Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Flight, part 2

I'm back home after my SECOND cross-country airplane trip of the year (this could get to be a habit!). Jeannine and I were planning to attend a memorial service for one of her relatives in California, and decided that it might make sense, given that we were traveling all that way, to extend our stay a few days and see some sights.

So we flew off to San Diego, a place I'd not been to for nineteen years, I think. It certainly has changed -- I barely recognized the downtown area, though Seaport VIllage still looks about the same. And the San Diego Zoo is still a cool place to visit -- literally, the day we were there, it was in the low 60's, I think, and the animals were pretty active. Like most of the tourists there, I took a bunch of photos -- here's one of a peccary…


... a koala...



… and a monkey (sorry, don't know the type) on a rope…


… and two beautiful ladies posing with a chrome polar bear.


Emily was going to attend the memorial service as well, so she met us in San Diego, and we had some extra time with her, which is rare these days. (We actually didn't stay in San Diego -- we had a nice room at the Hotel Del Coronado, a place I'd wanted to get a closer look at since my last trip out there.) Here's a shot I took of Jeannine (wearing her "Organically Grown" cap) posing with some dramatic cloud lighting on one of our walks on the beach.


A few days later, following the memorial service, we continued on to Los Angeles, where we spent some more time with Em (including going out to dinner with her employers, whom we'd not met until then -- very nice folks). Em also took us to Griffith Park, a place I'd wanted to see on our visit in July. I was amazed at the number of people there -- I'd thought we would drive to the top and see maybe a handful of sightseers, but we were lucky to find a parking space about a half mile down from the observatory. But what a view! We got there just as the sun was setting, so we had some dramatic views of LA all lit up as the sky darkened.


I spent a good part of the time on the flights out and back peering out the window (Jeannine let me take the window seat)…

…and snapping shots of landscapes with my pocket camera.










They're not as cool as the photos from Stan Sakai's trip to Croatia, but I like them. A lot of the images from our flight over the desert and the mountains out west reminded me of the landscape-building stuff I used to do with the 3D program "Bryce"… maybe I should dig that program out and play around with it some more.

I did try to do some drawing during the trip… and this last photo, taken as the sun was setting on our last leg of the return trip back to Connecticut, shows my sketchbook reflected in the window of the airplane. -- PL

7 comments:

Adam Riches said...

I was just there! When we were you visiting? I was actually in Griffith Park, and San Diego at various points of my trip...I would've flipped if I'd run in to you in CA!


Looks like you had a good time there, I know I definitely did!

By the way, were you ever right about Griffith Park, I was shocked how crowded it was.

mikeandraph87 said...

Hadn't been to San Deigo in 19 years? I thought you went to the Comic Con International each year except this past year. I'd like to make it out that way one day just to see the sites. Its hard to do being on the east coast and not have family out there or anything.

I wonder what mutants or portraits of animasl would come from those you posted,Mr. Laird? ;)

The picture of you looking out the window on the plane is like a symbol of your life stage. Its like you've borded the plane after an amazing job and are looking back in retrospect yet at the same time taking flight for a new stage of your life!

PL said...

"Adam Riches said...
I was just there! When we were you visiting? I was actually in Griffith Park, and San Diego at various points of my trip...I would've flipped if I'd run in to you in CA!"

Adam, I was in San Diego from the 16th until the 20th, then in LA from the 20th until the 22nd. -- PL

PL said...

"mikeandraph87 said...
Hadn't been to San Deigo in 19 years? I thought you went to the Comic Con International each year except this past year."

No, the last time I went was in 1991, I think, the year we rode motorcycles out to San Diego and back. But I'm pretty sure that someone from Mirage has been to the San Diego Comicon every year since then. Mike Dooney has been a stalwart in that regard -- I don't think he's missed one, but I could be wrong. -- PL

Aaron Hazouri said...

Is that a drawing of Ben Grimm AKA The Thing? Ya gotta post it!

I love seeing your artwork. I hope drawing is something you truly enjoy nowadays.

Anonymous said...

The US does look amazing when seen through the air, doesn't it? It changes from desert to mountains to farmland to forests, and, right now, to snow. It is especially cool when you fly over some scenic spot like Lake Powell, or the Virgin River Gorge, the Grand Canyon, or Meteor Crater. Though I'm at the age where I prefer the aisle seat to the window.

I'm glad you had a good time in California.

Rob G. said...

Wow, I like the way the stone facade in the 8th picture from the bottom looks like a giant skull!! Wonder if that's where the Phantom lived? :D