Fleming Park, Fall 2008

We spent the weekend visiting our friends Fulton and Phylis this weekend and on Saturday took a drive through scenic Fleming Park. It’s located in the Blue Springs area of western Missouri, just a few miles southeast of their house in Independence.

There are a few more related pictures at flickr.

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Irv Gordon and his multi-million mile Volvo were in Lindsborg recently as the Volvo Car Club held its annual gathering in conjunction with Lindsborg’s Midsummer’s celebration last June. Juliana found this press release and I wanted to pass it along; Lindsborg is in some good company in this listing! Here’s the quote about Lindsborg; the full article follows below the fold:

Lindsborg, Kan. (a.k.a. Little Sweden) “Lindsborg is a real taste of Sweden hidden 150 miles west of Kansas City. The town is beautiful, neat as a pin and the townsfolk are just as friendly as can be. Swedish pancakes and other specialties are served in almost every restaurant in town. Swedish Midsommer celebrations with Swedish folk dancing take place in June each year. Don’t forget to stop by the bison ranch nearby and check out the wildlife.”

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On Sunday we remained closer to “home”, first visiting the Palo Baylands Preserve followed by a stroll through the Elizabeth F. Gamble garden. Photos below and on Flickr.

On Saturday we went to San Francisco; taking photos was definitely part of the plan.

We started out at the bottom of “crookedest street”, Lombard Street, took a few pictures and then drove around the block so we could drive down Lombard. That’s always fun, and the last time we did it, our cousin was visiting, and she rode down Lombard with her head stuck up through our sun roof!

I also took photos of Alcatraz from a few different locations in the area, and then we got to Fort Point in time to get some pretty good photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was nicely illuminated by the morning light.

Our drive up the coast towards Bolinas was beautiful, but I didn’t take too many pictures.

Below are interspersed images of Lombard Street, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, followed by a few photos of the coast north of the city. Flickr hosts a larger set of my San Francisco 2008 images.

Friday afternoon we drove down the coast from Highway 92 down to Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful day, with no wind and warm temperatures. We had a nice drive and ended up back in the valley in time for dinner at Krung Thai.

Here are a few of the photos from the afternoon; more are available on Flickr.

View above Pescadero beach.
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It’s nice to see the ice plants making a come-back.
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Bean Hollow State Beach.
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Greyhound Rock.
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On the Santa Cruz pier.
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The roller coaster at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
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Seal performing for treats.
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