Boo Parade 2016

Sorry this is a bit late, but last Saturday, October 29th, I finally got a chance to see the annual Boo Parade on El Cajon Blvd. I've always had to work on that Saturday, so I never got the chance. I was stationed at 62nd and El Cajon Blvd.

I took a lot of photos, but haven't had time to process them all. Here is a sampling of some of the photos I took.

Here is the beginning banner with Councilwoman Marti Emerald's photo. There was a narrator from a local radio station across the street from where I was :

Then the fire truck passed through. This is the truck from Station No. 10 which is on 62nd street.

I took this next photo before the parade started to show some of the diversity in the neighborhood. There were a lot of people there. Right behind me was a large black cat balloon. I wanted to take a photo of that, but there was always someone standing in front of it, so I didn't feel comfortable.

Lots of groups were there showing off their dance and marching moves. They came from various parts of the city.

My favorite part of a parade has always been the horses.

There were several in this group that had costumes on their horses, including these two with a lion's mane and a Pegasus wings.

Ken Kramer from "About San Diego" and other shows and news stations was the Grand Marshall.

Assembly member Shirley Weber was also there. Both Ken Kramer and Shirley Weber rode with
two classic car groups.












I had a bunch more photos of later parts of the parade, but didn't have time to process them. Across the street was a carnival which was pretty fun. There were people selling food, games and music there. It was very neat to see such a big event in this part of town.

Comic-Con Non-Badge Activities

Getting a badge to the exhibits inside the convention center is pretty hard, but there is a ton of things Comic-Con-related things to do all around the area. In fact, this year's non-badge activities were probably just as big or even bigger than the ones inside the convention center. Here are some of the things I saw yesterday outside of the Comic-Con going on at the convention center.

First, I started at the Embarcadero. This was were a special "Con-X" hosted by the E! entertainment channel was going on. Plenty of free stuff and food there.

They had a lot of good guest speakers. Here, Al Jean talked about the upcoming season of the Simpsons. I believe Adam Nimoy was also going to be there later that night, but I was too tired to stick around.

Even though you can't go in without a badge, you can see a lot just hanging around the outside. The Game of Thrones production was holding a panel on the inside of the convention center. On the outside, a group of people doing Game of Thrones cosplay posed for photos on the convention steps. Also nearby was the "Abigail" yacht from the Walking Dead. It had lots of zombie noises coming from it and at least one person was in makeup.

I popped into Comic-Con HQ and not only were there games, there was a panel going on there as well. Here, Robert Picardo, who played the holographic doctor in Star Trek Voyager as well as Richard Woolsey in Stargate, talks about his love of science and space.

Tons of stuff to do around Petco Park. Here's a sample of the interactive South Park display:

If you love games, then you'll have plenty of places to try out the new one. I tried to see the Star Trek art exhibit, but they had already closed. I had plans to photograph part of the Zombie walk, but I couldn't find it. The problem was that by 5 PM, there were so many people that if it happened, I probably wouldn't have seen it because of the crowds. There were tons of people everywhere at that time and it was hard enough walking down the street.

Visiting Death Valley

Happy Memorial Day!

In early April of this year, I visited Death Valley for the first time. When I went, it was fairly warm in the lowest elevations. I came in from the west side through Panamint Valley and headed east through Furnace Creek down to Death Valley Junction where I stayed at the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel. Here are a few pictures I took. I may have to break up my photos over several posts.

Here I am just entering the Panamint Valley area after passing through an interesting town called Trona. Trona is a small mineral mining town. I believe everyone there is associated with the main mining company. Since I was there on a Sunday, I saw virtually no one in town.

The roads going up and down from the mountains were paved a dark red:

This next photo is of the sand dunes just east of Stovepipe Wells which is a good spot to stop and get gas and something to eat.

I also got to visit one of the rare pupfish ponds at Salt Creek:

Artist's Pallete is a nice place to visit as well. This area, just south of the Furnace Creek headquarters, is a paved road where you can see wonderfully colored hills. Unfortunately, I went during the middle of the day so the colors aren't as vibrant. I suggest visiting around sunset for better lighting.

The Borax museum is a nice stop right in the middle of Furnace Creek. You can see all kinds of antique mining and transportation equipment.

Here is an old steam locomotive on display. If you love old west history, you will really like this visit. There's lots of coaches, wagons and tools on display.

This next photo is of the southeastern most area of the park not far from Shoshone where you can find a place to stay, get gas or get something to eat. I was on south Badwater road which was closed about five miles from where this picture was taken. Last fall, floodwaters damaged several of the roads making most of them impassible. There are still a few areas that are still damaged including the area around Scotty's Castle, a major park attraction. It will be a long time before you can visit Scotty's Castle in case you are planning to visit the park in the near future.

I stayed at the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, a historic landmark. It was a nice place, but it has a lot of problems such as needing a paint job on the front of the building. I liked that it was way out in the middle of nowhere and there's even wild horses running all over the area. I didn't see the horses every day, but I did get to see them at least once.

I have several more photos I may post. I didn't want to post all of them because it would make a very long and tedious page. So, I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day and have a nice day off honoring those who served so that we can all visit places like Death Valley freely.