is a whale spout near the center of this image.

There was a bit of fog which did fun things with the light cutting through the trees.

great beach at the end of the trail.

Lots of rainfall here.  Gree. Green. Green.

The light caught this spiderweb nicely.

So good to get back to the Redwoods.  Granted it was off season, but there were few hikers on the trail.  All the better to enjoy these amazing groves by ourselves.