Region 4 Conference - Sunday Adventure |
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01. Welcome to Starfleet HeadquartersOn Sunday morning, the intrepid Region 4 Conference 2005 attendees boarded Shuttlepod Two (another charter bus) and headed out for a second day of site-seeing. First stop, the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant and Japanese Garden in Sherman Oaks, site of Starfleet HQ and Academy.
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02. Shields up...scanning...Well, the shield is a lovely Asian parasol, and the scanner is really a digital video camera, but Angeles XO Jennifer Cole was one of nearly twenty Starfleeters taking lots of pictures and video of this beautiful location.
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03. An excellent reason to join StarfleetDressed in her command uniform, Angeles Chief Medical Officer Goldie Frankel relaxes in front of Starfleet Headquarters. This location was used as Starfleet Academy and HQ in episodes of TNG, DS9, and VOY. It was also used as the "planet of the joggers" in the first season TNG episode "Justice".
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04. Déjà vu all over againAngeles members Goldie Frankel and Dave Mason reenact a scene from the TNG episode "The First Duty" where Picard visits his old mentor, Boothby. (Isn't dressing up fun?)
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05. Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home...Sunday mornings are "free strolling" time at the Japanese Garden. Tours are given at other points during the week, but we Angeles folks have taken the tour enough times to act as guides ourselves, which we did for the Region 4 folks who were visiting this wonderful place for the first time.
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06. Greetings from beautiful. Scenery is Starfleet.Or something like that. Just another perfect picture postcard day in Southern California. Jon Lane and Goldie Frankel pose with the Tillman Water Reclamation Building in the distance. All the flora in this lovely Japanese Garden is nourished with recycled water from the reclamation plant next door.
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07. Report to the bridge!This elegant bridge provided another great opportunity to take a scenic group shot. Unfortunately, just as Jon Lane got his trusty tripod set up, a garden security guard came over to tell us that there are no tripods allowed in the garden (we have no idea why). But he was nice enough to take this picture of us himself.
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08. Tea House. Earl Gray. Hot.Actually, the tea house was a traditional Japanese style and had little to do with Earl Gray (more to do with Jasmine). And it wasn't hot. In fact, the weather was a perfect 75 degrees, a reminder of why we love southern California.
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09. Would you like some tea and cookies, dear?The tea house is staffed on Sunday mornings by volunteer seniors who sell iced tea and cookies. They weren't expecting 19 Trekkies to walk through their door, but they were very friendly and happy to see us. And there's nothing quite so gently insistent as a granny offering you tea and cookies.
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10. Boy, Goldie sure is in a lot of these pictures!Well, Angeles member Goldie Frankel was one of the few who came in costume, so she proved to be quite a popular subject for photos. (The tea house grannies and grandpas liked her, too.)
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11. Tea for two...or rather, fourIt's just like a Japanese Ten Forward! Angeles crew folks sit around drinking their Jasmine iced tea and munching on almond cookies. Pictured left-to-right: Jennifer Cole, Janice Willcocks, Goldie Frankel, and Dave Mason.
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13. Even more breath-taking sceneryAfter spending 15 minutes with the grandparents, we continued onward, passing this lovely waterfall featuring recycled water from the Tillman Reclamation Plant. Don't be fooled by the name "recycled"--this water is thoroughly treated and among the cleanest you'll find anywhere in California.
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14. Der Flaptain is no more. Long live Commodore Jon!After five years as a Fleet Captain, Jon Lane received a promotion to Commodore in late September, 2005. While official when it was first announced, the promotion was formally recognized here as Region 4 Coordinator Ed Nowlin pinned a ceremonial rank pip onto Jon's collar.
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14. Pinning Da RearJennifer Cole also received a well-deserved promotion from Commodore to Rear Admiral, and again it was formerly recognized here at Starfleet Headquarters as Admiral Ed Nowlin "pips" Jennifer, too. On the right, Angeles 2nd Officer Jackie Bundy is one of the spectators and holds Jenn's parasol while she gets promoted.
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15. Back on the busShuttlepod Two was piloted by David, who was very patient with his crew complement of Trekkies. We drove from Sherman Oaks north through the San Fernando Valley and into the mountains along the Antelope Freeway (highway 14). After a brief lunch, we arrived at our second destination: Vasquez Rocks State Park.
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16. Look familiar?These distinctive diagonal rocks have been used in countless Star Trek episodes. They're where Kirk fought the Gorn and met Lazarus, where McCoy was an escalator to the pregnant wife of a High Teer, where Picard broke the Prime Directive with a primitive proto-Vulcanoid species, and where the crew of the USS Voyager was marooned by the Kazon (to name but a few).
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17. Trek on the rocksFor some people, this was as high as they went...just a short ten feet or so from the base level of the parking lot. But some intrepid Trekkers went MUCH higher.
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18. I'm the king of the world!Oh, wait...wrong movie. But Max Cervantes and Janice Willcocks enjoyed a little light climbing as they started up the rocks.
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19. I climb, therefore I am...USS Angeles Chief of Communications Dave Mason will go anywhere for a story (he's a reporter in real life). And quite a story was about to unfold right here at Vasquez Rocks. Read on...
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20. The two JonathansJonathan Lane (right) stays at the midway point taking wide-angle and telephoto pictures with his Nikon SLR camera and 28-300mm Tamron lens. Meanwhile, Jonathan Foertsch starts the long climb toward the top with Das Whip in hand.
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21. Who says it's lonely at the top?Actually, it was quite busy at the top. Several Region 4 adventurers hiked all the way to the pinnacle of the highest rocks...one in uniform! (That's Goldie Frankel, by the way. Notice the way her hair is blowing in the wind. That's going to become an important part of the story in a moment.)
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22. Still climbingJanice Willcocks and Max Cervantes didn't get all the way to the top, but they did climb more than half way up. It's quite a steep climb!
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23. The high point of the adventureAs you can see, the top of the rocks is very, very high. If you look at the lower right, you'll see the dirt road that leads down to the parking area. But Andrew Bundy, Ed Nowlin, and Jonathan Foertsch (the three folks in the dark shirts, left-to-right) made it up...and Jonathan even brought along Das Whip.
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24. Something is missing from this photoNotice that Ed Nowlin is not wearing his famous hat. Usually at Region 4 Conferences, Ed's hat is sacrificed and burned in a ritual dating back centuries (or is it just a few years?). But this year, Ed's hat wasn't burned and survived to join him up to the top of Vasquez Rocks. So where is Ed's hat?
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25. Oh, there it is!So here's what happened. The high winds at the summit blew Ed's hat right off his head! Angeles member Goldie Frankel ran to retrieve it, but then realized she needed both her hands to steady herself down the rocks. So she tossed the hat in front of her, thinking it would land close by. Instead, the wind grabbed the hat again and blew it into a hole in the rocks.
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26. A view from the topBefore we continue with the saga of Ed's hat, let's take a moment to appreciate the spectacular (and vertigo-inducing) view from the pinnacle looking down onto the parking lot. You can see the tiny people at the bottom (they look like little ants). It's a looooooong way down...
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27. I'm going down...down...down...downRealizing the peril of the high winds, Jonathan Connor-Foertsch was extremely careful while descending down the rocks with Das Whip firmly in hand. But Das Whip woudn't come out of this unscathed either. Read on...
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28. What are the odds?Murphy's Law--Ed's hat blew into a hole on a sheer rock face...just out of reach. Goldie Frankel tried to climb up to get it but couldn't. Then she took Das Whip and tried to Indiana Jones the hat out of the hole. That only wound up scraping Das Whip's leather and knocking off two badges. The situation was looking hopeless...
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29. Aborting rescue mission...With Der Hat trapped in an inaccessible location and Das Whip needing medical attention, the away team returned to Shuttlepod Two in shame and disgrace. The situation was made even worse when they reached the bottom as Max Cervantes led a chorus of "Ed's hat got stuck on the mountain...to never be seen again!"
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30. But, wait! Stop the Shuttlepod!As we drove away from the rocks, some folks looked out the window and noticed climbers trying to reach Ed's Hat. They had seen the rescue attempt and had gone up with a little more climbing gear. A hastily-assembled away team ran from the bus and up the backside of the rocks. Could it be that Der Hat would be rescued after all?
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31. SUCCESS!!!The climbers managed to rescue both Ed's hat and Das Whip's missing badges. Ed climbed up to get the items and offered the helpful rescuers a bottle of water in appreciation. He also tried to recruit them into Starfleet by giving them the sfi.org URL and promising a commendation!
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32. The returning heroesEd came back with Der Hat in hand, having triumphed over the elements. In previous years, fire had taken his hat from this world. This year, wind and earth had conspired against Ed's hat. But finally, in 2005, neither Earth, Wind, or Fire (or any of their hit songs) could take Der Hat away from Ed. Max now led a victorious chorus of "Ed's hat came down from the mountain..." (And heaven knows what David the bus driver was thinking during all this!)
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33. I promise to never let go of Der Hat again!Goldie Frankel poses with Der Hat back in the hotel suite as we all relaxed. It was an exciting day...full of action, adventure, heartbreak, and ultimately triumph. But the day wasn't over yet. We still had one more Encounter...
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34. Jane! Stop this crazy thing?Ever wonder what that Jetsons-looking thing is in the middle of Los Angeles International Airport? Well, it's an overpriced bar and restaurant with a cheesy science fiction theme (we're talking lava lamps, folks). But Jon Lane, Ed nowlin, Boyd Harmon, Goldie Frankel, Dave Mason, and Jonathan Foertsch walked the ten minutes from the hotel to check out this funky sci-fi location.
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35. Close, but not our kind of EncounterWhile funky, the Encounter isn't all that impressive. The elevators to the restaurant level hold a maximum of five people at a time and play music that make one expect to see a green orion slave girl dancing (1960's style, that is). The view from up top of the airplanes landing is nice, though.
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36. But the bathrooms were quite...um...interestingWe figured we wouldn't be able to describe it, so we snapped a photo of the men's room. It was a good place to boldly go...
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37. And we ended on a hot noteNo, we didn't go see porno! But after relaxing at the hotel, the final Region 4 stragglers all went out to Baby Blues BBQ on Lincoln Blvd...some of the best BBQ in L.A. Using a 20% OFF coupon from the phone book, we ordered plenty (including the awesome mac'n'cheese and an entire key lime pie!). The spicy BBQ sauce was labeled "XXX Porno"...really, really hot.
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38. None for me, thanks!Janice Willcocks politely declines the offer to try the XXX hot sauce. But a few of us did. All in all, we had a great meal to finish off an awesome weekend with wonderful new friends and unforgettable fun! So, how will next year's 2006 Region 4 Conference top it? Hey, after a year of planning this, it's finally no longer our problem!!!!!
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