coasting

I've been in Mississippi for the last couple days (yes, Mississippi.) I'm here visiting a friend on the southern coast in Ocean Springs, touring some pretty cool architecture (yes, really), and of course eating some good southern food. More details to come, but here's a taste.

transit

Today was another travel day; back in Baltimore now. I flew into Baltimore this year to ride down with my sister, niece, and nephew instead of renting a car from Norfolk. At one point I before the trip was wondering what I was thinking opting for a 7.5 hour drive after flying across the country, but it turns out my sister take a more rural highway route from Baltimore to the Outer Banks instead of the interstate, so the drive was actually pretty pleasant. The ridiculous heat in Baltimore, on the other hand, not so much.

island time

My sisters and the kids and I spent the day on Ocracoke Island today. We took the ferries to the island from Hatteras, a fairly short drive from our homebase for the week in Avon. We met up with my sister Mel's friend, Jane, for a leisurely lunch and then split up, with some of us opting to bike around the island while others went shopping among the stores in the village. We stopped by the Ocracoke Lighthouse, where Mel had been married years ago. When the biking group ducked into a shop, I opted to break away and spent a while just biking among the back roads and neighborhoods of the island by myself. Once I ran out of streets with time still to go (and dripping in sweat from the heat,) I found a bar on the marina docks to cool down with a beer until it was time to meet back up with everyone. Nothing to write home about (though I guess I just did, huh?), but a nice change of pace from our routine days at the beach house.

beachin'

Oops, didn't realize I hadn't posted in so long... I'm hanging this week with my family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I'm here with my sisters and some of their kids, our parents, and their dogs. My parents' dogs Phantom and Edn are here, along with my sister's dog Colby. Colby and Edn are Phantom's sons, and Phantom, who just turned 15, has aged to the point that she doesn't have much use of her hind legs. Its a bit of doggy hospice that's hardest on my Dad, but she seems to enjoy being here I'm glad to get to see her again. I hadn't expected to after my Christmas visit. Otherwise, its a pretty relaxing week. I have some work going on, but not too much. I go to the beach less often than the rest of the crew. We tend to cook seafood from local markets every night and just hang out, which is pretty much perfect.

dedicated

Finally catching up to Saturday's Galaxy game and another night with the Angel City Brigade: After the big July 4th game only a few days earlier, the crowd overall was smaller than usual, especially for a Saturday, but it seemed like a much more dedicated crowd nonetheless. Eric, a dedicated ACBer and fan who travels from the UK every year, was there with us, of course hanging with the group at the tailgate before the game. The team played better, with Beckham still showing his value with two of his trademark kicks that turned into goals. I even added three new flags that I was proud to see flying among the group throughout the night. Overall, a pretty good night topped off by a win and the players salute dedicated to the ACB and all the fans; just the way we like it.

street smart

While downtown a couple weeks ago, I made a stop into the Angel City Brewery which has opened a gallery and beergarden (allegedly) in their new downtown space. I can't say I loved the beer, but the show in their gallery was pretty cool. The writeup on their website is a little confusing, but it is clearly meant to tag onto the current MOCA exhibition of street art. I can't identify all of these from the info on the website, but at least one is the work of Cryptik, while another shows works from Becca and a personal favorite, Phil Lumbang. The show just ended, but you can check out more info on their webpage (well, at least until it gets updated with a new event!):

"Street Brewed" at Angel City Brewery

Phil Lumbang

space

A few shots from a week or two ago when I had some errands to run downtown, catching a bit of soCal color and texture along the way.

golden

There's a term in tv, film and photography called the 'golden hour' or the 'magic hour' - the last hour or sunlight before sunset that creates warm glows and long shadows for the very best shots of anything outdoors. Inevitably on any film shoot, you find yourself fighting the sun to get in the shots you need during that period before the sun gets too low. Some of these shots were in that magic hour during the bus ride home from San Jose a few weeks ago, others are from other points earlier during the day when we just seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I guess at any time of day, it is the Golden State, after all.

fourthing, part 2

A big dilemma this year was balancing the traditional day at the beach on the 4th with joining the Angel City Brigade for the 4th of July Galaxy game, a big deal because of the all-day tailgate, fireworks, and tifo display. The answer came when my pal Alan volunteered to be the designated driver, picking us up from the beach half of the day and joining us for the Galaxy half. The tailgate was probably twice the size as normal, but somehow seemed to be over in minutes (kickstands and all!) The game seemed to be missing some energy and not firing on all pistons. Even our new black uniforms (MLS has succumbed to the sports merchandising trend of having third and fourth kits) seemed to disappear into the field (perhaps because of Seattle's day-glo green kits? srsly?!) It could just be that all of those were just symptoms of a very long day with a lot crammed in. The fireworks felt more like a lullaby by the time they lit up the sky over the stadium after the game. Definitely one very full fourth.