Traveling Thursdays: Laguna Beach

The first time I visited Laguna Beach was back in 2000; I was working for a dot-bomb company and we were doing an article on Wyland for a magazine that never got published. It was still a fun experience! Laguna is a beautiful (sometimes) sleepy little artist community just south of Anaheim (to put it into perspective for all the D-Land fans out there).

Imagine your backyard view being the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, Wyland and his franchise-style art concept isn't doing too bad.



Laguna is widely known for its annual Pageant of the Masters Festival, where art is re-created on a stage. It's a little wacky, but actually pretty cool to see.





There were some expert sand sculptors at work during my visit last weekend:



This reminds me of Skull Rock (I wonder what kind of a Rorshach test that vision of mine indicates?):





Heisler Park in Laguna is the perfect place for a picnic:



I couldn't even begin to explain what this is supposed to be, but I am surprised these two haven't been arrested.



See more Laguna Beach photos at my Laguna Beach webpage.

Traveling Thursdays: Key West

This was my second visit to Key West; and most likely the last one to occur in August. For some reason, the heat and humidity seemed even worse than it had been in Savannah. Still, that didn’t keep me from shooting photos like a mad man; I just had to keep wiping off my lens to get rid of the fog that continually accumulated from the heavy, humid air. I tried a new hotel this time: The Truman Hotel. Recently refurbished, it was fairly priced, clean, and had a hip vibe. I still prefer The Marquesa, which is where I stayed on my previous trip. The pool at The Truman looked cool, but was more of a poser pool than one that could actually be used for swimming laps.



Duval Street in Key West is the main commercial drag; plenty of cool architecture to snap there:



I’m not a big Walgreen’s shopper, but I do appreciate their adaptive reuse of this old theater:





I sure could go for a tasty Sloppy Joe sandwich at Sloppy Joe’s right now!







This visit, I actually went inside the historic St. Paul‘s Episcopal Church to shoot some of the beautiful stained glass windows:







Another first on this trip was a visit to the Butterfly Conservatory.



I could have spent the entire day just watching these fascinating and colorful creatures:





The Southernmost Inn at the end of Duval is beautiful, but a little too Laura Ashley for my tastes. I went in to inquire about the tours that were advertised on the sign outside; I was told that they didn’t give tours, and only kept them on the sign for historical purposes. Huh?



Two of the more well-known commercial establishments on Duval:





Ocean artist Wyland himself was attempting to sell one of his pieces for charity:



One night, I went on a neon tour of Key West, snapping a few of my favorite examples:









This is one of those places that looks so cool and nostalgic at night; during the daylight hours, it’s a different story.

















In Disney related news: I just read the book Disneystrology by Lisa Finander. What a fantastic combo of Astrology & Disney! You can look up your birthday, read your astrological profile, and find out what Disney character you resemble. Big, bright, colorful illustrations are on each page, and the best part: it covers not only recent Disney/Pixar characters, but some of the classic (and lesser known) ones as well. I discovered that I am aligned with Louis the Alligator from “Princess & The Frog”!

See more Key West, Florida photos at my main website.