Lunar eclipse

Jason got up in the middle of the night for the opportunity to photograph a lunar eclipse last night. He made a digital composite of two photos of the moon, the first one at about 9:30 p.m. and the second about 4:00 a.m. under full eclipse.

After today we'll be staying at cabins in the national parks (Sequoia and Yosemite) for several days, so we probably won't be posting until Sunday.

Hollywood

On Monday we had brunch with the Tans and Nathan and Jannine before they left for their honeymoon in Paris. Then we finally made it to Hollywood before leaving the LA area. This is the walk of fame with all the "stars of the stars." Jason wanted to see Mr. Rogers' star, which we finally found after consulting a list of all the star locations. They go on both sides of the street for at least a mile. We also saw stars for Kermit the Frog, Amy Grant, Neil Armstrong, and many others.

There it is--the famous Hollywood sign! It was pretty cool to see it. Jason, in his quest for the perfect photo, wanted to get as close as possible. Fortunately, the guidebook I brought told us how to get there. So, in case you ever go to Hollywood, here are the directions. From Franklin Street (just north of Hollywood Blvd, i.e. the walk of fame) go north on Beachwood. You are heading straight toward the sign. Turn left on Ledgewood and right on Deronda. Near the end of the street you have great views of the sign. Just before that there is a spectacular view down into the city--at least on a low-smog day, which we were fortunate to have. It's totally worth the drive, which is all uphill on narrow, winding residential streets.

Reception and more from the wedding

The reception was held at Twin Palms restaurant in Pasadena. Cake cutting and eating was accomplished very respectfully, with not a bit of frosting on either one's face after eating the whole piece of cake!

Jason and Rex Reist, one of Nathan's friends from high school. Jason was best man and Rex was a groomsman.

Mom with Jannine. Mom made her own dress for the wedding.

Dad with Jannine's dad, Sam Tan.

Rachel at the wedding. I read the scripture during the ceremony. (One of Jannine's uncles took this picture for me while I was waiting for the ceremony to start. It was very hot in the sun!)

The Wedding Day Finally Arrives!

Here's the beautiful bride, Jannine Tan. (Jason Whitaker)

Nathan waiting at the front for Jannine to arrive. He sang a song as she was walking down the aisle. It was so sweet! (Rachel Whitaker)

Colorful bridesmaids (Rachel Whitaker)

Nathan and Jannine with Pastor Tony during the ceremony. Everything went beautfully. They said their own vows to each other. Everybody laughed because Nathan said "I do" really loudly, rather than barely audibly like a lot of people. (Rachel Whitaker)

Wedding rehearsal

Friday afternoon was the wedding rehearsal. The wedding was held on the rooftop of the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Here the bridesmaids and Pastor Tony Romeo (from Nathan and Jannine's church, Advent Hope, in New York City) are figuring out where to stand. The girl in purple is Jannine's sister, Shelly. The building in the background is Pasadena City Hall.

Nathan and Jannine with their friend Aurelia from law school (in the center) at the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was held at the New Happy Family Restaurant, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant. We had a multi-course Chinese feast complete with fake shrimp, fake fish, and mushroom soup for dessert. Yes, really.

Mt. Wilson Observatory

On Friday morning we went up to the Mt. Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains. The views along the way were spectacular. From the top you can see down to LA.

Mountains floating in the sky...or actually, floating above the smog. Ugh. But kind of neat-looking.

Mt. Wilson Observatory has been around for about 100 years and has many telescopes for research on the universe. They had a small museum with photos they have taken of the sun, galaxies, etc. This building houses one of the larger telescopes.

One of the telescopes. The blue part is the telescope and the white part is the mounting that allows it to turn.

Maybe we'll see a bear on this trip! We can hope.

Santa Monica beach

On Thursday Jason and I went to the beach at Santa Monica while Mom and Dad went to the airport to exchange the rental car, because the air conditioner had stopped working. It's a beautiful beach with lots of sand and not many people.

Jason in his usual pose during any trip, taking pictures off the pier at Santa Monica.

Surfer

Rachel playing in the waves. They were so strong that I was afraid to go out more than waist deep.

After Mom and Dad returned with the new car, we foolishly thought that we could get to Hollywood to see some sights there, and then get back in time to watch sunset over the ocean. However, once we got out in LA traffic, we quickly realized that was not going to work. So we raced back to the beach and arrived just in time to see the sun disappear behind the mountains (not into the ocean, as we were expecting). We took a few more minutes to enjoy the beautiful colors. (At least smog is good for something!)

Train store

This picture is of a store sign near our hotel in Pasadena.

The Mountain Drive

On Wednesday we tried to drive through the San Gabriel Mountains to Pasadena. However, we got stopped by contruction twice and had to find detours. We got route information from helpful police officers, park rangers, and construction workers. The picture above is of Mormon Rocks near where we got off I-15.

The drive through the mountains was very beautiful. However, there was a lot of haze, which someone said was smoke from a fire near Santa Barbara.

Ghost Town Part 2

This is a Joshua tree--we saw quite a few of them along the road through the desert. Some of the rock layers near Calico were drastically twisted and contorted.

Sunset along the highway.

Ghost Town Part 1

We visited the ghost town of Calico, an old silver mining town in California. The surrounding mountains and rock formations were colorful, and the town contained many interesting old buildings and some that were apparently recreated for the benefit of tourists. The green house was made of pop bottles (in the 1950s).

The Desert

On Tuesday we drove from Las Vegas to Victorville, CA, through the Mojave Desert. It was extremely hot, probably over 100 degrees. The scenery was very barren and quite ugly! The palm tree photo was taken at a rest stop.

Whitaker Vacation, Day 1

On this blog, Jason is posting pictures and Rachel is writing the text. On August 21 we flew to Las Vegas--Rachel from Baltimore and Mom, Dad, and Jason from Detroit. The sights from the plane included clouds, mountains, and the Grand Canyon (not pictured). Everything went very well considering that Dad missed the flight in Detroit (long story). He was able to get on another flight just minutes later, and arrived in Las Vegas (via LA) just a couple hours after the rest of us. The Las Vegas airport is filled with slot machines and giant screens advertising racy entertainment. I was glad to leave Las Vegas behind!