Toronto Transit shot

Not sure if I’ve posted before about this website but it’s someone who posts a photo a day of Toronto shots. This transit shot is fantastic!

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix for me was a melancholy room at the historic Hotel San Carlos where I camped out with a cold.  Well, that is what was going on with me when I wasn’t at the WTS Chapter Leadership training, which was being held in a different hotel about a half mile away.  That’s right, I got to commute via foot through the desolate, dusty streets of “downtown” Phoenix for two mornings. 

The first night in town I wandered fruitlessy through those empty streets in search of dinner and perhaps a beer.  While I didn’t really find anywhere good to eat I did see some Phoenix sights.  This is supposed to be an artistic interpretation of a desert flower on the ASU campus:

I also got to see the famous “Westward Ho” building.  An old hotel-turned senior housing or something.

This little guy was a treat to come across – seriously.  How often do you get to see a gecko on the sidewalk??

Of course, I took the light rail a bit. This is Phoenix’s relatively new light rail line:

On my last afternoon there I walked about a mile and a half from “downtown” and visited the Phoenix Art Museum.  This was my first solo visit to an art museum (or museum of any kind).  It’s different when it’s just you; it’s just your own thoughts and contemplation.  I was ok with that.  Here are some photos from my art museum experience.

There was a place on one floor with tall windows and big, black, leather chairs.  I sat for some time in those chairs observing the sunny Phoenix afternoon through the glass.

I think this was saved from an old hotel sign (the hotel was destroyed in some tragic catastrophe of some kind).

This is just a frog I really liked.

Me

Parting shot:

That was Phoenix for me.

Toronto Tourist

In Toronto I walked around fairly aimlessly.  I picked a restaurant or a neighborhood and just set out.  I didn’t do any of the touristy stuff like go up in the CN Tower or take the ferry to the islands.  I just walked and ate basically.

On the way to the Distillery historic district I popped into the St. Lawrence Market – it was Sunday and it was the  “Sunday antique market.”  In perusing the items (see the three photos below), I didn’t find much that appealed to me but it was fun to look at everything. 

This is the first time I saw a carving made out of deer antlers – I didn’t buy it.

One of my favorite parts of Toronto was the transit!  They have streetcar and subway!

The streetcar was fun, extensive, and fascinating.  As you can see from the photo below, there are shelters/stops but because the streetcar runs in the center of the street customers have to mosey out into the travel lane to get on it.  I don’t know that such a “hazardous” boarding method would be allowed in the US. 

Here’s what it looked like inside the streetcar:

Extensive! Below is a mix of subway and streetcar but, of the 15 lines shown below 11 are streetcar! It went almost everywhere I wanted to go. 

Here’s a photo of the streetcar in traffic.  You can also see that they have lots of the Vancouver-like glass house development in the background along the lake.

I did take the subway too and enjoyed their version of the “mind the gap” sign:

Toronto also has bike share!  They have the Bixi system but it’s very similar to the Bcycle in Denver.  I didn’t get a chance to ride it but was happy to see it there and saw quite a few people riding it.

Speaking of bikes, there were these bikes all over town that were locked to signs and completely painted (various colors).  It turns out there is a story. Two artists did this to some abandoned bikes but were initially ticketed! The Mayor pardoned them and commissioned art in this form around the city.

Another thing I saw were these plants with imploring messages stationed on top of bike racks near Union Station.

To continue the non-motorized transit nerdiness, the pedestrian signal was a more laid back figure than we have in the states:

Oh, the Canadians…stay tuned for more on Toronto!

Trains and Openness

In my last post I featured two artists that I dug from the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.  Well, you’re in luck! I have two more to share.

Kendra Baird is an artist after my own heart – she has a streetcar painting! I love everything about this – the detail, the warm color, the transit…

In this one there is also a train (obviously) but what I like here is the quiet emptiness that I feel when I look at it.

There are also trees!

And an owl in comforting shades of green:

There was also a photographer that caught my eye – Mark MacKinnon. The openness and simplicity of these two drew me in.

And yet still more to come – stay tuned!

Solo Day in San Francisco

My feet are tired and parts of them are swollen.  I must have walked at least six miles on Friday.  The 2011 WTS International Conference in San Francisco was wrapping up and I had several hours before my flight back to Denver.  From the Embarcadero, I walked to Union Square then up to Nob Hill then through Chinatown to Coit Tower then back through Chinatown to the Hayes Valley district then up Market Street back to the hotel and my luggage. 

It was a solo travel day for me.  I’m still getting used to going to some famous sight or another and just enjoying it with myself.  As a person just out of a looooong-term relationship (that I was in from quite a young age), I’ve always had someone to turn to and say, “wow, isn’t this amazing?” (or whatever the case may be).  Now I just look and take in and move on.  I’m doing ok with this solitary enjoyment of things.  It’s peaceful. 

One thing that you may notice, this singlehood travel deal means there are almost no pictures of me – just pictures of what I see.  I haven’t quite gotten the hang of asking random people to photograph me…

Ok, a tiny bit of nerdy transit stuff - streetcars!

While at the WTS Conference, I took the F-line streetcar mobile tour.  As you may or may not know, San Francisco purchased vintage streetcars from around the world, restored them, and have them in service on their streets.  They are beautiful and are an excellent complement to historic San Francisco.  The is the streetcar vehicle in which we toured:

The interiors are even restored:

The rest of the WTS Conference was filled with technical and professional development sessions, an awards banquet, an opening reception, and so on.  All of these events were made especially fun by the company of my fellow WTS Colorado ladies.

I did have one non-WTS night out!  My friend and co-worker, Pat, put me in touch with two of his friends – Evan and Hassan.  They did an excellent job of entertaining me and took me out in the Mission to do something we all enjoy – beer drinking (and good beer too!).   We went to the Monk’s Kettle and Zeitgeist (self-proclaimed as San Francisco’s #1 beer garden), both cool places.  A sample of the fantastic beer menu at the Monk’s Kettle is below. 

We also went to an historic building/bar at the end of the evening but that place is a bit fuzzy in my memory.  We did, however, get a group photo taken there:

Here are a few of my views from my solo city touring day:

As you can tell from these photos, I was lucky to have nearly perfect weather in San Francisco. 

Rail~Volution 2010

I’ve just returned from Portland and four wonderful days of Rail~Volution, a conference that brings transportation professionals together once a year to “Create a national movement to develop livable communities with transit.”  Two thumbs up to the organizers – it was an excellent event.  I learned a lot and met some good people.  The folks from Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Portland were my favorites (other than the Denver crew that is).

So I’m going to share a few photos from a few jaunts around Portland.

As always, I love the random and sometimes silly stickers and paintings on signs, cars, and walls. Denver seems to be lacking in this area and I know because I’m on the lookout.

This was taped to the greeter stand at Kenny & Zuke’s deli.  I enjoy stick figures and have been pondering the drawing’s origin – a small-breasted (and lop-sided), wild-haired woman throwing the horns with a seemingly complacent dog. It’s amusing.

These three were in various spots:

This is from the back of a Prius, obviously.  I was unusually delighted by it’s lighthearted nature.

There were also some less-random bits of art that I noted – tile work on a wall surrounding a park and a mural:

I ate at some of the food carts near Pioneer Square.  The weather was moist and chilly in the mornings until just after noon and I was drawn to the soup and grilled cheese cart.  The day I visited it was serving a Hungarian mushroom soup and a cheddar, gruyere, and goat cheese grilled cheese. So, so tasty and satisfying.

A few days later, Lacy (a friend and now co-worker) and I got a similar lunch at a food cart on Williams in Northeast Portland.  No food pic, but here’s a photo of the “cart.”

Right across from this cart was a walk-up window for ordering coffee.  It was aptly named a “ped-thru” as opposed to a drive-thru.

On Monday I took a mobile tour by bike of Portland’s green streets and bikeways.  The weather was amazing, the company was great (can’t go wrong with those that want to get on a bike!), and we saw some interesting and innovative stuff.  Near the end we took a break at a park and the tour guides had arranged for coffee and pastries.  The coffee was served by a coffee-by-bike sort of thing – Trailhead Coffee Roasters.  Quite good coffee but I did burn my tongue (user error). 

Walking around Portland in general was such a treat, especially this time of year.  The trees were turning and leaves were falling. We were so impressed by the size of some leaves we got these photos.

We also came across this huge elephant-on-elephant art in one park:

Finally, we rode and ogled at the streetcar:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Portland, I love you.