Auriesville Shrine

I had mentioned several time that I had ridden the bike path past the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs without stopping. Well, today I changed that: The Shrine commemorates Father Isaac Jogues, René Goupil, a Jesuit brother, and John Lalande, who lost their live at this site because of their faith in the 1640's. It was the Site of Ossernenon, the Main village of the Mohawks. Here is a marker for Fr. Joques: Three crosses for three saints: another view of the Mohawk river: There is quite a large Chapel here. I spent some time ion reflection, and thank the Lord for their lives: A pleasant day of rest.

A Placid Lake

Today, I went to church: and then I took off for Lake Placid. Here is a rest stop on the Northway(I-87): The Last Howard Johnsons'. They used to be everywhere: Eating there proved you can't go back. Which is not always the case (look for another post on this in about a month or so). I was bit concerned with parking, but found a spot in front of the Olympic center The 1980 Arena: The speed skating track doubles as the track for Lake Placid High: For $70, you can ride a bobsled. I skipped: Up the ski lift: John Brown's Farm: I have a new found respect for ski jumpers: I went to whiteface and the Gondola ride. It decided to pour rain. no fun. It was also when my phone got a strong enough signal to transmit data. maybe having a 3g phone was good enough. A good and fun day:

Foursquare and the Fair

I went on a bike ride yesterday. I stopped by the site of the Old PAL studios:

The engineer was some guy called Frank:

a neat Mural:

From 5-1-2011

I decide to go to the La Times Festival of Books. I missed the early train, but no problem, no one takes the Metrolink on weekends, right?
Well, this weekend is the Lemon Festival in Upland, so downtown was packed. I got a ticket, despite the vending machine insisting there were no train that day, was soon on a Bombardier car going to Union station:

From Book fair

Once I got there, I hopped on a shuttle bus:

From Book fair

and was soon face to face with Tommy Trojan:

From Book fair

They had a number of seminars that could have been of interest to me as an aspiring writer, but there were all sold out. so I wandered around outside:

From Book fair

I've also been playing around with Foursquare. while it is neat, you do have to have GPS enabled on your phone. I usually keep mine, which does produce some strange results. Hopefully, I won't make it on Pleaserobme.com. I did manage to persuade my phone and Foursquare that I was on the USC campus, and checked in.
I found out that UCLA has extension program for people like me, but the folks running the booths for USC and Chapman U were much more friendly. hmm (USC and Chapman are private - more tuition) Made the trip worth it. Chapman had a project where you wrote down a word, thy took your picture with it, and then the students would try and make a story with it.
I wandered around and around some more. Curiously, the part devoted to Food books seemed more busy. Probably because they were handing out free samples. I was also thinking about an analysis I heard on the royal wedding hoopla - That we, as a society, have been trending toward "reality" entertainment rather then "fictionalized." Maye I should devote my energies to "Revolutionary Idol" instead.
I found a free seminar that was interesting, but glanced at my watch. Time to go back to union station.
Turns out everyone else had that idea, too. Thankfully, they had a larger bus. we went by City Hall:

From Book fair

(the "effect" is the Target "advertising" wrap on the bus) before making it back to Union station.

From Book fair

If you've never been there, it's worth a trip. LAUPT was built in the late 30's, at the height of rail travel, and is wonderfully maintained as a period piece.
I bought a Madeline doll for a souvenir( The Times is using the artwork from the books as theme for this year.

From Book fair

before riding the Hyundai car back:

From Book fair

Of course, we stopped at Pomona for an hour due to ride with a medical condition, so maybe I should have taken the later train. I didn't want to go today, as there is an Immigrant rights march downtown in honor of May Day. Plus Metrolink has even less service on Sundays.
One other I did a bit different was I did'nt take my camera, but relied on phone for pictures - worked out well. Amazing how much "phones" have progressed.