Sep 2nd and 3rd 2012

Sunday September 2^nd 2012

September 3rd. 2012 is Labor Day in the US. Unfortunately were were unaware of the impact this would have on the movement of people and the hotel reservations. This is a holiday weekend so many people took the opportunity to get to the beach. Road were clogged with traffic and beaches everywhere crowded with people making the most of the beautiful weather.

Arrived in beautiful Carlsbad to find every hotel booked to capacity. At the Hilton we used their complimentary WiFi to search for any vacancies. After about 45 minutes we found a ‘Quality ‘ Inn with a room. We booked it. This was a lesson in Supply and Demand at work. The Inn was a Motel. The room was tiny but in fairness it was clean and I would have no problem staying here if the nightly rate was fifty dollars, however, at $200 it was daylight robbery. Clearly rates were pushed up for the holiday weekend. I can’t blame them for that, It’s the same everywhere. A bigger disappointment was the fact that they advertised free wifi. While I could ‘see’ the network the signal was showing only a dot and therefore neither my iPad or Laptop could pick up anything. Will have to enter Big Mac territory again. Not knowing what part of town we we in and not feeling as secure with our accommodation as we would normally feel we did not stray beyond the parking area. A Chinese Buffet looked like the only option for an evening snack. We got fortune cookies at the end. Mine said, “ you have at your command the wisdom of the ages” . I guess they didn’t know about the absence of Google in my room.

Went to the Carlsbad Village Fiesta where local artists were displaying their work in galleries and in the open areas inside the centre. This is where I chatted with a few of the artists about their work.

Beverly Struber a Watermedia Artist produces beautiful layered water colour images. You can see her work at the Oceanside Art Gallery. This gallery features the work of many local artists. Beverly works from the studio at the back of the gallery
Some links associated with Beverly: Oceanside Art Gallery and  Artists Alliance

Alan Katof produces photographic images on canvas. Many without any post capture enhancements while others are modified using Photoshop and similar products. Alan is a retired teacher from New York. He now enjoys his real passion and if the images I saw are anything to go by he is living the dream. Have a look at Alan's work here: Alan Katof web site 

Alan describes his art with such enthusiasm

Michael Alan Nelson prints photographic images on different material. Some are printed on metal and the effect is stunning.



Capistrano Beach

Our next stop was Capistrano beach.
Have a look at our images here: Our images from Capistrano beach 


We had been advised not to miss Balboa Island. Well, the holiday weekend (Labor Day), made this next to impossible. We drove up the main street and found ourselves in a traffic jam for almost an hour. We turned around as soon as possible and left Balboa behind. What we did see was so beautiful. We will have to return at some point in the future.
Have a look at Balboa here.

We arrives in Los Angeles in the early evening and after finding a hotel and settling in we went looking for somewhere to eat. We struck gold when we fond an Itilian restaurant Buca di beppo the food was fabulous.

I loved everything about the place. Have a look at some of our images from Buca:

Our images of Buca di beppo

Sep 6-7th 2012 Carmel and then on to San Francisco




Just one of the many fabulous buildings in Carmel

Carmel is a very prosperous town just south of San Francisco. It's probably one of the most beautiful towns we have visited on our journey so far and I doubt we will top it. The building are just stunning beautiful as you can see from the photo above. You can see more image if you click on the links at the end of this post.

This is Tamara of Tamara G Fine Art



As you may have gathered from my blog I love to visit the art galleries in each town or city we visit. I popped into Tamara G, a fine art gallery on Ocean Avenue and was greeted by the very lovely Tamara herself. I had a look at the work from three Italian artists and would love to own any of them,  You can see their work if you click on the link below. My favourite artist was Bruno Paoli. Have a look at his work and see if you notice a common thread?

Tamara, if you read this, remember, three years : )    

Tamara G Fine Art

This image is for the folks back home. A security and logistics firm in Carmel.

This has nothing to do with our own police force. This is a security firm in California, just thought you might like to see it? Have a look: Garda

Aleks Raskin:

I was in the Carmel Plaza and just about to leave when I decided to go up another flight of stairs. This is where I met Alexs Raskin. I had the most  enlightening conversation with Aleks and I will definitely be in touch with him again. There is a link here with another of my 'Bucket List' challenges but that I will leave between Aleks and me, for now. 

Aleks produces what he calls 'Surreal Photo Transformation' His work is mesmerising and like nothing I have ever seen before. He does not have a web site so if you want to see his work you will just have to pay him a visit at the gallery he shares with other artists on Level 3, Carmel Plaza. Alternatively, you could sponsor an exhibition of his work at a gallery near you?? 

Some of our images from Carmel (more to follow)

Web site for Carmel