R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 130

Fun Photo Friday — San Juan Favorites

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It’s All Downhill in San Juan

Click on any image below to enlarge and to bring up today’s photo gallery and slide show:

Fun Photo Friday — Tenerife Favorites

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Tenerife Color

Here are some of my favorite photos from this tour of Tenerife:

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La Orotava

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Mount Teide

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La Orotava

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Casa de los Balcones

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Watch that Step!

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La Orotava

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La Orotava

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Canary Islands, Fun Photo Friday, La Orotava, Norwegian Epic, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Santa Cruz, Teide National Park, Tenerife, transatlantic cruise, travel, travel photography, vacation

Norwegian Epic — Tenerife; Teide National Park

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Mount Teide volcano

The mountain you see above is Mount Teide, an active and potentially very dangerous stratovolcano that towers 12,198 feet/3,718 meters over the island of Tenerife. Mount Teide is situated within the Teide National Park, located near the center if the widest section of Tenerife.

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Teide National Park

Most of the photos you’ll see today were taken at a vantage point overlooking an ancient lava field and crater within the park.

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Teide National Park

Near the vantage point inside...

Norwegian Epic — Tenerife; La Orotava

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La Orotava, Tenerife

The first port of call for the Norwegian Epic following our departure from Barcelona was Santa Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. As many of my blog followers may already know, I’m a former air traffic controller, and I still teach air traffic control at the local FAA Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT)/Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON). When you mention Tenerife to a controller of my generation, the worst aviation disaster in history comes to mind. Fortunate...

Fun Photo Friday — Epic photos of an Epic ship

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Epic LED Chandelier

This week’s Fun Photo Friday is a tribute to some of the really fun photo opportunities aboard the Norwegian Epic:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: cruise lines, cruise ship, cruise vacation, Fun Photo Friday, Norwegain Epic, R. Doug Wicker

Touring the Norwegian Epic

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The massive Norwegian Epic

After three days in Madrid, Dolores and Earl Daniels with Ursula and I took the Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) high-speed train to Barcelona. Along the way we frequently hit speeds in excess of 300 kph/186 mph. Impressive. At these speed it takes only 2 hours to cover the 621 kilometers/386 miles. Very impressive. The next morning we headed out to the port to catch our transatlantic ride — the massive Norwegian Epic, which when built was the third largest cruise shi...

Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to One and All

Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings from the Wickers

Filed under: Photography, R. Doug Wicker Tagged: R. Doug Wicker

A Spillane Christmas Carol (Humor)

Time for a little more Christmas humor. Below is the investigation into the murder portrayed in yesterday’s poem. A word of explanation about the inside joke on word counts. This story was originally written for a contest that had a 1,500 word-count limit. That was up from a 1,000-word limit the preceding year. So, here is:

A Spillane Interpretation of A Dickens Christmas

It was the best of times, Christmas.  It was the worst of crimes, murder.  She was a store clerk at the Old Curiosity Shop...

If Edgar Allan Poe Had Written A Christmas Carol (Humor)

Now time for a little Christmas humor (tune in tomorrow for the sequel on the subsequent murder investigation, written in the style of Mickey Spillane):

A Poe Christmas

Once upon a snowstorm dreary, through which I trudged all weak and weary,
Past many a quaint and curious number of advertisement lore
I saw the ad, above some wrapping; on the door I started tapping
At first it was a gentle tapping, tapping at the storefront door
I must gain entry to this store, as there was nothing then I wan...

The Christmas Lights of Eastridge — Part 2

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Continuing with our Christmas lighting show from the Eastridge neighborhood here in El Paso, here are some more photos from 2012:

Filed under: Photography, R. Doug Wicker Tagged: Christmas lights, Eastridge Christmas displays, photography, R. Doug Wicker