I didn't take my camera with me, so these are iPhone images (and not so great for that and other reasons, but they more or less document our trip). I'm stuck in the airport right now. Of course. But better on the departure, than the arrival. We've had a lovely time. RT and SM should be in La Jolla by now hopefully having dinner. They went to the wild animal park today; the zoo yesterday (where M was entertained by fighting tigers). Our session went well. We presented Thursday morning and then had lots of visitors in the book room at our little mini-exhibit. I have no complaints, except that it would be really nice to live here. The foliage is uber vunderful. It was weird not going to see OM after flying into San Diego. It was a ritual for so many years. I miss her. She was very good to us, too. Anyway, on to the trip. MGC and I arrived about 2:30 on Wednesday, got a taxi to the hotel, checked into our rooms and then checked out the room where we'd be presenting the next morning. And then, we took off for Old Town. We hiked across the freeway and a big shopping center and then jumped on the trolley ($5.00 all day pass). We eventually found a great place to eat, got seats on the patio where we could enjoy the cool ocean breeze, and then had a great meal. We then went shopping for junk. Or rather in junk (Indian art) shops. FINALLY, we wandered into a real gallery. I bought some earrings and MGC held himself back from buying the Koshare playground. BUT, it can still be shipped. It is very cool. The iPhone image cannot possibly do it justice. There are two clowns (one on a swing, one in the treehouse), an eagle dancer and a mudhead (in the tree house). We've never seen anything like it. Probably couldn't get one like it even in Hopi because this carver (and collection) dates to the 1980s. After not buying it, we headed home to rehearse our powerpoints. By then, RT and co. were in, and MGC had realized he'd left the powercord for his MAC at home and the paper print out of his talk on the plane. That put a quite damper on the rest of his evening. But RT loaned him his laptop for the night, so he was able to edit and rehearse his PPT. The next day our former student arrived with MAC and power cord, so that truly saved MGC on presentation day. Anyway, the conference was fun and the location was excellent. I met new people, heard two great keynote/plenary speeches, and got to see RT give his paper. Tomorrow SM will present hers (which I got to see some of the evening before we left, on her laptop). So, a fun time all around, except for being stuck at Gate 3 with no plane in sight.
The cool chandelier in the hotel lobby.
This great spread of coffee, tea, and snacks graced the book room daily. These guys know how to host a conference. Pastries in the AM; lemons bars and brownies in the pm.
Outside Zocalo Grill in Old Town (didn't eat here, but the garden was gorgeous).
Koshare playground.
This begins a series of images I took the first afternoon we arrived. It marks an area in Old Town where a cemetery from the 1800s is preserved in the midst of historic and nouveau historic buildings. The markers run out into the street and note graves found by ground penetrating radar in the last decade or so, as some improvements were being made to a nearby building.
More grave stones (this cemetery was a mix of Spanish, Mexican, Irish, and Native American).
This restaurant wall bounds the cemetery on one side.
What kind of succulent is this??
Late lunches and 'ritas.
Sparrows were hopping around the bougainville and hoping for crumbs.
I'd go here again in a NY minute.
This is the original newspaper (San Diego Union?) building in ye olden days.
A final look at the great chandelier. Homeward bound for two more days of Spring Break.
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