Field Trip - Palomar Observatory

At long last, the grrrls and I headed up to one of northern San Diego County's landmarks - CalTech's Palomar Observatory.

I had visited the observatory last October - if only briefly - when I climbed South Grade Road on my road bike. However, with a motion sick-prone girl, I was a more than a little leery of the winding drive up the mountain in the van.

Click on the Wikipedia link in the opening paragraph for detailed background on the historic observator as I'm feeling fried and uninspired as of late - no surprise... Not mentioned in the article, but described in the visitor's center, is that some were worried that man would be able to see inside of heaven with the 200" telescope. Funny, the more time I spend in places like observatories, the more I wonder how anyone can believe in any kind of a god/higher power. It just seems utterly absurd and narcissistic when you realize how many hundreds of billions of galaxies that man has discovered. Okay, on to the photos. Sorry for those who don't like Hipstamatic-style shots.

First stop, the cool picnic area with some great climbing trees and boulders (perfect for Celeste):
The visitor's center is both small and dated, looking like it was last remodeled during Reagan's first term. Still plenty to learn and discover. Needs more hands-on things for my grrrl though.
Cool light fixture (as shot from underneath it):
Model of the telescope:
The telescope doors:
The telescope itself was named for George Hale, who unfortunately died about ten years prior to its completion.
A good day in the sun, thinking about the stars.

Eurobike Download

So sorry about the lack of posts (I know, I know, this has been a common theme as of late). I've been far too busy, fried and unable to come up with anything that I feel is even remotely interesting over the past few months. It's just been a bummer summer. A confluence of being very busy at work, the stress of finding a new place to live and moving (again), no time for a vacation, bicycles (and sometimes bodies) breaking and an overactive brain that simply won't shut down when I need it to.

With that out of the way, here's a minor picture/brain dump from my recent trip to Germany and the fantastic Eurobike trade show...

Interesting name for a salon:
Mustache time - industry legend Gary Fisher hams it up in the Electra booth:

Beautiful Cube bicycles...
...chuck full o' cool details:
The seatstay bridge on this Van Nicholas titanium mountain bike:
Vintage Merckx cyclocross bike:
Yellow (leader) and green (sprinter) two-tone bike (split down the middle), as ridden by Sylvain Chavanel in this year's Tour:
Basil's impressive bicycle bag line:
Just about everything that the ever-cool Fixie Inc. kids bring:
Interesting plate carbon fiber canti brake cable hanger on a Focus:
Cool graphic treatments Specialized bikes:

Mondriaan bike? Err, interesting to say the least...
Cool rail-mount rack, as used on a few Scott bikes:
Interesting VW T5 van variants:

Hey VWoA - I live in a California beach town, why can't I buy this??
SpaceCamper

Evergreen on a Bionicon:
Carbon-based fiber (if I remember correctly, a €9900 frame):
Kona's wide-range of softgoods:
A beautiful Cielo cyclocross bike:
Euro trash:
Modern...
...and retro Diamante bikes:
Great attention to detail from the Trek boys (this looks more like a dropout from a handbuilt bike than a mass-produced one from the largest US bike company - good job KVH!):
The Zeppelin NT airship (don't call it a blimp) flying overhead all day:
Pizzamobil for the Electra party (attempting to jockey it into position with a banged-up shoulder):
Old (literally AND figuratively!) friends:
This Japanese guy's cool casual cycling apparel line:
Adult-sized scoot bike:
Viva bikes:
Interesting (and bloody expensive) rack/bar combo:
Knog - for always blowing my mind with innovative packaging, marketing materials and booth...
...filled with dioramas that utilize there products:
And, of course, some of the new Electra models:

Mulholland 3i

tank detail

Zarape 3i saddle detail (which has been a torn in my side, but I'm happy with the final product):
And, not pictured, being able to hit a small stretch of unrestricted Autobahn on the way back to the airport and taking the Škoda Octavia Estate rental car up to 206 km/h.

That's it for now. Here's hoping that I get even a small spark of creativity back in me one of these days. Auf Wiedersehen.