Panorama fiesta

I've spent this evening creating a few panorama images from recent vacations in Canada and New York.  Be sure to click on each image to get the full scenic impact that smaller images don't really do justice to.  The post opens with a view of Niagara Falls, followed by a couple of stunning panoramas from the Canadian Rockies.  I've then finished the post with a view of Yosemite Valley.

 

Up close and personal with the U.P.C

George J. Laurer is considered the inventor of U.P.C. or Uniform Product Code, more commonly known as the scanner barcode.  His linear design of fat and thin lines was launched in 1973, adapting an earlier bullseye-shaped design developed by Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland in 1948. Interestingly, none of these inventors successfully commericalised their creation. It took the likes of IBM to transform the barcode into the tool it is today. Although Woodland ultimately joined IBM helping it embed barcodes into the pioneering reaches of the retail trade.

Fast forward two score years and it's  hard to imagine modern commerce without such a ubiquitous symbol. These days you cannot buy a grocery product without a barcode and their use has spread well beyond retail. You'll find barcodes now managing worldwide freight shipping, preserving national archives and protecting sensitive hospital data.  I've even noticed them make an appearance on airport boarding passes and bus tickets.

Why a blog post on barcodes?  For the last two weeks I've been helping Garry plaster barcode stickers on much of his company's inventory. Garry's decided to outsource its warehouse logistics, which in turn requires each stock item to have a unique code.  Frustratingly, most of the stock he acquired lacks this fundamental item.  As a result, we've been forced to individually "touch" tens of thousands of products, adding coded stickers before they can be shifted to a third-party warehouse. It's certainly made for an intensive, but highly accurate, stock take.

I must confess that the focus on barcoding stock has distracted me from serious job hunting.  However, I've had more than one headhunter tell me that the market is unusually quiet.  They feel things are unlikely to pick up until the New Year. I'm now switching my focus to building out my professional network. While it's early days I'm somewhat encouraged by the connections I've started making.

Rockies postscript

As promised a few additional photos from our two-day excursion by train through the Rocky Mountains of Canada.  I've opened the photo with a couple of images from Vancouver, before taking you east with the Rocky Mountaineer's GoldLeaf Class carriage.  That's the Olympic flame from the 2010 Winter Olympics behind my parents.

In between the reflecting lakes is the famous "last spike" memorial.  The stone cairn commemorates the completion of the first trans-continental railway linking Canada's east and west coast.  The new line fulfilled a promise to British Columbia that ultimately encouraged it to join the Canadian Confederation, rather than respond to overtures to join the USA.  The last spike was driven on November 7, 1885.

Finally, a random images of trains and canyons that simply swept into view on every turn.  It really was a breath-takingly scenic journey.

Canada in pictures

We took literally thousands of photos during our Canada vacation. Here's a few that didn't made it into earlier blog posts. Enjoy!

The post opens with a wonderful shot of Mum and Dad in Manhattan as we were about to board our helicopter flight in perfect flying weather.  You can then see my parents in the helicopter waiting to take off.  The yellow objects are life vests that we'd have to pull over our heads in an emergency. 

Below are photos from Niagara Falls including a wonderful shot of my parents standing at the edge of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.  Dad thought these were by far the best of the three falls that make up the Falls area. I couldn't agree more which is why we made it our first stop of the day.

The next three photos were taken in Vancouver at the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which includes a fascinating tree-top walkway. Can you spot my father in the second image?

Here's Mum dropping in for a quick coffee with the Canadian Suffragettes in Ottawa. Sadly, her extra large Long Black was made entirely of bronze.

Marman, the sculpture that dominates the plaza outside the National Gallery in Ottawa makes for a great image no matter which angle you choose.  Sadly, we were a week too early to see the best of the autumn colours in the Thousand Islands, but do revisit these fantastic autumn images we captured in Ottawa.

Liberty Enlightening the World is the perfect model. She never moves and her pose is always consistent.

Here's the George Washington Bridge; a real highlight of our Manhattan helicopter tour, followed by Central Park from the north and a classic view of the island's wall of skyscrapers.

The 9/11 memorial was a sobering reminder of the tradegy that enveloped the city eleven years ago.  I was suprised how closely my photos resembled artist impressions that were published when the design was first announced.  As you can see in the middle photo, the memorial includes the name of every person who died on 9/11, along with those killed in the 1993 bombing of the North Tower.  Ladder 24 was a fire house whose men responded to burning South Tower.

Stay tuned for more images from our Rocky Mountain train journey. Some of the images are breath-taking.

All duties completed

My tour guide duties have officially ended. Thirty minutes ago my parent's flight departed Toronto airport bound for Vancouver. Poor Dad looks totally exhausted but he swears he's had a wonderful vacation.

It's certainly been a special time for everyone.  I'm thrilled it's all gone to plan and ultimately exceeded expectations all round.  My parents loved the itinerary I pulled together for them.  The weather has also played it part. We've enjoyed daily sunshine with only two rainy day, both of which had indoor itineraries scheduled. To be honest I'm astonished that the activity I planned consistently delivered memorable highlights every day. Nothing proved a dud choice.

I'm now monitoring their flight's progress using an app on my iPhone called Flight Aware. It literally shows the plane's progress in real time, including any route changes mid flight. For example, I know that they've just changed altitude and are currently cruising at 37,500 feet over Lake Michigan. It's astonishing what you can do via the internet these days.

As for me, my flight to Los Angeles departs about 90 minutes from now. I've also heard overnight that my seat from Los Angeles to Sydney was upgraded to business class. A lie-flat bed will be the perfect way to rest and recover after an intensive tour guide gig.

UPDATE: September 30
We've all arrived safely home.  My brother tells me my Dad is in good spirits and full of stories about his adventures in Canada.

A trip down memory lane (aka Interstate 81)

In July 1983 I travelled to the United States of America to spend a year as an exchange student. For almost 12 months I lived with a regular middle-class family in the city of Syracuse. It's a small regional city located in upstate New York, about 6.5 hours north of New York City itself. The experience was life-changing.  My mother has often said I left New Zealand as a boy and returned home as a young man.

Since 1984 I've returned just once to see my teenage hometown.  I made a weekend excursion to Syracuse in early 2001 courtesy of the then-recently launched budget airline, JetBlue. Today I returned for a second visit, this time my parents came along for the ride. It seemed the obvious thing to do while we were staying in Gananoque, Ontario. Syracuse lies only 110 miles south of the border, an easy drive straight down Interstate 81.

We began our day with a brief stop at the Skydeck on Hill Island, one of the 1800 islands that give the Thousand Island region its name.  The Skydeck is an observation tower, a mere 500 metres from the Canadian border, that offers spectacular views of this incredibly scenic location. My parents loved the vista, as did I. The tour guide that escorted us was even able to help Mum spot a distant freighter traveling through the St Lawrence Seaway towards Lake Ontario.

We then crossed the border into the USA. The crossing was quick and easy with only a few cursory questions about our intentions before we were on our way.  Two hours later we found ourselves wrestling with a confusing maze of freeways that encircle Syracuse. As my navigator, Mum's had to learn how to use software maps on a tablet computer in real-time.

I made our first stop the Fairmont Mall, one of my favourite teenage haunts, before heading across the parking lot to Wegmans Supermarket to buy lunch. The supermarket was just as I remembered it.  For a young man from a small country town in New Zealand, its mind-blogging array of groceries and fresh food was an awe-inspiring testament to the power of American capitalism.

It was then on to the quiet, leafy suburbs of Westvale where my host family once lived. They've long since relocated but remarkably their house is still there, looking just as it did almost thirty years ago. As we sat looking at the home I surprised my parents with an album of photos depicting the exact same view. My mother was delighted as you can see from the photo that opens this post.

Perhaps the most memorable incident of the day occurred when I inadvertently missed a stop sign in Westvale. Within seconds of gliding through the empty intersection, I had blue and red lights flashing in my rear vision mirror. The local sheriff pulled me over and we had a brief road safety discussion before the conversation turned to my life as an exchange student. He sent us on our way with a quiet warning.  Mum later wished she'd had the forethought to ask the sheriff for a quick photo opportunity.

As you can see, we stopped outside my old home for a quick photo shoot. I'm sure that had the neighbours scratching their heads.  We then continued on to my old high school before venturing across town to see the Carrier Dome.  The dome is an indoor stadium that seats 55,000 people. I'd once watched a thrilling college basketball game here and our high school played a regional football championship in its empty confines.

Dad was keen to see downtown.  So our last excursion for the day was a brief tour through the city's civic centre. Unlike cities in Europe and Australia, Syracuse lacks a cohesive central business district and so the heart of downtown is rather soulless.  However, I did my best to show Dad some highlights I recalled from my teenage years. A final stop outside Founder's Park for a few quick photos completed our trip down memory lane.

Today was also our last full day in Canada (and the USA). Tomorrow we drive 300 km to Toronto to catch our respective flights back to New Zealand and Australia. It's been an incredible vacation, one that's exceeded my parent's wildest dreams. We'll return home with more wonderful memories and my father's bucket list is all but complete.

Boldt Castle

Today we spent an afternoon cruising the picturesque Thousand Islands of the St Lawrence River. It's a fascinating area where the rich and famous spend summer relaxing in glamous cottages on their own private island. Our cruise lasted four hours, including a two hour excursion to Heart Island, home of the stunning Boldt Castle.

The castle is an incomplete holiday home (or mammoth cottage as its owner once described it) built by George Boldt, a former owner of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. He commissioned its construction as a gift to his wife Louise.

In 1905, after four years of labour at a cost of 2.5 million dollars, the home was nearing completion when tradegy struck. Louise died suddenly and heart-broken George was too grief stricken to continue its construction. For almost 70 years the castle lay derilict until it was given to the nearby bridge authority who've since lovingly restored it.

While Boldt Castle is impressive, its not the only breath-taking summer house in the area. Our cruise took us past island after island loaded with beautiful, oplulent homes. Each had its own manicured lawn and the family boat house was often as stunning as the homestead it serviced. Some of the islands are so small that the accompanying summer house effectively swallows the entire island. It's quite remarkable what money can buy!

Perhaps the best highlight today was the weather. Last night's forecast predicted thunderstorms and showers for this afternoon. Instead we enjoyed increasing bouts of sunshine which made for a perfect day on the water. Unfortunately the autumn colours haven't peaked yet so the magical experience I'd originally planned wasn't to be.

However, during the initial drive south from Ottawa we did start to see some spectacular reds, oranges and yellows. Mum devoted her travel time to some impromptu photography training, snapping furiously at every splash of autumn foliage we passed. She was determined to capture as much of the colourful spectacle as possible.