Patrick Stewart at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018

For the past few years, we’ve gone to Vegas for vacation, which just happens to coincide with the big Star Trek convention held annually at the Rio. Shortly after William Shatner’s panel on Saturday, the host advised that everyone would want to stay in the room for a big announcement. Alex Kurtzman emerged soon after, and after a brief preamble about Trek’s future on TV, he announced a new show focused on Captain Picard starring Patrick Stewart. Stewart emerged, and well, here you go…

  • patrick stewart emerges on the STLV2018 stage
    Stewart emerges to pandemonium
  • Patrick Stewart on the STLV 2018 Stage
    Taking in the applause
  • Kurtzman Bows to Stewart
    Kurtzman bows to Stewart
  • Patrick Stewart Discusses New Show
    Discussing the new Picard show
  • Patrick Stewart discussing new show
    Talking about how Picard has changed from TNG

Juvenile Night Heron

Photos, ,
Juvenile Night Heron. I believe it’s the black-crowned variety.

A Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) at the Upland Hills Country Club golf course. Taken at the pond near the 4th tee box area.

Though these birds are common around wetland areas in North America, this is the first one I’ve seen in our neck of the woods. I’m not sure where this juvenile came from, as there were no signs of any others in the area. He disappeared the next day.

B-25J “Pacific Princess”

B-25J 43-28204 “Pacific Princess” — The only wartime action this plane saw was in the movies (Catch-22, 1941, Pearl Harbor), but it was also used as a firefighting aircraft in the 1950s and flew off the deck of the Carl Vinson in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of WWII’s end. Beautiful and well-maintained aircraft.

B-25J 43-28204 “Pacific Princess” — This beautiful and well-maintained aircraft only saw wartime action in the movies (Catch-22, 1941, Pearl Harbor), but served as a firefighting aircraft in the 1950s. She also launched from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of WWII’s end.

Picture taken at Cable Airport in Upland, CA.

Hangar 24 Airfest 2017

We attended Hangar 24 brewery’s annual Airfest on May20, 2017, thanks to winning a couple of passes from the Daily Bulletin.  A variety of old warbirds were on static display amidst the food and brews, as well as a few flyers as well. Below are just a small selection of aircraft pictures we took that day at the Redlands Municipal Airport.

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Tail No. 42-105192
B-25J Mitchell, Tail No. 44-30423 — “Photo Fanny”
P-38J Lightning, Tail No. 44-23314 “23 Skidoo”
Hawker Sea Fury Mark II “Argonaught”
Hawker Sea Fury Mark II “Argonaught”
B-25J Mitchell, Tail No. 44-30423 — “Photo Fanny”
B-25J Mitchell, Tail No. 44-30423 — “Photo Fanny”
C-17 Globemaster III Tail No. 05-5145
C-17 Globemaster III Tail No. 05-5145
C-17 Globemaster III Tail No. 05-5145
C-53D, 42-68830 -- “D-Day Doll”
C-53D, 42-68830 -- “D-Day Doll”
Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Tail No. 91264
F4U-1A Corsair Tail Number 17799
Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Tail No. 91264
Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Tail No. 91264
KC-135R Tail Number 2603
Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Tail No. 42-105192
P-38J Lightning, Tail No. 44-23314 “23 Skidoo”

Kennedy Space Center

During our vacation to Orlando to attend Star Wars Celebration 2016, we made an excursion to Cape Canaveral to checkout Kennedy Space Center. It turned out to be the highlight of our vacation. The set-up for shuttle Endeavour is the best we’ve seen so far, and the Saturn V hangar does justice to the most powerful machine ever built by humanity. Below are various pictures of the rockets and spacesuits from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, as well as the space shuttle exhibit itself.

Saturn V first stage (S-1C)
Saturn V first stage (S-1C)
Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 spacesuit
Saturn V S-IVB stage
Interior of the LM (Lunar Module)
Rocketdyne J-2 engine from S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket
Gus Grissom's Mercury Spacesuit

Star Wars Celebration Anaheim

We decided to head on down to Anaheim on a whim to checkout Star Wars celebration for the day. There was a positive buzz at the convention center in anticipation of The Force Awakens, which looks like a return to the visual style of the original trilogy. We’ve been to several conventions, and the thing that impressed us most about this one in particular was the focus on fan-made creations. Nearly everything except the obvious dealer stalls was made by fans.

AT-AT Model at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015
Clone Trooper Helmet with Red Splash
Stormtrooper Costumes

Yanks Air Museum

Chino Panes of Fame museum is just a few miles south of us, so we took the day to go check out the aircraft they have on display. All of their aircraft are in hangars, and as far as I can tell, they’re all static display aircraft. From what we saw, all of the aircraft had been lovingly restored to original condition. The museum features aircraft from the Dawn of Aviation up to the present day.