Today was in large part a vist to the Fortress of Louisbourg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_of_Louisbourg. Breakfast at the Louisbourg Harbour Inn was great, if you are in Louisbourg, recommend going there. You drive over to near Fortress Louisbourg and park at the visitor’s office. There you catch a bus which takes you to the Fortress.
Tags: baddeck·busker·cabot trail·canada·cod·florence·fortress louisbourg·lantern hill & hollow·lik-a-chick·louisbourg·louisbourg harbour inn·magic·maginot line·sydney·water's edge inn
Ellen had long expressed an interest in visiting Prince Edwards Island, the site of the Anne of Green Gables stories, and nearly Nova Scotia. I had always heard it was a very beautiful place to visit, the high’s were going to be in the 70′s, not the 90′s, and going would be consistent with my [...]
Tags: anne of green gables·antigonish·books·bras d'or·canada·cape breton·disneyworld·halibut·halifax·hockey·ice cream·louisbourg·nova scotia·prince edwards island·sidney crosby·united airlines·washington capitals
For those who knew me when I was the CIO at the US Department of Transportation, you will know that I held a monthly lunch with a small band of fans of both the TV show Firefly, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series), and the movie Serenity, http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/serenity/. For references to this, see the end of the interview I gave [...]
Tags: big bang theory·cio·Firefly·geneva·large hadron collider·Serenity·us department of transportation
Periodically my wife, Ellen, and I go to visit Ellen’s parents in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Every time we visit I am reminded how lucky I was to not just to marry Ellen but also to marry into such a wonderful family. I have learned much about my professional life and how to behave like [...]
Tags: buffalo_bob·children·circus·clown·conrad_hartz·hilton_head·howdy_doody·library·puppets
After staying in a hotel in Sacramento where the air conditioning broke and where there were no other rooms free, I flew down to Los Angeles this morning for the second of my two stops in California. The plane flight was uneventful, I was able to get tomorrow’s boarding pass before leaving the airport, and [...]
“First Contact!” The shout came from the group of professional astronomers and experienced amateurs who were collected at the edge of the plaza at the local Wuhan University which our group had reserved to watch the eclipse. Excitement increased among the crowd of ninety Eclipse Chasers who had traveled from all over the United [...]
For those who have come in late to the story, I am a member of what some might call a cult that worships Firefly and Serenity. Firefly was a TV show created by Joss Whedon, who among other things was the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which lasted less than one season. It was [...]
Tags: alberta·browncoats·canada·china·cruise·eclipse·edmonton·Firefly·movies·Serenity·yangtze
Chaos. Traffic, Construction. Heat. Really, really bad drivers. Financial transformation. New York with a lot more Chinese Restaurants. Western. Some of my quick reactions to Shanghai in our 2.5 days here. Home to over 13 million people, it is hard to describe the sense of change and transformation that is happening. One of our guides mentioned [...]
I am sure no-one is particularly interested in the trip details from Washington DC to Shanghai, assuming anyone is interested in what I am writing at all, so will keep this short. We were up by 4am to leave by 5am to pick up my younger daughter, Tamar, at 5:30am, to get to Dulles [...]
Tags: china·china solar eclipse·eclipse·shanghai·solar eclipse·travel
On Monday, July 13th at 8am, my wife Ellen and my two daughters, Miriam and Tamar, and I are getting on a plane at Dulles Airport. Approximately 18 hours later, we land in Shanghai, China at 1:55pm, July 14th. Eight days later we hope to see the longest total solar eclipse in this century, slightly [...]
Tags: beijing·china·eclipse·shanghai·solar eclipse·terra cotta·travel·turkey·wuhan·xian