MAGIC AT A CASTLE

When I looked out the window of my hotel in Los Angeles, I not only saw the "HOLLYWOOD" sign, but a strange and delightful looking building that caught my eye. I took my camera, zoomed in on it, and it my surprise, it was the world famous "Magic Castle". As a magician, I was excited to not only finally find this place, but to find out it was only a three minute walk from my hotel! The Magic Castle is like the "holy grail" of magic. Magicians from all over the world come to perform there, and many start their careers in this quaint building. I went over and spoke to some of the people working there and found out how I might be able to get the opportunity to enter this "house of magic". I'll let you know if I ever get in...... ;-) (click on the photo to enlarge it)

VIEW FROM THE HOTEL

Many of you know that I reside in Hollywood, Florida, so it was only fair that I took a photo of the view outside my hotel window during my recent layover in Los Angeles (LAX). I can't seem to get away from "Hollywood"! LOL Even though the van ride was around 45 minutes, we got to stay right next to Hollywood Boulevard, and had a great view of the HOLLYWOOD sign. Leaving the hotel we saw Matt Roloff (the father in the Little People reality show) I'll post a photo of another "magical" hot spot tomorrow.

HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND REUNION

Last week during my trip to Seattle (SEA), I was able to link up with one of my high school classmates, Serena Blach. The last time I saw Serena was at our 30th high school class reunion in Roswell, NM, back in 2006. It was great to rehash old high school memories. But, the biggest part of our breakfast conversation was the winning of the Kentucky Derby last year by her dad's horse, "Mine that Bird"............a 50-1 long shot! The stories she told me about the derby, preparing for it, and the actual race were great........and downright hilarious. What a great thing to experience! And best of all, her dad had signed a photo to me personally from that great day which she had been holding for the past year. Thanks for the photo and wonderful get together Serena. Hopefully it'll be less than four years till our next visit.

GOING FAST>>>>>VERY FAST!!!

Every now and then the winds and weather work together to make for a great FAST ride. Here's a shot showing just that! Our "ground speed" is showing 645 knots which computes to 743 miles per hour! You'll notice the airspeed indicator to the right in the photo showing approximately 295 KIAS (knots indicated airspeed). Due to the density of the air, strong tailwind, and perfect temperatures, we had a great ride on our arrival into Newark (EWR) at a blazing speed.......one which most people will never experience. We were covering over 12.4 miles a minute, or one mile every 4.9 seconds! Fortunately, it feels no different going fast or slow, so the passengers notice nothing.............except an extremely early arrival! Pretty neat, eh?

WATER AND OIL DON'T MIX????

Often we get asked what all the "circles" are when we're flying over certain areas of the country (they're crop circles, NOT alien forms). I found this particular area to be a bit interesting.......especially with all the crop circles AND oil wells intermingled. Yep, it seems that the areas that are being irrigated are filled with oil wells. I guess oil and water do mix!

ANTIGUA SUNSET

A couple of years ago I happened to be in Antigua (ANU), when the annual boat "sail in" occurred. As the sun was setting, I was able to capture some nice images of the boats as they bobbed around in the water by the hotel. When I went to sleep that night, their must have been 500 boats in the bay, but when I woke up the next morning, only three or four remained. What a life............boating from island to island..........unfortunately, when I go boating, I spend more time "feeding the fish" (if you know what I mean), than I do enjoying the boat ride. Good thing I fly planes........it's easier on the stomach!!!!!

JET SHADOW

Jet shadows are rather hard to take since the clouds generally don't offer a "solid" background for the camera to focus on. Every now and then I luck out and get one of those shots that I so desperately try to take. Here's a shot of a B-737 just before we enter the clouds. I would say that for every 100 shots I take of something like this, only one or two will even come close to being a keeper. Hope you like the shot.
(For those of you who know "positions" in the cockpit, I was a copilot when I took this picture, hence the view you see. ;-) ).

IAH Sunset photo

Here's a shot I dug up from a while back. I was in the pilot weather room in Houston (IAH), and noticed a beautiful sunset. Hard to photograph through the window, but the shot seemed okay..........so here it is. Sometimes you just know there is a GOD!