Words of Wisdom by MrWes » Travel

Do you include yourself in photographs?

Wes Johnson — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:08:06 +0000

I was recently asked if I could produce a picture of myself at a particular event. As I looked through my archive of pictures, I became painfully aware that there were not any pictures of me at any of the events I had attended. I know I was there and I know who was taking pictures at those events besides me. I need to make sure a few pictures of me are mixed in with the others.

At past events I have been so busy taking pictures of other people that I forgot to get a few pictures of me having fun with everyone else. When you’re at an event, most people don’t normally say to themselves, gee, maybe I should take a picture of myself with the group. Or maybe I should ask someone else to take some pictures for a while. I think from now on, I will make it a point to be in 4 or 5 pictures. Maybe, at least, I need to get digital copies from the other photographers at the event.

How about you? Do you make it into the pictures on your camera? What methods do you use to get in your pictures? How do you remember to get in your own pictures? I look forward to your comments.

Do you include yourself in photographs? is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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The internet is not always there when you need it, don’t rely on it

Wes Johnson — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:50:02 +0000

We live busy lives. Some of us have busier lives than others. We often make appointments days, weeks, or even months in advance. When recording an appointment, we write down the person’s name, reason for meeting, location of the meeting, in addition to the date and time. If you’re like me, you have the name, time, and reason written down on a calendar. Many of us expect to retrieve the driving directions on the day of travel. This practice of scheduling and Just In Time trip planning sounds perfectly reasonable to most people. That is until you discover the interenet is NOT available when you need it most. I had this experience today.

The night before, I reviewed the upcoming meeting time and location. I knew the meeting was going to be in San Mateo around Noon at the Fish Market. I figured the approximate departure time and planned to retrieve the directions while I was getting ready to leave.

Technical Challenge:

On the day of the appointment internet access was not available. I couldn’t look up the directions to my destination as I had planned. It looked like the meeting might be a disaster. The only thing that saved me was internet access on my phone. I was able to l0okup the address. It wasn’t as nice as on my computer, but it at least it showed me a map of the area. I knew it was really close to the intersection of San Mateo Bridge and Bayshore Freeway. Fotunately, I made it to the meeting without getting lost.

Lessons learned:

Lookup the directions to an appointment as soon as you make the appointment. You can write down the directions in your phone using notepad.
Don’t rely on the internet. It’s not always there when you need it.
Have traditional mapping methods on hand when you’re traveling. You never know when you’ll need to find an alternate route.

The internet is not always there when you need it, don’t rely on it is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Sightseeing at Sundial Bridge, Redding California

Wes Johnson — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:38:33 +0000

Sundial Bridge

Sundial Tower, Redding, California

A year ago, I watched a TV show about places to visit in California. They talked about the Sundial Bridge located in sunny Redding, California. This looked like a place I would like to visit in person. It looked really cool and they talked a lot about the making of the bridge.On our way back home, we planned to visit the bridge. On the day we were there the temperature was somewhere between 112 and 115 degrees fahrenheit. Even with the blazing temperature, it was a sight to see. The tip of tower is pointing North. The time was 3:30pm so I didn’t get to see the shadow cross the markers.

Sundial Tower 11am marker

Sundial Tower 3pm marker

At a distance away from the tower, maybe 50 feet, I saw markers that marked the time between 11pm and 3pm. Of course the best time to view the shadow travel is between 11am and 3pm. The best day to view the sundial movement is on June 21 the Summer Solstice.

Turtle Bay Attractions

Before you visit the Sundial Bridge, don’t forget to visit http://www.turtlebay.org/Attractions.php to see all the other attractions at Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The attractions are: a Museum, an Arboretum, Botanical Gardens plus other Exhibitions.

We usually take a trip to Oregon about once a year. The next time we do it, the Turtle Bay Exploration Park will be the destination. We’ll visit the various Attractions and visit the Sundial Bridge at various times of the day to watch the gnomon (shadow maker) do it’s thing.

Till then, I’ll be checking out other nearby sites to visit while we’re in the area

Sightseeing at Sundial Bridge, Redding California is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Sightseeing in Jacksonville, Medford, and Eagle Point

Wes Johnson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:30:33 +0000

We visited 3 more cities today.

DR BROOKS DRUGSTORE storefront

Jacksonville

We started the day with lunch in Jacksonville, Oregon. Hidden inside a white building labeled DR BROOKS DRUG STORE is Jaspers Cafe. The prices were very reasonable, the portions were generous and the food was wonderful. I ordered a Blues Brothers Burger with the Handpressed fries. It came with a tasty fries dipping sauce. The meal was delicious. The rest of my party ordered a Buckaroo Baskets with the alternate sides salad and slaw. I sampled the sides which were tasty too.

We visited Picos Worldwide. A little shop that sells gifts from all over the world. There were lots of unique clothing, jewelry, crafts and other gift items to choose from. On our way out of town we visited Country Quilts and Crafts. The shop had several beautiful quilts on display and of course lots of quilting supplies. My wife just loves this store. The owner was very nice with a great sense of humor. I’m glad we stopped in there.

Medford

The second place we visited was Harry and David in Medford, Oregon. This is the place my wife always like to visit every time she visits Medford. They have all kinds of fruits, jellies, chocolates, specialty foods, and gift items. We picked up some fruit, flavored mustards and chocolates.

Butte Mill, Eagle Point, Oregon

Eagle Point

The last place we visited was Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point, Oregon. We got to see what a water powered grain mill looks like. I wish we would have had more time to see the surrounding area of Eagle Point. Unfortunately the temperature was so hot, almost 105 degrees Fahrenheit with over 40% humidity, that we had to stop our sightseeing for the day. The next time we are in the area we’ll visit the points of interest.

One final observation. Several places are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I’m not sure why this is, it limited my selection of places to visit. In the future, I will adjust future plans accordingly. I’ll travel on Monday & Tuesday, then plan to do sightseeing between Wednesday and Saturday.

Till next time, don’t forget to stay hydrated

Sightseeing in Jacksonville, Medford, and Eagle Point is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Magellan Roadmate 1412 review

Wes Johnson — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:23:53 +0000

A year ago, I was in the market for an affordable GPS unit. This was my first GPS purchase so I didn’t have a lot of pre-conceived notions about what features a GPS should or shouldn’t have.

My decision was based on the following criteria:

Price – it had to be affordable
User Interface- it had to be really easy to use
Visibility – it had to be easy to see from different angles
Voice – Turn by turn directions
Built-in maps of the United States
No subscription fees.

While I was looking one unit went on sale at Costco. The Magellan Roadmate 1412 seemed to fit the bill for everything I was looking for.

User Interface

The user interface is very easy to use. Just enter the desired destination and select the desired mode of transportation (fastest, shortest, most use of freeways, least use of freeways) then press the route icon and you’re off.

One note about the address is we had to get used to entering zip or city first, then street name, then the number. But after using it for awhile, we got the hang of it. We started taking advantage of the built-in hint features. For instance if there are many street with similar names, a list button will be enabled which will give you the opportunity to select the desired street from the list instead of typing the entire name in.

Another feature we just discovered was when entering a destination, there are some icons below which allow you to list previous addresses. So, you don’t have to retype any information at all. This is a very cool feature.

You can zoom in to see more map detail or zoom out to see the bigger picture.

Driving displays:

Map – Displays map, compass direction
Turn by turn – lists step by step directions, also includes estimated time left
Direction – Compass direction, elevation, speed, nearest streets, longitude & latitude

The voice volume level can be adjusted or muted.

The screen is very readable.

It has a route planner that we have used several times.

We’ve been learning about some other features as we become more familiar with the interface. For instance, it has a location save mode. When in the direction display mode there is a save button. When you are at a site or near a site that you would like to recall press the save button, then you would enter the name of the place you would like to recall. This is a very handy feature.

Issues

A question might be asked, are there any issues you have with this GPS? I only have a few.

A few times, probably due to extremely hot temperatures it appeared to be non-functional. However, after I held the unit in front of the Air Conditioner for a while, it cooled down and started running good again.
It does not have replacable batteries. It gets it’s power from the 12vdc car accessory power. If the car sits for an extended period of time and the power is tied to the ignition this might be a problem.
The buit-in maps seem to reflect http://maps.google.com this can be good or bad. If you notice there is an error on google maps then this same error might be reflected in the GPS unit. It never hurts to have backup directions, just in case.
The map updates are pretty pricey in my opinion, almost half the cost of the unit. Not a good value, in my opinion, for a one shot deal. If the cost of the map updates was for a lifetime subscription or if there there was some kind of software package that had unlimited map updates for the Magellan Roadmate 1412, I would consider buying it without any hesitation.

Recommendation

Knowing what I know now, would I buy it again? Absolutely. Would I recommend this unit to friends and family? Yes. It a great value for the price? Yes. Who would I recommend this GPS to? Anyone who is looking for an affordable entry level GPS.

Till next time, I’m on the road enjoying my GPS

Magellan Roadmate 1412 review is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Sightseeing in Oregon City, Oregon

Wes Johnson — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:35:39 +0000

Today, we visited Historic Oregon City, Oregon. Our first stop was the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. We watched a docent talk about the different kinds of food that would be prepared on the Oregon trail. Then we watched a video that talked about the Oregon trail and the hardships the travelers endured.

From there we rode the Oregon City Historic Trolley to the Museum of Oregon Territory. We spent most of our time on the second floor where there were lots of period clothing, pictures, and artifacts dating back to the mid 1800′s. We saw the falls from the third floor, but the water level was low due to Salmon spawning season. Our next stop was the Stevens-Crawford Heritage House. This was a very interesting docent led tour that lasted around 45 minutes. If you love to hear about history, you’ve got to go and see it. We found out that the Oregon City Municipal Elevator was just a few blocks from the Heritage house, so we walked down to the elevator & took a ride. Finally, we walked back to the Heritage house and caught the Trolley back to our starting point. We started walking around the grounds and discovered we had missed another part of the Interpretive Center. There was another docent led show that discussed the Oregon Trail in more detail. My wife and I had a great day seeing the sites and learning about the history of Oregon City and the Oregon Territory.

Till next time, I love Oregon City

Sightseeing in Oregon City, Oregon is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Sightseeing in Portland, Oregon

Wes Johnson — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:52:55 +0000

Today, we visited Portland, Oregon.

Food

Before going to the Rose Garden, we visited the Elephants Delicatessen. A favorite eating establishment of my Aunt and many others who live near the Portland area. This delicatessen had quite a variety of things to eat. There were helpful people behind each counter. There was quite a selection of food to satisfy just about every taste you can imagine. We ordered sandwiches and their famous Wild Mushroom soup. Everything was great. The next time we visit Portland, we’ll have to eat at the Elephants Delicatessen.

Oregon Holocaust Memorial, Portland Oregon

Memorial

After our meal, we headed toward the International Rose Test Garden. On the way to the Rose Garden, in the same park, we saw a sign pointing to the Oregon Holocaust Memorial. We decided to go and visit the memorial. The Holocaust Memorial was donated by local Oregonians. The memorial is set in a very quiet part of the park, it gives the visitor a place to reflect on what an effect the holocaust has had on the entire world. The memorial had a very powerful statement. We spent quite a while reading the walls of the memorial and viewing the architecture. Everyone should take the time and visit it.

Portland Oregon Rose Garden

Flowers

After visiting the memorial, we went on to visit the International Rose Test Garden. This was a real treat. The roses were beautiful. We must have spent hours viewing and smelling the variety of roses. I could see that this garden was a favorite of many photographers. I was informed that the garden is even more spectacular during the Portland Rose Festival which happens between May and June. When I get back home, I plan to post some pictures of the pictures we took.

Recently, I’ve been thinking alot about the value of having a PC Laptop connect card. This would sure make it easier for doing remote blogging. Maybe I’ll write about this in a future blog.

Till next time, I’m enjoying the nice weather up here

Sightseeing in Portland, Oregon is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Remote Blogging is challenging

Wes Johnson — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:27:51 +0000

This is going to be an interesting week. My wife and I are traveling to Oregon to visit relatives. I wil be blogging from remote locations in Medford and Oregon City. This will be the first time since I’ve started blogging that I’ll be posting outside of California. I’m not sure how the other bloggers do it. If you have any suggestions, please chime in. Up until now, I’ve been trying to update my blog on a daily basis. This schedule will be kind of difficult while I’m busy traveling. I can see where creating blogs ahead of time and pre-scheduling them for publication would be very helpful here. My question is how many posts are bloggers working on at any one time. This week, I’ll be posting information about our travels. If possible, I’ll include some images as well. One of the sites we plan to visit on our return trip is the Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA

Till next time, have a great week

Remote Blogging is challenging is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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