Wednesday - Evening

Wednesday evening we had dinner with Karen's cousin Rich, who lives on Coronado.  We had to meet him at the Fish Market on the bay and since it was about a mile, we hired a bicycle taxi to take us there.  We had a nice ride from a man from Brazil.  He actually had enough wind power to carry on a conversation with us while pedaling us around and he attributed it to all the soccer he played.

The Fish Market was great.  We sat facing a floor-to-ceiling window that was right on the bay.  While we caught up with Rich, we watched pelicans diving into the water under a setting sun.  I had the king crab legs and Karen had the king salmon --it was a night of royal dining.

It was great seeing Rich again and we reminisced about all the family cookouts from 30 years ago.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but my wife has a great family and they treat me like one of their own.  I'm truly blessed to have two families.

Karen and I decided to walk back to the hotel since the wind had calmed and it was beautiful evening.  On the way, I spotted a heron not 10 feet from us on the rocks on the other side of the wall by the bay.  It was kind enough to let me grab a flash photo before flying off into the dark.  I love herons.

It was a good evening.

Have I mentioned how much I love sunsets?
(Really, light, in general...)

Nice tile mural.

View from our table.
Amazing.

A helicopter (left) and
a pelican (right).

Pelican sunset.

Rich and Karen.

Said heron.

.

2010-04-17 Saturday - WCU Visit, Dillsboro

This weekend we went to an open house at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC.  To say the town of Cullowhee is small would be an understatement.  We had to stay in Dillsboro since there is nowhere to stay near the college.

We were very impressed with the school and the programs offered.  Stephanie is interested in chemistry and forensics and WCU has some fine programs to offer in both.  It's her decision, and I don't envy her.  This could be a tough choice.

The hotel we stayed in was right on the bank of the Tuckasegee River and we could walk out our patio door to be on the bank.  Saturday morning there was a lot of activity with mallard ducks, Canadian geese, and a heron all out feeding and preening.  I tried to get a few pictures in before we had to check out and get to the open house.

The river runs 24/7 --they never even turn it off.

(You may laugh, but they turn the Pigeon river off and on.)

About 8:00 am.

The hill across the river.

A bit closer...

Closer yet shows the veins in the rock.

Some ruffled feathers...

Easily smoothed.

A heron!  I love herons.

I caught the heron fishing.

Sorry about the shaky camera work, 

but I was zoomed way out.