San Diego, CA 2008

Judy and Geof went to San Diego for an extended weekend. Geof had some work to do for Sapphire Energy, but we both wanted to go to the Sapphire Christmas party we were invited to attend. This is a sight at La Jolla Cove. (That is pronounced "La Hoy-a").

Pelicans and cormorants at the cove.

A fishing boat in the cove.

The rock formations are worn out to yield caves at the edge of the ocean.

We took this picture so our friend Jody Ellison, who is a gold lifemaster bridge player, can appreciate the finer surroundings of some of the bridge clubs in the country.

Judy is on the boat where the Christmas party was held.

Brian Goodall, left, is my closest contact at Sapphire now. Jason Pyle, Sapphire's CEO, got his father out to San Diego for the party and he is sitting next to Brian. I met Jason's dad once before when Jason came to the University of Tulsa to visit us.

Judy enjoyed the company of Sabrina Goodall at the party.

Dan and Christi Crunkleton also made the trip from Tulsa. Dan and I work togther on the Sapphire project. Sapphire is a very well funded startup company that is making gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels from algae.

The day after the party, we met Vlado and Mile Kanazirev for some fun in San Diego for the weekend. Here, Vlado works his way through the numerous forms to fill out to get a ticket to Seaworld. We have no idea why the machines are called "Quick Ticket". The process is as slow as molasses.

Seaworld is an Anheuser-Busch park, so there are some Clydesdales there.

Judy was afraid she might get bitten!

We are getting on a water ride in the park.

We are watching one of the kinds of dolfins swimming in the background.

The penguins at Seaworld.

The manatee swims with a rather large alligator gar.

The killer whales are the hit of the park.

We got on another water ride. This one was a mistake.

We are all wet after the ride, and it was about 50 degrees outside when the sun went down!

Judy bought a jacket to keep warm. Here we are going up a skyride in cable cars.

A beautiful view from the skyride.

Judy found a gondola ride over in Coronado. We brought a bottle of wine with us and enjoyed some appetizers on the ride.

It was a very calm night; no breeze, so it was not cold.

This is "Tomaso" the gandolier. We enjoyed conversation with him. He is a college student getting ready for medical school. He sounded exactly like Judy's friend, John Hilfinger! Tomaso's name is really Michael. He just took the name from the restaurant in Coronado.

We are in the Old Town of San Diego. It seems like we always take a picture with the Kanazirev's where we are looking over a railing, so we had to pose for one this year.

We are looking around some of the old buildings with antiques at the old town.

This is in the courtyard of one of the haciendas in Old Town.

We crawled up on the buckboard of the wagon in the center of Old Town. Judy was a little scared.

Two good friends and colleagues! Geof and Vlado will celebrate working together for 20 years in 2009.

Near the entrance to the San Diego zoo.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of all the ducks!

Woodducks. Judy says, "Those are very tasty."

The famous panda bears. You have to wait in a line for about 15 or 20 minutes to get to see them.

They look cute, but you should hear them crunching on the bamboo. They have some mighty sharp teeth!

The pandas have Chinese names, but they are born here. Why don't they have American names?

A gorilla leans against the glass right next to the crowd!

A Ross's goose.

Another skyride in the zoo.

Judy is not fond of skyrides. She likes to be on them, but is afraid of heights.

A beautiful cathedral from the skyride.

At the zoo entrance on our way out.

We drove up to the wild animal kingdom which as about 30 minutes from San diego and is part of the zoo system. A Christmas light display was on exhibit.

We got on a tour bus for a tour of the wild animal holding area.

It was hard to see anything after dark. The giraffes were about the only animals we could take any sort of picture.

We went to the Melting Pot for dinner after the wild animal kingdom. We always have to say "cheers" when we are with the Kanazirevs. We decided the Melting Pot was fun for the experience, but we wouldn't choose to go back.

Judy found a quaint place for breakfast in La Jolla the next morning. What would we do without the Internet?!?

We always have such a great time with the Kanazirevs.