The terrain around Bristol is pretty undulating. Houses are built up the sides of hills on streets that are rather steep. However, the buildings up in the Clifton area of town seem to have made better use of the land than might have seemed likely. From low down beneath them, they seem awfully precarious but, since they have been there for well over 100 years, I guess they are reasonable solid. The road in front of some of the buildings clearly seems to have been built up from very little with the arches supporting the roadway built on to the cliffs. It all looks rather dramatic. I suspect if you are up there, you are not as aware of what is beneath you but you will have little doubt of the vantage point you have looking across the surrounding countryside!
Another Delta A350 – This One From TAM
Delta acquired a bunch of A350s when airlines were disposing of them and they have progressively been heading from storage at Victorville to Singapore for reconfiguration. I have posted about these already with a couple of LATAM jets having come through. The most recent one I saw was actually an ex-TAM aircraft. Again, not the best of conditions for shooting its arrival but it was still fun to see something you would normally never see at SEA. It was a bit damp so there was a little vapor over the wings which was nice. Next time I see it, it will be indistinguishable from the other Delta A350s.
Sea Lions Off Fort Casey
I was strolling along the ridge above the beach at Fort Casey when a group of people ahead of me called out to each other about some sea lions off the shore. Sure enough, there they were when I got to the edge and I could see three of them swimming around. Looked like a male and two females from a distance. I was heading down to the beach anyway so wondered if they would still be around when I got down there.
It turned out that they were not moving too far, and they were close to the shore as I walked by. The sun was almost directly behind them, so it wasn’t an ideal time to be watching the wildlife, but I sometimes found myself offset enough to get a glimpse of them. Of course, when you are close to sea level, your ability to track them and get good shots is a bit limited but still worth a go.
United’s Oldest A320 Heads West
I was reading a couple of articles that were discussing old jets getting retired. The original MD-11 was retired by FedEx and, when I checked my catalog, I didn’t have any shots of it. United has retired its oldest A320 so I looked for that one too. Turns out I did shoot it once. It was arriving at O’Hare and was painted in the colors of Ted – United’s short-lived low-cost airline. I guess the jet lasted longer than Ted did!
Birmingham Trams
The tram system in Birmingham was built after I had last been there. We were staying in the center of the city so I didn’t need to use it to get anywhere but our route from the hotel to the evening’s entertainment took as past some of the route. I noted this for the following morning when I took a little stroll around the city which was much quieter on a Sunday morning than it had been on a Saturday night. The tram service was clearly less frequent too. However, I did see some of them come through and wasn’t going to miss a quick shot while I was at it!
Floatplanes Since I’m In Vancouver Anyway!
Our November visit to Vancouver was about us doing some fun stuff with friends and enjoying what a great city has to offer. However, when staying so close to the waterfront, it was improbable that I wouldn’t spend a little time watching the floatplane operations. Even non-enthusiasts find the floatplanes enjoyable to watch so I am not standing out too much here. The weather wasn’t ideal and the early evenings meant flying would be curtailed before it got too dark but I was happy to get a little bit of flying to watch as part of my weekend away!
Who’s Attacking Who?
There are plenty of great blue herons that hang out in Juanita Bay. While they are quite calm most of the time, they do get a little aggravated if they intrude on each other’s turf. If one flies close to another, a little spat will ensue. What is hard to tell is who is the one that is the aggressor and who is the one on the receiving end. A pair of them ended up circling and wheeling around over the water one evening. I wasn’t entirely sure how it had started but they were coming around on each other repeatedly. Eventually they went in different directions and it was all over. I’m not sure if either of them ended up in the space that they were fighting over!
One Flying Magister
The selection of Magisters at California City was the subject of a previous post. The day continued to improve, though, as a bunch of people showed up to take one of the planes flying. They had come from France and had a crew of people both helping launch and also filming them in the process. We were allowed to hang out close by to watch them go. This did mean having to deal with the intense noise from the tiny turbojets that power the plane.
I shot both stills and video and we were able to get out close by the runway. The video of the launch preparations was fun, but I wanted stills of the jet airborne, so I focused on getting those instead. The Magister is a great looking little jet and, I imagine it is a bunch of fun to have some that are airworthy. I imagine that, as warbirds go, it is probably one of the more affordable ones!
Brandon Park
Our day in Bristol had a rough plan but not a terribly fixed itinerary. I did want to check out Brandon Park since it appeared to have a nice view over the rest of the city. That proved to be the case but that was because of the sizable hill climb involved in getting there. At the end of our walk, this was a bit of an effort but it was worth it. The park has a commanding position above the harbor and it provided a relaxing spot in the middle of the city (if you ignore the exertion to get there).
It has Cabot Tower at the top but that will have its own post. In the surrounding areas, there are some gardens laid out with water features which caught me quite by surprise. I wasn’t expecting something so structured up at the top of the hill and was very taken with how nice it was. It was not the best of weather when we were there but I imagine on a sunny afternoon, the place would be heaving with people taking it easy.
Alaska’s A320s Are Gone
Alaska Airlines never wanted the Airbus fleet that it inherited when it bought Virgin America. They did operate them for a long time and they did get repainted in Alaska colors but first the A319s were withdrawn and now the A320s are gone. The A321neos will follow before long but here is a sample of the A320s that are now consigned to history.






















