South Africa: Elephants at Play

Another photo of the Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast

Last week we drove some of the Oregon Coast from Tillamook to Canon Beach. Clear and warm.

Bayeux, France

A working mill in Bayeux, France

Lighthouse at the base of the Rock of Gibraltar

Gibraltar is one of my favorite places. I like small anyway - like Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco. There is an attitude in those places that says, "We may be small, but we are special." A tour of Gibraltar takes about six hours, but it is a pretty place surrounded almost completely by water (and a little bit of Spain). It is British with pubs and all the feeling of England - it is where many English folks go to vacation out of the fog. It is also influenced by Spain with the locals speaking Spanglish.

Sedona, Arizona

View across the valley from the Sedona Airport. 

Yesterday on the Oregon Coast

Between Tillamook and Canon Beach

The Kirkcudbright Tattoo

In front of MacLellan Castle, Kirkcudbright Scotland
Photo from Internet

Sundown at Kenmare, Ireland

Sundown with some traps left for the morning.

Photo by Mike McLellan

Religious Processional, Granada Spain

We spent a few days in Granada. Certainly we went to the Alhambra and walked the central city. It is a great place with a huge market and delightful cathedral. It has remarkable public transportation. The bus system is so good, we parked our rental car and never took it out until we were ready to drive to Rhonda. While we were having tapas a religious processional went through the main section of town on the way to the cathedral.

The Birds....

I was reading a website where people told about an animal that had attacked them. I found it interesting and also something that helped me remember a few encounters: The black bird that continued to attack my black hair at a zoo thinking, I suppose, that I was a big black bird. Then there was the rhino at a drive through zoo that wanted to run head on into our small Toyota and toss it off the road. I have been kissed by an elephant without damage and attacked by a swan in Canada, Swans are ugly out of water. Then there was the baboon that hit me like a NFL tackle in Zimbabwe and stole my friend's cookies. That baboon left a lasting impression.

Local Priest drives his VW woody at Multnomah Days, Portland

Great fun at a local neighborhood event in Multnomah Village, Portland Oregon.

From fortress on the side of The Rock of Gibraltar

Left center is the airfield where cars must stop entering Gibraltar to allow for landings and takeoffs.

St. Giles, The Mother Church

Others are not much smaller, but not as elaborate.

Last month, it emerged that Scotland has the worst drug problem in the developed world with a death rate higher than the USA and every country in Europe.

The new report said the rise in drug deaths alone cut average life expectancy by over two weeks in 2018. Drugs claimed the lives of of 1,187 people last year, a 27 per cent increase on 2017.

I was in Scotland for an extended period and was approached by a pastor to have a pulpit exchange where he would come to California and I would serve in Scotland.

It was a large beautiful church building with a small congregation and so I asked the pastor what kept him busy. He said "Funerals" and I expected him to say that the congregation was elderly but he admitted, "Most deaths are young people either from being drunk on the narrow roadways or from drug overdose". No thanks, I see enough of it in my work at home. 

A door in the Louvre. Paris

     I think this door in the Louvre is pretty and a real work of art. I took the photo for that reason and for the fact that it is in the hallway near the Mona Lisa. Everyone was crowding around Leonardo's painting and the door seemed lonely. I have been to dozens of famous galleries and seen wonderful works of art that people passed by because they were not extraordinarily famous. This is not to say that some very famous works are not great; it is to say that many great works are not famous.

The Alcazar in Segovia, Spain

If you would like to have great experiences of a country without staying in a major city with the resultant crowds, I have some suggestions. Segovia Spain is delightful and less touristy than Barcelona or Madrid. Verona Italy has just about everything you would want in Rome on a manageable scale. Fort Augustus Scotland bridges the lochs and the highlands opening up to Loch Ness. Trim Ireland is every bit Irish and a good headquarters  for the Republic just a few miles from Dublin. Livingstone Zambia is in the heart of Africa near loads of sights and safari venues without the bustle of say, Johannesburg. Want to experience France? Not out of the way, but a grand place to headquarter is Rouen France half way between Paris and Normandy. 

Art Structure Seville Spain

This is such an amazing piece of art - providing shade in the Spanish sun - that I not only took a number of photos of it, but I use the bottom photo as my computer home page.

The Rock of Gibraltar

 Natural cave turned into performance venue

 The top

 Tunnels from the 1700's for protection

Two guards of the Rock

Photos by Mike McLellan

Barcelona, Venice, and Paris say "No"

     I understand. Barcelona is an interesting and beautiful city. It is overrun by tourists that are not always considerate. They may think it is Disneyland. Paris sees millions of visitors because it is a great city, but people put locks on bridges and act like they own it until they go home leaving their marks behind. Venice cannot stand both Global Warming and the huge groups of tourists pouring off the ships. The ships are bringing damage and damaging tourists.
     Yes, these are attractive places. Needles, California does not have these problems. But, these cities are people's homes and they just open them to visitors. We are disgusted when we open our home and people do not treat it with the same care they do in their own place.
     I can understand, all too well, why it gets old dealing with people who think that paying for a hotel room gives them free reign.

Did I mention Scottish Navy Seals in the Firth of Forth?

Scottish Navy Seals

Seals patrol the Firth of Forth north of Edinburgh.

Statue in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of my favorites in London, plus it has a good cafe.

Greenland from 35,000 feet

I really like this photo I took from an A380 Air France flight from Paris to San Francisco.

Greenland is not green and Iceland is not all ice...

New Grange, ancient observatory, Ireland

Look closely at the right side of the mound and see the people. This will give an idea of the size of the mound which was used to chart the rebirth of the sun in the middle of Winter.  There is a easy tour by bus from the middle of Dublin to this and the Hill of Tara. (Mary Gibbons Tours). It is worth the half day it takes and is a fun experience. Ordinarily I drive in Ireland, but the tour lets me see more than the road.

Window in the Italian Alps

Lovers at the Louvre.

Photo taken exactly four years ago today, August 4.

Mike McLellan

Horse and Carriage in Seville Spain

Horse drawn carriages are available in many cities such as Seville, Florence, and even New York.

Summer before last on Safari Vehicle tour of Chobe National Park, Botswana

The older folks have since lost weight and the younger guy has grown and matured.

Last summer: the three of us on auto tour of Paris

The good new: I did not have to drive.