After going to the indy race on July 4th, the next weekend it was time to go to Geneseo for the Geneseo Air Show. I hadn’t been to this air show in years, and its a pretty unique air show because of the historic old planes you get to see. There is far less acrobatics, and a lot more older planes to see. Again it was really HOT. But a perfect sunny day. Highlights of the show included a replica B-17 Memphis Belle, the F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, and the Soaring of Manfred Radius. He put on an amazing show in his glider, from about 5,000 feet he spiraled down to the crowd doing loops and turns to the tune of classical music. Then at ground level he flew upside down and cut a rope with the tail of his plane, before turning back over and landing. It was really great, and made you feel like you were back in older times. I posted a few photos here, and more of them are in my flickr gallery.
B-17 Memphis Belle
F-16 Viper Demo Team
Canadian Harvards
Lysander
Manfred Radius
Many more images of many more planes are available in my flickr gallery.
I took the day off last week to go to the LPGA Championship practice round and use my camera to see what kind of photos I could get of the golfers. I took a lot of photos, some came out really good. Since this year the tournament was a major, a lot of the older golfers came out. It was neat to see the likes of nancy Lopez, Pat Hurst, Julie Inkster, and Se Ri Pak, playing with Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, and Michelle Wie. I took a ton of photos, and most of the nicer ones are posted in my flickr gallery. Here’s a few here too.
Wow, three updates in one day? I must have a lot of free time, or just catching up over Memorial Day Weekend. Tracy and I went to my parents house for dinner today, and they have a lot of birds that like to show up at their many feeders. I always say I will bring my camera with some time to see what I can photograph, and this time I did. A couple of Baltimore Orioles showed up and I was really impressed with the shots I got. All photos taken with a Canon 70-200mm lens. Click to enlarge. Bird photos can be found in my flickr gallery.
Oriole
Oriole
This last photo is of the second Oriole that shows up. He has much brighter plumage.
Sunday 11/15/2009 Day 3: Florida Institute of Technology and Cocoa Beach
On Sunday we took a break from our traveling to relax before the shuttle launch. We did go south to Melbourne and the Florida Institute of Technology to walk through their botanical gardens which was nice. There were lots of varieties of palms, bamboo, and lizards too. A lot of the trees had giant pathos plants growing all over them, but the leaves were huge compared to how large they get indoors in Rochester.
Butterfly
Brown Lizard
Green Lizard
Trees and Vines
For me, it was fun to see lizards everywhere, but I have a hunch they are like squirrels down there to Floridians. I took the opportunity to take some infrared photos while we walked through the gardens, as the palm plants make really stunning pictures.
IR Gardens
IR Gardens
IR Gardens
IR Gardens
After we walked through the gardens, we went back to the hotel to spend the day at the beach. There were strong rip tides because of the remnants of Hurricane Ida that went up the coast, but we still did some wading. It was a very rough surf, and you really got pushed around by the waves and currents. But you gotta go in the ocean when you go on vacation, so we did.
Beach North
Beach South
As always, larger pictures of our full trip to Florida are available from my Flickr photo gallery. Day 4 includes our photos of the shuttle launch.
On Saturday we traveled up Interstate 95 to Daytona to tour Daytona International Speedway and the museum. When we arrived we were able to hop onto a tour tram and get onto a tour of the infield. I was surprised that the speedway actually seemed smaller than I thought it was. Seemed like if you were watching a race that you would easily be able to see all the action around the track. It is a large track, don’t get me wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised at the sight lines.
The tour took us into the infield through one of the tunnels under turn 4. The tour guide told us that the Italian Auto Club currently had track time, and we were treated to a steady stream of Ferraris, Mustangs, and other sports cars zooming around the track. Pretty much EVERYONE on the tour was more excited to see the cars racing by than look at the row of garages or grandstands and safety fences.
Daytona Cars
Daytona Cars
Daytona Cars
Daytona Cars
The banking of the track is REALLY steep, at 30 degrees in the corners. The tour stopped near the new winners circle for us all to get photos there, and view the VIP suites high above the speedway. Still, most people were trying to get views of the sports cars on the track.
Daytona Speedway
After touring the speedway we went into the museum. There were multiple interactive racing simulators (some cost money), lots of cars on display, and lots of Richard Petty memorabilia. Matt Kenseth’s 2009 Daytona 500 winning car was on display right out of the winners circle. There were lots of bugs and gunk on it, and the fenders, front and back, were bashed in from the bump drafting. Really cool.
Kenseth Car
Daytona Museum
We watched an IMAX movie in 3D which was pretty good, and then went out to the track to watch some more auto club racing from the turn 4 grandstands. The cars were fast, and you could tell the grandstands were huge.
Daytona Seats
More Cars
More Cars
Overall it was a really nice day, and we spent about 4 1/2 hours at the museum before heading back to Coca Beach.
As always, larger pictures of our full trip to Florida are available from my Flickr photo gallery. Day 3 includes our trip to see the gardens at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne and the beach.
We went to Winterthur Gardens and Mansion this Spring as part of the Celebration of Life for Jay Powell. It was a beautiful day, and the gardens were spectacular. The Azaleas were in full bloom, and the grounds around the estate were beautiful. It was a wonderful day, a fitting way to remember Jay, and a day I hope not to forget.
I’d been looking forward to this race for a few months, as my wife and I were going to be in Philadelphia for Thanks giving, and I knew it wouldn’t be too much trouble to go to New York City from there, rather than driving the 6 hours from Western NY. I was really surprised to see Harlem Rocker as the morning line 15-1 long shot. But I felt good because I knew there was money to be made. I met some friends in NY for the day and saw a couple other HR fans there too.
Took a lot of photos in the paddock area, and generally had a good time. The race was incredible. We were able to get right on the rail and watch Harlem Rocker go by. We were ecstatic and screaming like crazy. Did he win? Who won? And then when he was posted winner we were all yelling and high-fiving and running around like idiots. It was awesome. Then they took it all away. And we were sore losers. We called bullshit and called out Prado a bit.
From the replays at the track it really looked like Harlem Rocker had a half length lead when he cut over. Now that I watch the replay again, I can see Prado pull up a little. But still, like Pletcher said, he had every opportunity to run, and HR went past him. It begs the question, how much room do you need to give before taking the lane? I thought he had a half length at least. If these were two cars, and the white car had passed the brown car and pulled in front of him, then the brown car decided to speed up and go past the white car, would we have said someone got cut off here? Unlikely. Harlem Rocker had the speed, took the position, and then if Tale of Ekati wanted it back, he needed to move and take it.
My friend Mark’s brother John summed it up best, he said: “I’ve seen horses lose after doing less, I’ve seen them win after doing a lot worse, but not in a graded stakes race.”.
The most disappointing thing to me, is that at Aqueduct they have a wall where they post the winning silks for the last 5 years, and all the photos of last winners, and HR will not be up there, and probably nobody will remember how close it was, except us.
Harlem Rocker is quite a fine animal, and he has a lot more white than earlier this year. He’s a fine horse.
It was disappointing to see both Springside injured and Wanderin Boy breakdown.
We all made some money, with Harlem Rocker as such a long shot, and Tale of Ekati too. My friend Mark and I would have each been at least $200 richer had he won, and if I had boxed my trifecta instead of wheeling it, I would have hit that one too. Enjoy these photos of my day at The Big A. The photos are a bit “noisey” but with the time of the year and the time of the race, it was basically twilight and my digital elph doesn’t really do that well in low light situations. I am extremely happy with the photos I got, but you can see my Harlem Rocker photos from the summer time are much crisper.
