The Lady from Tijuana, Mexico

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Woody Burns and John Wise in Goleta, California

These are not the ladies from Tijuana; they are Woody Burns and John Wise, who, with Caroline and our Aunt Ann, are spending the weekend together in Goleta doing not much at all.

Chicken soup

Well, there is this pot of chicken soup underway that I’m hoping Tata (Aunt Ann) learned to make from her mother, Luba, and that it’s the same recipe her sister/my grandmother Amelia used to make. There are those foods from our childhood that really defined our expectations, and from my grandma Wise (Amelia), it was chicken soup, homemade noodles, and tapioca pudding.

Yard ornamentation from Tijuana, Mexico

More than 30 years ago, my Uncle Woody and Aunt Ann picked up this once beautiful statue from across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. As she rode back to the U.S. in the passenger seat of a convertible, she turned heads – yeah, right, it was her stunning beauty and not those odd multi-directional breasts.

Filling Up on the Arizona California Border

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Love's gas station in Quartzsite, Arizona

Driving to Santa Barbara, California, for the weekend, we have to stop in Quartzsite to fill the tank before the price jumps from $2.99 a gallon to over $3.55. The drive to Santa Barbara is 510 miles (826km) and takes us about 9 hours to drive, including a stop for dinner. The majority of the road slices through the desert until shortly before Los Angeles, when the temperature drops, the air moistens, and traffic starts to get heavy.

At the Colorado River on the California / Arizona border

Along the way, we stopped at the Colorado River, where the Ehrenberg Wash joins the river here on the Arizona side.

Approaching Palm Springs, California at sunset

That’s Palm Springs ahead.

Northwoods Inn in Covina, California

Here’s that stop for dinner I mentioned above, which is once again being taken at the Northwoods Inn in Covina, California.

Hawaiian Shave Ice

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Tropical Sno featuring Hawaiian Shave Ice in Phoenix, Arizona

Tropical Sno is the name of the business, Hawaiian Shave Ice is the product. Eric Slivinski is the owner and part-time operator of this small stand on the south-east corner of 40th Street and Bell Road in Phoenix, Arizona. Today, Paul Zellner took my order and with glee, I asked for a large 16oz portion with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the bottom. And now the best part of ordering here, they don’t just feature grape, strawberry, bubblegum, and rootbeer, they have the traditional Hawaiian flavors such as guava, passion fruit, pineapple, coconut, mango, and papaya. In all, Eric stocks 80 different flavors, and with prices starting at only $1.75 for a small and the scoop of vanilla ice cream costing an additional fifty cents, you can bet I’ll be a regular customer so I can re-experience another fond Hawaiian memory again and again.

The Moon

JWise Photo of the Day

The Moon

Sort of like the leaves photo, this shot of the moon is the lazy way of simply catching up to having all the photos I needed to fill in the past week. I had neglected to post any new images as, as I said in an earlier posting, I have been working furiously on the Hawaiian photos for a special project – mind you, we shot more than 3200 photos on 5 islands. Right now I am finished with the first 1000 images, so try to understand that the next week will be slow on new photos of the day.

Renu and Gautam

JWise Photo of the Day

Renu and Gautum celebrating Gautam's birthday - WITH FRIENDS!!!

Some friends got together for a bit of a surprise party for Gautam’s 29th birthday which isn’t until tomorrow but then tomorrow wouldn’t be much of a surprise as it would actually be his birthday. With Gautam living in Tucson while he works towards becoming a commercial pilot, we don’t have many chances to see the guy anymore, but it is nice when he makes the trip up north and we all find a moment to get together – Happy Birthday Gautam.