Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

Tonight we close out the travelogue series back where it began in Monterey, with a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This was my first visit to the aquarium. Compared to the Birch Aquarium here in San Diego, the MB aquarium is absolutely huge.  I only saw a fraction of what was there and definitely want to go back again. I found the jellyfish to be the most captivating exhibit. You could spend a couple of hours just watching their underwater ballet.

"Creature From The Blue Lagoon" Purple-striped Jelly

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Tonight we go back to the Blackhawk Museum. Opened in 1988, the museum was founded with a dedication to celebrating the elegance, craftsmanship, and history of the automobile, and has been devoted to the enjoyment, appreciation, and education of the art form of the automobile.

1939 Hispano-Suiza K6 Cabriolet

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Last month the camera club's outing was at the Univ. of San Diego. The monthly challenge was architecture. USD is a Catholic university, and while I'm not a believer of the invisible man in the sky, I do appreciate a lot of the art, music and architecture the believers have created in his honor.
At USD some of that architecture can be found inside the Immaculata Parish, one of the two churches on campus. The other church, the Founders Chapel, has some excellent artwork at the back of the altar.

Colachis Plaza fountain in front of The Immaculata Parish.

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I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. I spent the day with long time friends.
Good company along with good food plus beautiful weather (mid 70s and sunny skies) was a day to be truly thankful for.

Tonight's travelogue series takes us back to the Blackhawk Museum and their Chinese art exhibit.

"The Dragon Throne" The throne is the grand chair of state used in ceremonies when a new emperor ascended to the throne and other ceremonies.

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It's been sunny and 70s all week so I took advantage of the nice weather and went to the zoo for a few hours on Mon. and Thur. morning. It's always hit or miss on how active the animals are. Both mornings were a hit this week.

Each morning when the zoo opens they have a flyby of Macaws. This Blue and Yellow Macaw was from yesterday's flyby.

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Last week we went to Egypt. This week we will be staying closer to home. In fact we will be going to a home. The uniquely strange and mysterious home of Sarah Winchester known as the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Ca. There are a lot of strange tales about Sarah Winchester and the house. I don't know how many are true and how many are made up. Here's a link to its wiki page where you can read all about Sarah and her mysterious house.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House

A few statistics about the house. It's 24,000 sq ft in size and has 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 160 rooms, 52 skylights, 47 stairways and fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens and cost $5 million ($71m in today's dollars) to build.

Along with the shot of the outside of the house I've included images of six of the rooms as shot and a version of each of those after editing with tone mapping software.

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One of my stops while traveling was at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. The museum is sometimes referred to as the mummy museum since it is devoted to ancient Egypt. Items on display are a mix of ancient Egyptian artifacts and more modern art depicting Egyptian rulers, deities, and Egyptian life.

North side of the building and meditation garden. The museum was constructed in ancient Egyptian architectural style.

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One of the photo stops I made while I was in the Bay Area was at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville. When the museum opened in 1988 it was devoted exclusively to the automobile, but over the last ten years the menu has expanded to include exhibits of African art, Chinese art, the American West, and nature.
Tonight's menu item is the American West. The exhibit is split into two halves. One half is devoted to the Plains Indians and the other half to the white settlers. From a visual perspective I didn't find much of interest on the pale face half of the exhibit so all but the last photo are from the Plains Indian side, which I found to be more interesting.

Chiefs Headdress

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Earlier this month I went on a road trip to the San Francisco Bay Area for a family get together. The drive there, though long (8.5 hrs), went smooth most of the way. As is often the case, the traffic gods imposed the slow crawl toll to get through L. A. adding an extra hour of drive time. The rest of the drive was a breeze.
I had a wonderful time. It was great seeing family. Beautiful weather and a little time to get out with the camera while there added icing to the cake.
First up in the travelogue is a drive through 17-Mile Drive in Monterey, home to some of the most scenic coastline in Ca, 8 golf courses, and some really expensive homes.

The Ghost Cypress

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Just got back from a week on the road and haven't had time to go through all the photos I took (500+), so until next Friday, lets go surfing.
These are from last month when I went to the Wavecrest woodie meet in Encinitas. After photographing the cars I changed the wide lens for a long lens and spent a little time photographing the surfers. There were a lot of surfers in the water that morning but not much surf.
Last but not least, thanks to Captain Q for hosting in my absence last Friday. Nice shots of the northern lights.