The Urban Pantheist

This is from a letter from my father, which he sent to several dozen people, so I don't think he'll mind me excerpting it here. He gets one date wrong--I moved to Boston in 1987 not 1986, but that doesn't affect the meaning of this piece.

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This is me at the Charleston rest area on the Mass Pike. I'm kind of hungry, but a busload of UNH track athletes arrived just before me, and are creating huge line-ups at all the restaurants.


I spent the morning with my Dad. Here he is talking on the phone with my brother as we stop for a drink at Jonathan Pesco's.


We stopped along the Connecticut River to look for bald eagles--didn't find any, but saw lots of giant ice floes.

Busch Gardens selfie with Dad and Andy.

( the last few BG photos )

My brother: designated driver for the week, wearing his aloha shirt covered with little aloha shirts.


I had my first "local beer," from Tampa's Cigar City Brewery (not bad). I posted this pic on instagram and a friend expressed worry that if they call the white beer "Florida Cracker," what do they call the porter? It's called "Puppy Breath," so that's okay.


And at the end of the day: a Mediterranean house gecko on the hallway ceiling.

The conference is taking place at this place--I didn't expect it to be so huge or so nice.


This is our view when we step out of our hotel room.

I'll be darned if I can remember where this is (a short ways from Rancho Palos Verdes) but by gum there was no passing by it without taking a picture. Thank god it was snapshot time too! Otherwise these would be a string of pictures of my brother my father and I in bars and in cars.

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Another strange constant of my vacations: going to a conspicuous high place and looking around. Here we are at the Griffith Observatory.

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Giant pinned beetle! This is at the monstrous mountaintop Getty Center. We walked through and looked at some of the art, but we were really more interested in the grounds of the place, which are well worth the 15 dollar parking. (15 dollar parking, but free train ride, museum admission, and admission to the grounds!)

( more Getty, some bladerunner )

The first morning of visiting a new city, I walk around and try to get a sense of what the urban birds are. They are very similar in every city I've been to--there will almost always be pigeons, house sparrows, and starlings. I was happy that in this neighborhood (Harbor City) to hear ravens croaking almost immediately. There were also a number of gulls, and some grackles. Unfortunately I didn't bring a local guide so I don't know many of the specifics. It was easy to identify these penguins I mean pigeons.


We spent much of the day at Long Beach, where there are lots of touristy things. Dad and I appreciated the moderate temperatures and immoderate constant bright sunshine.


There was some signage along the walkway identifying some of the creatures found nearby; I think this is a purple sandpiper--it looked and acted like a spotted sandpiper, a species I see a lot back home on fresh water.


We ended up in a place called Rancho Palo Verde, a beautiful cliff community. People go there to look out at the ocean at whales.


My favorite thing there was this hummingbird.

This is the family at a pub in Rhode Island, where we had a late lunch after a long day at Roger Williams Park Zoo!
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