This morning my Meetup group met at Mission Trails Park to hike North and South Fortuna mountains. We took a new route to the summit of North Fortuna.

Then continued to South Fortuna via the saddle trail.

Before returning to the trailhead.

Flora

I joined a Meetup group to hike in Tecolote Canyon today. We met at the Nature Center.

Our trail connected to Mesa College’s Sri Chinmoy Peace Trail.

We returned to the Nature Center, stopping to try out the swing and taking Battle Trail (named for a benefactor).

Flora and fauna.

I joined two cousins for breakfast and since they hadn’t seen the Pandas, we went to the zoo. Xin Bao spent the day at the rear of her enclosure. Yun Chuan was active in the morning but napping in the afternoon.

We had panda tickets but the standby line was empty all day, so we just walked in.

My cousins had seen enough by 1:00, but I stayed to see more of the park and make two more visits to the pandas.

The San Diego Zoo is also an accredited botanical garden with over 3100 species in their collection, including the Piet Retief Cycad which is endangered.

One of my favorite routes takes me through the neighborhood,

along the north shore of Mission Bay,

down the Pacific Beach Boardwalk,

and back along the south shore of Mission Bay.

After lunch today I walked around De Anza Cove and through the former De Anza Point mobile home park. Their lease wasn’t renewed because of land-use issues and after years of litigation they were evicted. Part of the property was leased to Campland by the Bay and the rest is supposed to be wetlands or public park.

This morning we met at the Star of India for a walk along the Embarcadero followed by lunch.

After lunch I toured part of the Midway.

I met Frontrunners for another walk in Kendall Yards this morning.

Then I visited Waikiki Springs Wildlife Area and Nature Preserve.

Today was a solo hike in Liberty Lake – about 10 minutes from the house. Great scenery and views and, if you don’t count the yeti, just me on the trail!

We drove to Newman Lake to hike the Turtle Rock and Bedrock Ridge Loop. It was a beautiful day and we had the trail pretty much to our selves.

We had great views from Turtle Rock.

Today’s hike was with Meetup on one of the trails in the 275 acre Trautman Conservation Area.

Hoping to find some fall color and not wanting to waste a warm day, we hiked to the CCC cabin atop Beauty Mountain in Mount Spokane State Park.

Today’s Frontrunner walk was a hunt for fall colors in Kendall Yards and along a portion of the Centennial Trail.

Today I met a Meetup group at Indian Painted Rock to hike the Knothead Valley Loop.

The trail passes the Little Spokane River.

It was raining when we left the condo at 5:30 for our flight to Frankfurt.

Our flight to Seattle was late and the drug-sniffing dog found the banana I forgot to eat, so we had to go through the agriculture screening. We made our connection but only because our gate was right outside Passport Control and the flight had been delayed. We arrived in Spokane after 22 hours of travel, but the checked bags missed the connection and will be delivered in the morning.

All in all, a great trip!

This was the second day of our Hop On Hop Off bus tour. We hopped on near the harbor (once again under the watchful eye of El Cap de Barcelona – created by Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Olympics) and hopped off at Olympic Port.

After some beachcombing we hopped back on the bus.

The 42-acre Park Güell was was constructed between 1900 and 1914 and was envisioned as a residential community.

The walk to the metro station took us by some interesting buildings including Casa Vicens. Gaudi’s first major project – plans drawn between 1880 and 1883 and construction beginning in 1878.

Gaudi’s Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia was consecrated in 2010. Groundbreaking occurred March 19, 1882. I believe it is 80% complete.

We checked out the west facade.

Then we went up Passion tower. Access is by elevator and a short climb. There are several balconies before, and during, the climb down the spiral staircases.

Gaudi also designed some furniture/accessories.

After lunch and a nap we took a harbor cruise.

The 37th America’s Cup race is going on.

Casa Milà (La Pedrera) was the last private residence designed by Antoni Gaudí. The main floor was occupied by the Milà family and the rest of the building was rental apartments.

Casa Batlló during the day. Saint George is the patron saint of Barcelona. The tiled roof is said to symbolize a dragon’s back, the bottom floors symbolize his lair, and the spire symbolizes St George’s lance.

La Casa de les Punxes (Casa Terrades) was originally three residences for sisters. It was designed by Josef Puig i Cadafalch and construction started in 1905.

Tonight we had dinner on the waterfront.

We had an early transfer to the airport.

We arrived in Barcelona around noon – in time for a bite to eat and a nice nap.

We had dinner at an excellent tapas restaurant and passed Gaudi’s Casa Batlló on our way home.

We sailed for Porto at dawn and enjoyed a relaxing morning on the river.

After lunch we took a city tour.

Then we walked across the upper deck of the Luiz I Bridge.

We walked across and back on the lower deck before heading back to the boat.