Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography
This blog is for my insights on life, the Bible, hiking adventures with my grandson and whatever is important to me
Wiesbaden Air Base
Photo Credit : ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Wiesbaden Air Base; Wiesbaden, Germany
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Heiliggeistkirche
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Heiliggeistkirche; Church of the Holy Spirit; Heidelberg, Germany
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hotel • Restaurant •
Gasthof • Burgfreiheit
Heidelberg, Germany
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Gasthof • Burgfreiheit; Heidelberg, Germany
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Winter In Germany
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Germany, Europe
God Bless. Enjoy winter scenery, but not the cold. How’s your weather? I’m thankful Hurricane Helene has passed and won’t do anymore damage in our area. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Judy’s The Numbers Game #40 is this week and this week’s number is 161. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.
This week in lieu of trying to find 161 in my photos, I have chosen a theme (instead of a single word) of A Bird’s Eye View. These were all taken by my dad from an airplane ✈️ in 1979 while flying back to San Diego from Germany.
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Across the Skies from Germany to San Diego, California
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. Hope you enjoy the memories. I appreciate y’all very much.
HEIDELBERG CASTLE
Heidelberg Castle was one of several historical sites my parents saw while visiting with my brother and his family when he was stationed in Germany in 1979. My brother was his tour guide showing them the various interesting and historical sites. These statues surrounded by windows are just a few of the many contained around the walls of Heidelberg Castle.
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location:HEIDELBERG CASTLE, Heidelberg, Germany.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters ( My dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Location: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; San Marino, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the nature. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Here are a few REDS for your selection to Pull Up a Seat and catch your breath. Maybe you’d enjoy taking a trip in a mini
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 37
Becky’s Squares-#Seven for September
Photo Credit: 1-4) ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad); 5)©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: 1-4) Minolta XG-7 35 mm; 5) iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Columns and Vertical Line(s) can be found all around us if we only stop at observe the world wherever we may be.
You may find them near Ports of Call, in diners/restaurants, in the mountains, or in your neighbourhood. I chose to display my choices in monochrome to contrast the lines instead of the scenery.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge-Column and Vertical Line(s)
Photo Credit: 1-5) ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad); 6)©️Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: 1-5) Minolta XG-7 35 mm; 6)iPhone 14 Pro Max
Locations: 1-3) Ports of Call, San Pedro, California; 4) The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California; 5) Sequoia National Park, Tulare County, California; 6) Gastonia, North Carolina
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hauptstraße
Main Street
Debbie’s One Word Sunday-Window
Becky’s Square -#Seven for September
Photo Credit:©️ January 7, 1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Hauptstraße, Königswinter, Germany
God Bless. Have a funtastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Baroque Fountain
Hugh’s Wordless Wednesday
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; San Marino, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Be Flourishing —
Be Resilient —
— Be Tenacious
Cee’s Flower of the Day (Sorry, no bloom, just beautiful gigantic trees).
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters ( My dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Location: Sequoia National Forest; Tulare County, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the nature. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Vases from a bygone era encased in time for display at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; San Marino, California
God Bless. Thank you for visiting The Huntington with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. Have a fantastic week. I appreciate y’all very much.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #5
THE LOBSTER
Continuing our adventures from long ago at California’s Great America; we come to segment #5 of the series with The Lobster; won’t you Pull Up a Seat and ride with us.
At Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, California; The Lobster was located in the Yankee Harbor section of the amusement park. The ride in Santa Clara opened for the public in 1976. This Lobster was an Eyerly Aircraft Monster ride.
This Lobster has six (6) arms with the end of each arm having four (4) passenger cars. The Lobster in Santa Clara ride had to lower two arms at a time to allow for the unloading and loading of eight passenger cars simultaneously. This was repeated two additional times per cycle to complete the unloading and loading for all six (6) arms.
This outing was so long ago I do not remember if I rode this ride or not, but then again my dad did take the shot.
You can no longer ride this particular Lobster ride since the Santa Clara location of Great America closed, however, you may ride a similar one at the Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 32
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for Pulling Up a Seat with Us. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
For this week in doing Cee’s Which Way My Way I’m choosing a theme of Roads, Pathways, or Waterways. And as always, signs are welcome anytime. I’d love for y’all to join me in posting your Which Ways whether on Land or Sea. Remember to link your Which Way posts to Cee’s Which Way here or if you wish you can link to My Which Way here.
For my own Which Way this week I have combined it with Sunday Stills Challenge from Terri with her theme of #Float, #Afloat. In other words, my Which Ways are on both Land and Sea. These are from a visit my parents took to The Ports O’ Call in San Pedro, California. They toured the Ports O’ Call Village walking the pathways and took a tour cruise around the Bay. My dad loved to take pictures when they went places (thus my love of photography).
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Ports O’ Call, San Pedro, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Ports O’ Call Village with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Dawn from The Day After is this week’s host for Monochrome Madness with her chosen theme of Shadows and Silhouettes . I decided to display my shadows in two different monochrome aspects to see which aspect the shadows are represented better.
These photos were all taken at Hume Lake Christian Camps located in Hume, California. They were taken by my dad using his Minolta XG-7 35 mm camera. For enlarged viewing click on each image.
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Locations: Hume Lake Christian Camps; Hume, Fresno County, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Sequoias with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much. Have a wonderful day.
Click on each photo for enlarged viewing of images. These were taken at Hume Lake Christian Campgrounds in Hume, California by my dad back in 1979 with his Minolta XG-7 35 mm camera. Fun and relaxing times can be had at Hume Lake.,
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Hume Lake Christian Camps; Hume, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Yankee Whaler Inn
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Ports O’ Call; San Pedro, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
For One Word Sunday this week Debbie has chosen Framed. She is not referring to placing a photo in a frame, but rather using nature to frame a scene or subject.
Photo Credit: 1-3)©️1979 Nornal H. Waters … All Rights Reserved; 4) ©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: 1-3) Minolta XG-7 35 mm; 4) iPhone 14 Pro Max
Locations: 1-3) Sequoia National Forest; Tulare County, California; 4) Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #4
Continuing our adventures from long ago at California’s Great America; we come to segment #4 of the series with a Ferris Wheel; won’t you Pull Up a Seat and ride with us.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 31
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for Pulling Up a Seat with Us. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Transamerica Pyramid
The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest building in San Francisco from its completion in 1972 until 2018 when the new construction of the Salesforce Tower which surpassed its height.
The Transamerica Pyramid is a pyramid shaped 48-story modernist skyscraper in San Francisco, California. The building is a tall, four-sided pyramid with two “wings” to accommodate an elevator shaft on the east and a stairwell and a smoke tower on the west. The building’s top 212 feet is the spire. At the top of the spire are four cameras pointed in the four cardinal directions thereby forming the “Transamerica Virtual Observation Deck.”
It is located between Clay and Washington Streets in the city’s Financial District. It once housed the headquarters for the Transamerica Corporation. Even though the Transamerica Corporation moved its U.S. headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland; the building is still associated with the company by its depiction on the company’s logo.
Skyline San Francisco California
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post your choice of photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.
Visiting the
Sequoia National Forest
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” “You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”HERE THERE
ANYWHERE EVERYWHERE
The places You’ll GO!
~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go
Dr. Seuss’s’ book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” is most often thought of as a children’s book, but it is sometimes given as a gift to a graduate. Inferring to the amazing places and things a graduate can do. Did you ever wonder what places your parents went to without you or without your knowledge? Have you ever wondered about the kinds of things they did either as they were growing up or after you became an adult?
It’s interesting to see some of the things my parents did with and without me in years past. I honestly don’t recall every outing or trip we took together as a family. What is more surprising though is I do not remember them going off for weekend outings or week long trips and leaving me home. Mind you now, most of these trips/outings, took place after I was out of high school and supposedly a grown adult.
Yes, I was an adult, but I was only working part time and going to school. As I look over my dad’s slides, I wonder where I was. What was I doing when they were off to the mountains or wherever they were off gallivanting around with their friends?
With all that in mind, these photos were taken when they went up to the Sequoias with their friends from church (just adults not children, well then we were all adults now).
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 30
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Locations: Sequoia National Park; Tulare County; and Hume Lake Christian Camps; Hume, Fresno County, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Sequoias with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much. Have a wonderful day.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #3
Continuing our adventures from long ago at California’s Great America; we come to segment #3 of the series with another roller coaster ride, won’t you Pull Up a Seat and ride with us.
Did you spot me on the ride? Let me know if you did. These were good times with family. Memories are a wonderful reminder of past experiences and remind us to be grateful for everything in our lives.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 30
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for Pulling Up a Seat with Us. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Any Roads
with Bridges
and Vehicles
For this week in doing Cee’s Which Way My Way I’m choosing a theme of Any Roads with Bridges and Vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, etc.). I’d love for y’all to join me in posting Bridges with Vehicles.
My selections of Bridges with Vehicles were all taken during a family trip to San Francisco, California back in the Spring of 1979. Hope y’all enjoy the views and join in on the fun. Click here to link to My Which Way or here to link to Cee.
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting San Francisco with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
This week’s Monochrome Madness theme was selected & hosted by Sarah from Travel with Me; she has selected Trees as the theme for this week.
Trees are almost everywhere we go regardless of whether we are in the city, the country, near the beach, or in the mountains. I love spending time in the forests and especially when the forest is in the mountains.
Looking back over my dad’s old slides as I have been doing these past few weeks, I have been enjoying the memories, or seeing what my parents enjoyed doing back in years past. The trees here are from their time in the Sequoia National Forest.
Monochrome Madness hosted by Sara
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Sequoia National Park, California, USA
God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hallmark House
Gifts
Toy Shoppe
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Ports of Call Village; Ports of Call; San Pedro, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hume Lake is a reservoir in the Sierra Nevada, located within the Sequoia National Forest 65 miles east of Fresno, California. It is in the unincorporated community of Hume, California adjacent to Hume Lake.
The 87-acre lake lies behind the world’s first concrete reinforced multiple arch dam, designed by John S. Eastwood and constructed in 1908 by the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company.
Hume Lake is a popular destination for a variety of recreational activities including camping, boating, fishing, hiking, and swimming.
Hume Lake Christian Camps is a non-denominational, nonprofit parachurch organization and is one of the largest operators of Christian camps and conference centers in the world. Hume has camps and conferences for every age group ( for children and adults alike).
My parents,along with other couples from our church, spent a weekend at Hume during the summer of 1979. I’m not sure if they were attending one of the marriage retreats offered at the campground or they were all volunteers for the weekend. It seems they had plenty of leisure time to explore and photograph the Sequoia National Forest and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
I attended weekend at Hume in my late teens with others from my church one winter. Somewhere, not sure where, I have pictures from when I was there. I remember seeing and walking by the lake.
Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2024 Week 29
Jez’s Water Water Evverywhere #229
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Hume Lake Christian Campgrounds; Hume, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Hume Lake with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Standing
at the Foot
of the Cross
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Hume Lake Christian Campgrounds; Hume,California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Campground Cross with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #2
This week we are continuing our adventures from August 1979 allowing y’all to imagine the experience and excitement of Pulling Up a Seat with us … Let’s Ride!
… California’s Great America’s Willard Whizzer Roller Coaster in Santa Clara, California. A transition roller coaster was introduced later on in 1986 called Grizzly Roller Coaster, which helped kids adapt from the kiddie roller coaster versions of Lucy’s Crabbie Cabbies and Woodstock Express to more grown-up thrills.
Willard’s Whizzer’s hills and ground-hugging curves gave riders a heightened impression of speed. Lacking inversions, the coaster has been a favorite of families. In the beginning, the ride didn’t have lap bars or seat belts. Small children rode side by side with a parent helping them to feel comfortable and protected. The forces of the ride were designed to keep well-behaved riders in their seats according to the laws of physics. For many children, at the time, this was their very first “big” roller coaster ride.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 29
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
A walk back in time to visit a place my mom and dad visited with friends, remembering the love they shared. I believe this was a day trip they took with friends from their Sunday school class.
On this day trip from San Diego, California, in 1979, they ventured to The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens located in San Marino, California. The Botanical Gardens section of Huntington has approximately 120 acres of specialized botanical landscaped gardens, including the “Japanese Garden”, the “Desert Garden”, and the “Chinese Garden”.
The Huntington’s Botanical Gardens showcase plants from around the world. Huntington worked diligently to make them thrive in the generous climate conditions of California. The gardens are divided into more than a dozen themes including the ones mentioned earlier.
The Japanese Garden creation began in 1911 with a donation from art dealer George Turner Marsh and was completed in 1912. However, it did not open to the public until 1928. In the Japanese Garden you can find three distinct gardens: the original stroll garden with koi-filled ponds and a drum or moon bridge, the raked-gravel dry garden which was added in 1968, and the traditionally landscaped tea garden.
An interesting side note: the gardens are frequently used as a filming location. Shits can be seen in the Carpenter’s music video, “Only Yesterday” (1975), in Star Trek the Next Generation’s episode Justice (1987), in CSI Miami’s episode of You May Now Kill the Bride (2008) and in many other productions.
The Huntington Botanical Gardens were honored on May 13, 2020 with a postal stamp as part of the American Gardens stamps. The Desert Garden was featured on the postal stamp.
Jez’s Water Water Evverywhere #228
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, San Marino California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Gardens with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Orange Rest Stop Flowers
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Near San Francisco; Rest Stop; Along Pacific Coast Highway, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Pathways and/or Passages
According the Oxford Dictionary, a Pathway is a path which you can walk along or a route you can take and a Passage is a way of exit or entrance; the act or process of moving through, under, over, or past something on the way from one place to another.
This week I am combining Cee’s Which Way with Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge doing it My Way. I have chosen to post pathways and/or passages at Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, California.
Aerial Views of
Pathways at
Marriott’s Great America
Pathways Around the Shops
and Places to
Pull Up a Seat
at Marriott’s Great America
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 28
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Marriott’s Great America, Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
For Judy’s “The Numbers Game #30”Today’s number is 151. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.
California Adventures
Since I have been working on digitizing my dad’s old slides more than photographing outdoors in our extreme heat, I decided to share some of my dad’s slides and my memories from our California adventures with all y’all.
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved; #6 of my dad taken by Fred Giese ( family friend) with my dad’s camera.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Locations: 1-5) San Francisco, California; 6-9) Sequoia National Forest Campground; Three Rivers, Tulare County, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. Sharing memories are precious and a delight to behold. I appreciate y’all very much.
Catalina Island
Jez’s Water Water Everywhere #227
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Santa Catalina Island; View from Los Angeles, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge- Red, White, and Blue
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Port O Call; Los Angeles, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Here Comes
Mickey & Minnie
and Friends
Disneyland’s first parade was held on Sunday, July 17, 1955. The Opening Day was dedicated at an “International Press Preview” event which was open only to invited guests and the media.
The dedication and other special events of the opening were televised nationwide and anchored by three of Walt Disney’s friends from Hollywood: Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan. It was broadcast live by ABC. Even though the Special Event was by invitation only, many people succeeded in sneaking into the park soaring the number of attendees to an astounding 28,000 people.
Disneyland has been having parades at the amusement park since that very first day except during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when the park was closed. The theme of the parades change periodically with the seasons and significant historical events of the times. The Characters Parade occurred most years, as well as an annual Christmas parade and were popular among the tourists visiting the park.
In 1979, the Dumbo Circus Parade theme featured the same basic “Character Parade” floats with added circus decor. This particular theme parade only ran in 1979.
Although none of the floats were captured by my dad on this particular visit to Disneyland, many of the Characters were captured by his 35 mm camera. I am so glad that I am able to digitize his slides for preservation and am able to share them with all y’all.
Lens-Artist Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Tourist Attractions
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Disneyland; Anaheim, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and watching the parade with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Horseshoe Bay
and
Alcatraz Island
Jez’s Water Water Everywhere #227
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Horseshoe Bay; San Francisco Bay; San Francisco, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Since the Opening of California’s Marriott’s Great America in 1976, the park featured appearances from Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters. Some of the Looney Tunes characters included Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Tweety, and Yosemite Sam. The Looney Tunes characters would roam around the park greeting visitors as well as putting on a fun entertaining show.
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Marriott’s Great America, Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Flags at Marriott’s
Great America
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Marriott’s Great America; Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #1
Pull Up a Seat on Willard’s Whizzer …
The Whizzer is a steel roller coaster located in the Hometown Square section of Marriott’s Great America. This one pictured here was taken at The California Marriott’s Great America amusement park in April of 1979.
The Whizzer, originally named “Willard’s Whizzer,” was one of two identical roller coasters built for each of the Marriott’s Great America parks. The Whizzer roller coasters made their debut when the parks opened in May of 1976.
The California Great America Whizzer operated from 1976-1988. My family visited the California location of Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, California in April of 1979. I am not sure if I actually Pulled Up a Seat and ride the roller coaster or not (I’m not too keen on large high-speed roller coasters.) The second location for Marriott’s Great America (currently known as Six Flags Great America) is in Gurnee, Illinois.
From the very beginning, both versions of Whizzer suffered with problems surrounding the braking system. The braking system would sometimes allow the trains to collide in the station. From 1976-1979, there were at least 11 recorded instances of station collisions on the California’s Great America version, resulting in an unknown number of injuries. The Illinois’ Great America Whizzer also had two station collisions which occurred less than a month apart in 1976. A total of 31 riders were injured in the Gurnee collisions.
The Steel Roller Coasters were manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf of Germany. These two versions of Whizzer were the last “Speedracer” models ever built.
If you want to have a chance to Pull Up a Seat on the Whizzer, you’ll need to visit the Gurnee, Illinois location of Six Flags Great America.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 27
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Ceanothus ‘Julia Phelps’
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Santa Barbara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Doors of Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for “The Enchanted Hill”), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California.
Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his architect Julia Morgan, the castle was built between 1919 and 1947.
Currently, Hearst Castle is a museum open to the public as a California State Park and registered as a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark.
Interestingly, Hearst, his castle and his lifestyle were satirized by Orson Welles in his 1941 film Citizen Kane. Hearst sought to suppress this film and Welles’ allusions to his art collections ( paintings, statues, pictures, etc) and his references to acquiring so many acquisitions to equal enough for ten museums being the loot of the world.
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Hearst Castle; San Simeon, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting Hearst Castle with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
CosPhoChal
Art for Art’s Sake
For this CosPhoChal, Dale has challenged us to post photos depicting Art for Art’s Sake. I chose to continue on our tour of Hearst Castle by allowing you to see some of the art and sculptures we saw when we were there that day. I formatted the pictures into a slideshow, while I was blogging on this post, for enhanced view and entertainment. Relax and enjoy the show.
Cosmic Photo Challenge-Art for Art’s Sake
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Hearst Castle; Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument; San Simeon, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and watching our slideshow. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts about my blogging posts. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hearst Castle
and Ranch
Judy’s Numbers Game can bring about interesting results and insights from those who choose to participate. The challenge is alive, let’s get Blogging. In searching for the #147 and its variations the results that popped up all had the central focus around Hearst. Therefore, I selected a variety of photos around the Word Hearst and Hearst Castle.
As we approach Hearst Castle we see the sign informing us we are arriving at our desired destination.
The long and winding road up to the top where Hearst Castle is located.
Touring the outside grounds at Hearst San Simeon we see statues poolside …
And by the stairs leading upward …
Continuing our tour of the grounds we come upon the Hearst Ranch. William Randolph Hearst kept Fifty (50) species of herbivores on his ranch. They included around 126 Zebras plus bison, fallow deer, antelope, zebras, elk, camels, kangaroos, and giraffes.
We also could see the vastness of the Hearst Ranch where the numerous animals grazed.
At last we come to the end of today’s tour as more about Hearst Castle will come in a later post.
Judy’s Numbers Game #26-Number 147
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument; San Simeon, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for tagging along on our tour. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. Have a wonderful week. I appreciate y’all very much.
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 