Colors - Foliage in Rochester & Feasts in San Diego

It's no secret that this year's foliage varies from place to place. Some places are still seeing a lot of green leaves. Turning Point Park, located near Lake Ontario, has some of the prettiest, though muted, foliage in my hometown. A little known fact is that Turning Point's boardwalk and trail won the American Public Works Associations Transportation Project of the year ($2-$10 million category) in 2008. The photo above and the photo below show the Boardwalk and trail this Fall.

The colors and light in Rochester are dramatically different than what they are in San Diego. I traveled to San Diego for work but had an opportunity to head out for some sightseeing on a couple of the eves.

While in San Diego, we heard the Day of the Dead, celebrated by people of Mexican heritage everywhere, was on November 1st this year. We made it a point to head to Old Town in San Diego where the festival would be in full swing. The photo below is of a young lady, dressed and made up for the eve. It was taken at the El Campo Santo Cemetery founded in 1849.

We walked through Old Town and were met by a barrage of altars and shrines to honor loved ones. Here is one!

Here is another shrine in honor of a dead relative.

On another eve, my co-trainer Ray and I headed to the Harbor for a nice walk and meal. While traipsing by the water, we ran into a sculpture of the iconic return from World War II photo that appeared in Life magazine in 1945. The statue is 25 feet tall, weighs 6,000 pounds and is called “Unconditional Surrender,” by J. Seward Johnson, although the city of San Diego has officially labeled it the “Embracing Peace” statue. It was lit beautifully that eve.

Heading out, partaking in the local festivities after long hard days and memorializing them with photos made for some fun times!