Goodbye San Diego!

All good holiday trips have to come to an end... else they wouldn't be called holiday trip but permanent moving I guess ;-) Before I left San Diego I had to see the old town too. This is a really nice touristy area where they did up the old buildings which were once San Diego. Interesting is the mixture between a typical Wild West town and a Mexican style village.


And of course the palm trees, which are really able to put you into holiday mood. Alongside with the sunshine and all that of course. Things like that doesn't make it easier to go back to the cold and snowy Colorado. Oh well... snow can be nice too... as long as it isn't on the road ;-)






But I had to do my last round on the beautiful south California beaches, watching the surfer dudes in the water and wondering how many white sharks are out there looking for a place for dinner. I'll be back though... I'll be back! And maybe it is me the next time you see on the surf board :-)

USS Midway

One of the newest attractions in San Diego is the retired airplane carrier USS Midway which is open to the public. Even though it was build in 1945 as a gas propelled ship it is huge and before it got retired it took part in the first gulf war in 1991. The gas millage on that thing is an astonishing 3 feed to a gallon! So please, don't complain about your car anymore now ;-)



The 300 m long flight deck is cramped with different plants and helicopters which are ranging from old F-4 Phantoms to the much newer F/A-18. Very interesting is that they have retired pilots talking about the landing and starting procedure an a carrier there. You have to be a genius and totally crazy to do that... reminds me of my job. Impressive!



Even more impressive are the different canteens on that ship. On a normal day they had to accommodate 1400 people so they have several of them all over the ship. Unfortunately the food is nowadays made out of plastic... not very healthy I think, but I am not an expert ;-)

Got fish?!

When you are in San Diego there is of course one place a must-see... Sea World. This quite interesting mixture of fish tanks, theme park, smart killer whales, beer and cotton candy is well worth a trip!
Funny enough is this place owned by the very same company who is owning the Budweiser brewery which means that beer in the park is for free... at least in their welcome center. I bet Mickey Mouse can't beat that ;-)

But to be honest it is not the free beer which fills up the park... it is more about the animal stars like the unbelievable well trained dolphins and killer whales. Most of them are smarter then the average person you would encounter on the always blocked seven lane highways in San Diego... impressive!



Funny is that regardless if you are going to see the killer whales, dolphins or sea lions show they are all ending the same: with splash time. Visitors take lots of pleasure out of getting soaking wet by splashing animals. This is the climax of every show! Hot enough is San Diego for that and after nine hours you are glad to be back in the air conditioned hotel :-)

Back from San Diego

Finally! After nearly five long weeks the travel season started for me... with my first trip of the year to San Diego. This city was for ages on my road map not only because of its astonishing sea views but because of beaches, sun, surfing, Sea World, and much more!


Actually one of the nicest parts of San Diego is the Balboa Park... why did I have to think of Rocky all the time? Well... it doesn't matter. This park houses the San Diego Zoo which is one of the most famous Zoos in the US but also lots of different museums like the automotive or the aircraft museum. Most of them in this Spanish style ornate buildings.




A little detail I learned about one of the famous landmarks of the city, the San Diego - Coronado Bay Bridge while doing my harbor cruise: its long bent shape is due to some state fonds which were only available for bridges over 2.1 miles... which it is now with this characteristic bent. It is great to know that where ever you go in the world politics are more-less the same everywhere ;-)

Anniversary

But that's not all what happened today! It is Valentines day which doesn't mean that I am getting flowers or sweets. Unfortunately not... but that means I am over here in the New World for a full year now! Unbelievable how time is flying by when you're busy and enjoy yourself! Looking back I really would have preferred some sweets (or shall I say candy?) but what can I say... I am traveling America instead :-P

Alright, alright... I might sound a bit bitter now but it is hard to keep a straight face when you are surrounded by pink and red heard-shaped balloons everywhere and television adds about the perfect diamond for the perfect girl. I am looking forward to St. Patrick Day though which is great fun over here too... without the pink balloons... and green ones instead ;-)

Happy Valentines Day to you and happy anniversary to me!

Primaries update

So far it looked like Clinton would easily win the primaries for the democrats but after last weeks results everything changed. Now Obama seems to be very popular in the last elections and took the lead. Now everybody is talking about the so called 'super delegates' which is a new twist to my last election campaign report. These people (around 800) are also sent to the final vote over the democrat's candidate alongside the already elected delegates from each state. Confusing, right? More confusing is that Obama and Clinton have of course their own view of how they should vote. So in a tight race like this one these votes will make a difference.
And this years democratic convention (where all this delegate business is happening) is in Denver! People are renting out their homes for some grands on that particular week! It is a bit like the riders cup back in Dublin, only without golf balls but maybe with clubs, who knows how they elect their candidate ;-)

On the republican side of things everything is a bit boring that's why nobody really reports about that (like a Baseball match against the Rockies, you know already who is winning but you are not sure about the result yet)... McCain seems to win this race single handed (just to keep this anachronism... he is like the Rockies opponents. Just how badly they beat them is not decided yet) ;-)

Whatever happens... I will keep you up to date!

Feuerzangenbowle

Well, once again one of these very long words German is known for. But in this case it stands for a really tasty German tradition... a punch made of red wine, rum, herbs and this burning sugar cone. While it is burning the caramelized sugar is dripping into the punch and gives it this fantastic taste. And it looks pretty as well :-)

So last Wednesday I had one of these with my friends, talking about all these long German words and the old cult movie from which every German student knows this tradition of burning sugar cones... and of course the headache at the next morning ;-) Prost!

Primaries

It is primaries time! Selecting a candidate who is running for president is a big thing over here. Lucky enough they have only two parties else it would be a total mess ;-)

What is basically creating this mess is that each state is voting for a democrat and republican candidate separately, sometimes even on a different day. You also have open and close election which basically just says how early you have to register for taking part. For example over here in Colorado it is a closed election what means you have to register 90 days in advanced and don't have a chance to get in if you feel spontaneous.

To make things even more confusing different states have primaries or caucuses. Primaries are basically a normal election like you would know from a general election back home. A caucus is something really strange in my opinion. Basically you have it in a big hall or a church, people are gathering there at a certain time after which the hall is sealed of (usually 7.30 pm). Then people in there would start to discuss about the candidates and their programs and at the end of the night they are asked to go to one corner of the room for each candidate to get counted. All caucuses combined (and Colorado has such a thing too) is the state result.

But the final confusion is that different states have the majority vote system and others not. For example New York and California are voting 100% for one candidate even though he or she might got only one percent more then the other candidates.

Oh boy... I am already looking forward to the general election in November now. That should be fun. By the way, Obama won Colorado with 67% for the democrats and Romney with 60% for the republicans.

Butterfly Pavilion

Westminster Colorado, around 32 F (0 C), snow on the ground... not the place where you would expect to find butterflies, but wrong... even in this extreme conditions you can find beautiful butterflies all year long. As long as you look in the Butterfly Pavilion Westminster that is ;-)


I was (un)pleasantly surprised by discovering that they not only have butterflies at that place. It is more an interesting mixture of butterflies, maggots and huge spiders. In that picture on the left you can see me holding Rosie. Well that was by far the biggest spider ever have set foot(s) on my hand!


But every "good" experience has to come to an end. And before you leave you have to check for hitchhiking butterflies because they really don't like to get out to Westminster for what ever reason. Why is of course a mystery to me... it might be to bright outside cause of the snow or something...

Mickey Mouse Checks

One major difference in banking between the US and Europe is that over here they love their checks. Where ever I went in Europe you were able to transfer money easily from one bank account to another via internet. But even the 'online transfer' of money to my landlord over here would result into a printed check, automatically sent to my landlords bank via mail which is checked into his account then. And I thought the Irish banking system is funny ;-)

But the nice thing of checks is that you can pay nearly everywhere by writing one. That's the reason why there is a whole industry around the check business which is offering customized checks. So every second week we have another offer of customized checks in the mail, printed with your favorite star (crazy as Britney? Broke as Michael?)... and even Disney characters like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. And that brings me back to the major differences to Europe... nobody over there would take a Mickey Mouse check serious I think... but over here? No Problem :-)