width="125" height="66" border="0">I've added some pictures.
Well here goes. We were able to get to almost every LH that I planned to get to. We did miss a couple, but that ' life. We made it to 21 1/2 LH's.
May 6- We flew into San Diego and it must have been kismet because the movie on the plane was Snow Falling on Cedars. It's set in the Puget Sound of WA and a LH plays a part in the solving of a murder. See the movie, it's a good one. The LH in it is actual Portland Head (I checked). We got into San Diego late in the afternoo and took a drive over to Point Cabrillo NP, but it was already closed so we could not get near either Old or New Point Loma.
May 7- Got up and went back . We were the first people into Old Point Loma that day. The LH is very nicely resored. There are period pieces to show what it lo0oked like in it's early days. You can't get all the way up into the Lantern Room, but you can stick your head up there to see . There is a docent there in period dress. She was very helpful.
You can see New Point Loma from the Whale watch overlook behind OPL. We drove down to get a closer look at NPL. You can not get onto the grounds, as it is an active CG station and is behind a locked gate. You can get a good look at it though. Got some pictures of both . We went over to the Cabrillo monument and the park headquarters and got my passport stamped.
We left for Los Angeles. We stopped in San Juan Capistrano on the way. We took a tour of the Old Mission. It is undergoing an extensive restoration. It has some of the original parts of the settlement , but most was destroyed long ago.
We arrivved in San Pedro and found our way to Point Fermin. It is in a very nice little park. The LH is in need of a paint job, but otherwise is in grat shape. It is lived in by the San Pedro Parks Superintendant. I got a great picture of a seagull on the lantern room of the LH. The LH is a near twin of Hereford Inlet in NJ. (I add this with apologies to all, and especially Mombo- I edited this reference out of my notes so there was a good reason you did not see, it was not here. sorry)
I We got a long distance view of the Los Angeles Harbor LH (Angels Gate). We drove from there to get a look at Pt. Vincente. It was getting late so I was not sure we werr going to make it before the interpretive center closed for the day. As it turned out, it did not matter what time it was as the Center is closed indefinitely due to recently discovered lead contamination.
We did get a good look at the LH. Again, it is not readily accessible due to it's use as housing for the CG. There is a sign indicating a number to call to arange a tour. If you plan on going this would be something to do in advance. I wish I had known. I did luck out in that there was a photoghrapher on assignment and he had his cameras set up in the bed of his 4X4. I was able to get unobstructed pictures of the LH.
We were running long so it was time to connect with Esther's (my wife) cousins for dinner.
MAY 8- This was the start of our "Tour LA mode". We did the tourist thing- went to the La Brea Tarpits (closed on Mondays- it was Monday. The gift sho[p of course was open, just not the exhibits), the Farmer's Market (tried to get my watch fixed), Beverly Hills, Rodeo DR, Hollywood (Hollywood & Vine).
We parked and walked down part of the Walk of Stars to the Grumann's Chinese Theatre. When we were getting back into our car Esther spotted what looked suspciously like a LH in the middle of Hollywood. We investigated and found a place one block off Hollywood Blvd at Cheroke St. that was called "Crossroads of the World". It was a number of buildings done in the style of various countries and one of them was a replica of a LH. I could findnothing to explain what the place was about and no one was around to ask.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=913145&a=8744354&p=22281921&Sequence=0&res=high We continued on to Griffiths Park and went up into the Hollywood Hills and then to the Observatory (also closed on Mon). Got a close look at the Hollywood sign. At this point it was time to get back out of the city and spend some time with Esther's other cousins. We had a nice visit with them and got back to the motel.
MAY 9- Today was a tour of Sony Pictures Studios. They take you thru the whole thing- soundstages, wardrobe, backdrop painting, the "big tank" used for water scenes, etc. We saw the set of the movie the "Glass House" being built. We went onto the set for Jeopardy. They were getting ready to test contestants shortly. We only saw one celebrity on our 2 hour tour- Stephen Weber (he played Brian on Wings and just had a role on the show "Now & Again" on ABC with Sela Ward.) Our group did not have the chance to speak with him as he was busy on the phone and we had been instructed to only approach people if they were not busy.
We left the studio and drove over to Long Beach and took a tour of the Queen Mary. I had hoped to get there earlier so we could have lunch at a restaurant suggested by my wife's cousin. It is a faux LH called Parker's Lifhthouse. It was supposed to have great food. It looked very nice. you can see it from where the QM is berthed. We took the short tour, guide yourself. You go into the engine room and just about every part of the ship- bridge, officers quarters, dining rooms, etc. Very nice. We were unable ot tour the Russian Woilf Class Submarine berthed next to the Queen Mary. We had a BBQ to go to. It was worth it.
MAY 10- Today is Catalina Day. We took the boat over to Catalina Island. I'd do this different if I had the chance. I should have stayed over night. We did not get a chance to do too much on the island. We rented a golf cart and toured the city of Avalon, but we did not have enough time to take the 3 hr tour of the interior.
We took the "submarine" tour of the Marine Preserve though. you travel into the kelp forest and if your lucky see a multitude of aquatic life. We saw some, but not as many as you can see. The only LH connection this day was going by one of the lights on the Long Beach breakwater on the way over from Long Beach. I learned on the ship that if we had left from the San Pedro pier we would have gone right by the Los Angeles Harbor LH. We did see a building on Catalina that looked like it might have been a LH at some point. I got conflicting answers to my questions and could find no answerrs in my sources.
I'm going to break of this narative here and continue in a seperate post.
Dennis
[This message has been edited by wheland (edited 11-20-2000).]
