The Traveling Squid: A Mini-Odyssey
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The Journal of the Traveling Squid Gets Lost
So today I took the Journal of the Traveling Squid out for a ramble. Predictably, even with my trusty GPS and Prius (the old, reliable kind, sigh) I got lost. Let me share with you the wanderings of Odysseus the Traveling Squid through some fun photos I snapped that day. Just for a change, our giant squid is going up, not sideways!
This page is a bit random, but then, that's what "polytropos" means. Say what? Oh yeah, it's ancient Greek. I'll explain below. But first, a random fun video. I give you...a GIANT SQUID!
The Journal of the Traveling Squid visits "Giant Squids," Squidoo members with 50 or more great lenses who have applied for Squidoo Giant Squid status. Want to learn how to become one? Check out this cool downloadable checklist from the Giant Squid Organizers: 50 Tips for Becoming a Giant Squid. Even if you're already a Giant, it's got great tips for Squidoo success!
A Real Traveling Giant Squid - The Humbolt Squid
This Is What a REAL Giant Squid Looks Like
Have You Received the Journal of the Traveling Squid?
Inquiring Squids want to know!
Where Do We Want to Go Today?
In Orange County, CA
Orange County, home of Angels, anteaters, and a giant mouse. What to do, what to do?Disneyland? I think they charge you $14 just to sneeze at the parking lot.
Middle-Earth? Alas, nobody's thought to put up a Middle-earth sign for a photo op.
The beach? Yes, the beach! This is California! I'll take you to my favorite beach.
And the balloon. What balloon? The Orange County Great Park Balloon, a giant flying orange.
In Search of the Great Park Balloon
Orange County, CA
El Toro MCAS was the home of trusty Captain Steven Hiller, played by Will Smith, in Independence Day. In that movie, aliens destroyed the base.In fact, it was peacefully decommissioned in 1999. After a lot of backroom deals and an attempt to jam yet another commercial airport into an airspace with 4 other international airports and several smaller ones, the city of Irvine began converting the old base into a 21st-century Orange County Great Park twice the size of New York's Central Park, with hiking trails and a restored canyon, an aviation museum, a veterans' memorial, sports facilities, picnic areas, orchards, concerts, festivals, and a balloon ride -- all of it free and solar powered.
They've just started the work, but there's an ice skating rink in the winter, a concert series, a fall pumpkin festival, weekly movies shown on a drive-through screen (Half-Blood Prince this week), and of course the balloon. I see it driving home. Unfortunately, the entrance to the Great Park is in the middle of the 5 / 405 freeway spaghetti bowl. Since the park is fairly new, my car's GPS was a little confused -- and so was I.So I got there at 3PM, just as they were shutting down the balloon rides for the afternoon winds. But not to worry! It opens again 7-10PM.
At left, the Giant Squid T-Shirt waits for a ride.
Corona Del Mar, CA
"The Crown of the Sea"
Okay, forget the balloon for a bit. Let's go to the beach!
Corona Del Mar, CA, is just southwest of the more well-known and surfable Newport Beach. But I love Corona Del Mar. It has two beaches at the base of high bluffs. You've seen the larger beach before as the site of my Amazing Nessie Photo and my Lensmaster Photo.
The larger beach is your typical sandy beach -- volleyball nets, fire rings for BBQ, boogie boarders, doggies, joggers, walkers. The smaller beach, "Little Corona," has weird rock formations and a natural stone arch out in the water.
Today was gray and overcast -- we call it "June gloom," a low haze from the ocean that thins as you drive inland. So, after snapping a photo of our Traveling Squid T-shirt, I sat down on the bluffs of Little Corona to sketch.
A homeless man immediately came over to me, deciding he needed teach me how to draw mushrooms. So I got a free art lesson, and was reminded of how lucky I was to have the leisure to take a T-shirt around (unworn, new), taking photos (with a camera, which costs money) driving my own car.
After that sobering adventure, I settled down again to sketch. Sort of. I'm not the greatest artist. It was lovely listening to the waves, though, and the gulls would fly by along the cliff-tops where I was sitting. I saw a dolphin out beyond the buoys! In the distance, I could hear sea lions barking. At one point, a string of brown pelicans winged past, looking like pterodactyls.
There were people hiking up and down to the beach, climbing on the rocks, a few brave souls boogie boarding (it's pretty cold). There were a couple beach umbrellas up even without the sun.
Here's the picture I doodled in the Journal of the Traveling Squid.
Video: Great Park Balloon Ride
From the Ground, and What It Looks Like While Riding
When you register, you receive an electronic pager like the coasters used in busy restaurants, so you can explore while waiting for your ride.
The winds started picking up at 7:30. Would I make it before they had to reel the balloon in and park it for the night?
Here's a video someone else took of the balloon going up. The noise is construction.
Great Park Balloon Ride: My Photo Gallery
Hey Look, It's Squidoo Orange!
Register for your free ride here. Get here at 6 for 7PM ride -- it fills up fast! In the foreground is a timeline of El Toro Air Base's history, painted on the old runway.
The Giant Flying Squid in the Sky
What's Orange, Has Ten Legs, and Flies Four Hundred Feet Up?
This concludes your flight. Please keep all tentacles and pseudopodia inside the balloon until it comes to a complete stop.
The Giant Squid's Odyssey
The Opening of Homer's Odyssey, Squidoo Edition
“Tell me, Muse, of the Squid of Many Turnings, who wandered
exceedingly many places, after she had obtained a month's full wages:
And she saw the cities of many men, and came to know [their] minds."
OC Great Park Balloon
The REAL Travaling Squid: Humbolt Squid
Sea Monster Traveling Right Off the Coast Where I Live!
Featured Lenses: Go Here Next!
Squids: Ink a Comment!
Guestbook
I hope you enjoyed the wanderings of the Traveling Squid. Now it's onto the next intrepid explorer!
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aj2008
Aug 14, 2010 @ 1:16 pm | delete
- So lovely to share your Journal of the Travelling Squid Oddysey with you - I never made a lens about my Travelling Squid Experience but may be I should :)
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Heather426
Aug 4, 2010 @ 9:38 pm | delete
- Well I have received the travelling squid and will attempt to show it a good time up here North of L.A. in Canyon Country...
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Greekgeek
Aug 5, 2010 @ 12:53 am | delete
- Sorry it took me so long to get it up to you! Whoever it was that nominated this lens for a purple star should've held it ransom until I got my silly Squid butt organized. But now it's in good hands. Enjoy! I look forward to hearing where it ends up next.
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CreativeArtist Jul 20, 2010 @ 11:51 pm | delete
- I've wondered about the Traveling Squid T-Shirt from time to time; it was so fun reading this update about its journey and Orange Balloon Adventure! : ) I hope I do it as much justice whenever it comes to my part of the world.
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Wednesday_Elf
Jul 19, 2010 @ 3:23 pm | delete
- Such fun to see a touch of California with you and the "Traveling Squid", and enjoyed your adventures! Loved the picture of Corona Del Mar, CA - I lived for 7 years on the Central California Coast outside San Luis Obispo and the 'beach' at Cambria, a short way up the coast from where I lived, looks a great deal like your 'little' Corona, with weird rock formations, including one that looks just like a stone chair, complete with 'arms'. I miss the Pacific Ocean!
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by Greekgeek
Storyteller, fomer Latin teacher, student of mythology and the ancient world: I've worn many hats, but always I've dabbled in computers and the web.
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