Newport Beach

I wish they all could be California Gulls

Time to take a look at some photos I took last summer at Newport Beach, California. My wife, son, daughter-in-law, and I took a day to head to this town on the blue Pacific for a day of fun, sand, and sun. We were not disappointed. While the rest of the entourage went to play in the water, I took the trusty Olympus for a walk around to see what I could find. As always, you can see larger versions of these photos by clicking on them. Use your back button to return. Or you can "right click" to open in a new window or tab.

This next photo appears on its surface to be two fishermen on a pier. Actually there are three fishers in this picture. Do you see the third? You may want to look at the larger version for this, and the answer follows this image.


The Fishermen at Newport Beach

If you look behind the fisherman to the left, you will notice a brown pelican cruising above the water looking for fish to scoop out of the ocean. Hopefully for everyone's sake except the fish's, there was a good catch for all three.

Speaking of pelicans, these seashore birds were everywhere. This next photograph has another pelican on a fishing expedition, with a sailboat on the deep blue waters. I don't think the ocean gets any more beautiful than this.


It isn't the size of the ship, but the motion of the ocean!

Just below the Newport Beach Pier, this cute little sea lion was playing and putting on a show. I really enjoyed watching him as he spun around, flipped, and generally just showed off his tricks.


Sea Lion at play

And what beach in California is complete without surfers. This guy was having fun and I'm sure he also was hoping to impress the ladies with his surfing prowess. As the Beach Boys sang, "Catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world".


Surfer dude

Springtime in Madison

Garden at the Wisconsin University campus

In my last post, I shared some photos from Milwaukee. Now let's look at a few from Madison, Wisconsin taken the same week. The garden above is on campus at the University of Wisconsin. It contains many beautiful plants and water features.

Also on campus is the Washburn Observatory. This facility sports the typical dome, and makes for an attractive feature atop Observatory Hill.


Washburn Observatory at the University of Wisconsin

On weekends during the spring, there is a public, open air market on the state capitol grounds. There are also people there of all kinds, exercising their First Amendment right of free speech. These guys in the next picture reminded me of the Elton John song Tiny Dancer, where the lyrics say, "Jesus freaks, out in the streets, handing tickets out for God". So we walked on by, as the street preacher was calling us all whores and whoremongers. I really haven't ever mongered anything, much less a whore! Just another fine example of Christianity at work.


Street preachin' Jesus freaks

Madison is a progressive-minded city, so the Jesus freaks were met with laughter and mild amusement by the passersby. Luckily, Madison has a major counterbalance to such nincompoops. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is headquartered just a few blocks from the capitol. I stopped by Freethought Hall to snap a few pictures, even though the staff was out of town that day.


Freethought Hall, headquarters of the Freedom From Religion Foundation

And since this blog deals a lot with road and highway issues, here is a sign you see around Madison. The blank US highway shield is not a mistake. It indicates the Madison Beltline Highway, a multiplex of US Highways 12, 14, 18, and 151. They just use the blank shield to represent them all.


Beltline Highway blank shield