Travel – Page 30 – Geeky Girl Engineer

My First Trip to Brooklyn

Posted on June 5, 2013 by geek

I’ve been to New York City numerous times, but for as many times as I’ve been, I’ve never ventured outside of Manhattan. My guess is I’m not the only tourist who has done this. On this past trip, I decided I need to explore a bit of Brooklyn, partially because I wanted to go to the New York Transit Museum. Brooklyn is huge, so I couldn’t see everything, but I walked around a bit of downtown, Brooklyn Heights, and DUMBO. Downtown Brooklyn has some nice office and municipal buildings and a nice little park.

Brooklyn Borough Hall

Cadman Plaza Park

Then I walked to the Brooklyn Promenade, which is just a lovely elevated park-like walk area with spectacular views of Upper New York Bay, downtown Manhattan, and the East River.

Brooklyn Promenade

view of downtown Manhattan from Brooklyn Promenade

view of Statue of Liberty from Brooklyn Promenade

view of East River from Brooklyn Promenade

Then I walked to the area around the Brooklyn Bridge tower.

Underneath the Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan Bridge as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park

I then walked to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). It has a nice waterfront area as well as some neat shops. Also, it has hipsters.

Manhattan Bridge Arch

Finally I walked around Brooklyn Heights. It is a lovely area with classic tree lined streets of row houses.

Brooklyn Heights

Those are the highlights of my first trip to Brooklyn. There is still more to explore. I shall return someday.

Central Park Turtle Who Loves Being Photographed

Posted on June 2, 2013 by geek

Wandering through Central Park yesterday, I encountered this turtle. He was in the grass right off of the Turtle Pond within a foot of the fencing to protect either the grass or wildlife or both. He totally wanted his photo taken. He just sat there while people walked by and would helpfully turn his head a bit so that everyone could get his best side. Really though he was so cute, he had no worst side. Then when he had had his paparazzi fix, he walked slowly back to the water, knowledgable that at least one photographer (me) would post his photos in a blog post and at least two photographers (my sister and me) would post his photo to Twitter. Life is good when you are a turtle in Central Park.

My questions for the Internet are: Can anyone identify for me what type of turtle this is? And what is that thing beneath his mouth that kind of looks like a tongue?

Update: I’ve had a suggestion that it is red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), which appears to be correct based on photos and NYC Central Park’s website. Still not sure what the thing below his mouth is.

NY Transit Museum

Posted on June 2, 2013 by geek

As should be completely obvious from the name of this site, I am in fact a geek. Specifically, I am a geek about about all things science and engineering. I visited the New York Transit Museum on my most recent trip to New York City, and I loved it. I can see how if you are not a geek or into mass transit, you might not enjoy it. The museum is housed, quite fittingly, in an abandoned subway station in Brooklyn.

The museum starts with exhibits on how the subway tunnels were built. It does a really good job of portraying the amazing work and hardships the workers endured and how they had to fight for the pay they deserved. We now have modern tools, tunnel boring machines, and much stricter safety standards. They for the most part had picks, wood, concrete, and brute strength. It has some exhibits of the tools used including surveying tools. I took surveying in college, so I went into geek mode when I saw the below exhibit. I used a transit in surveying, but it was a more modern one. [Modern surveying is done with a theodolite, but you have to learn the basics first with a chain, transit, and plumb.] Next to the transit in the photo is a linked chain. It is labeled as a surveying chain. Personally, I think they should label it more properly and specifically as Gunter’s chain, which by the way is 66 feet long, and the tool by which much of United States and other countries were originally surveyed. I had never actually seen a Gunter’s chain before, so I enjoyed seeing one. In surveying I learn to throw a chain and survey with a “modern” chain, which is a steel tape type chain.

It has exhibits on how the subways are powered, including information on electricity generation and transmission.

It has a history of mass transit in New York City, including the various forms of mass transit starting with horses. It also has exhibits on buses, and when I was there, it had a special exhibit on the past Miss Subways, which I had no idea had been a thing. They used to have a beauty pageant for everything I guess. As it is housed in an old subway station, on the old station platform, they have several old subway trains from the first models up to modern ones. You can walk through them, which is kind of neat.

Also within the subway platform is, what I think they called, a subway switching tower. It was the control area to watch and regulate where the trains were.

Finally upstairs, they have some exhibits that I am fairly sure you just have to be a geek to love. They have an exhibit of old turnstiles.

Perhaps my favorite, is an exhibit of various subway coin slugs that people have used to try to avoid paying the fare. Some were quite inventive. Some were just hilarious.

That was my visit to the New York Transit Museum. If you love mass transit, or you are a geek, go check it out when in New York.

All Is Fare in Love & Brooklyn

Posted on June 1, 2013 by geek

I saw this building in Brooklyn on the corner of Boerum Place and Livingston. I have no idea what this building’s painting has to do with a Hero Shop, but I rather like it. Is it a path in love or a subway line?

New York’s Highline Park in Bloom

Posted on May 31, 2013 by geek

Last January I visited New York’s Highline Park for the first time. I thought the park was wonderful even in winter when all the plants are dormant. On my next trip to New York, I had to go back. The park is even more beautiful in summer when all the plants are green and flowers are blooming. It is a wonderful oasis above the busy Manhattan streets. Below are a few photos from my most recent trip.

New York’s High Line Park

Posted on January 6, 2013 by geek

New York is a city so dense that they actually created a park elevated above the street. The High Line is a park created on an abandon, historic freight rail line that is elevated above the streets of Manhattan’s west side. The elevated structure was threatened with demolition, but community residents formed the Friends of the High Line and successfully fought for its preservation and transformation into the lovely park it is today. The first part opened in 2009, and a second portion opened in 2011. They are currently working on transforming a third and final section. The entire length of the structure has a paved trail, and there are plants almost the entire length of the trail. There is also public art along the park. The designers did a nice job of preserving the structure and accentuating that the park is built on an historic rail line.

In many places the rail tracks were left in place, and plants were planted in and around them.

It has a lawn area.

It goes under buildings that straddle the old tracks. There is an amphitheater of sorts that allows you to view the street below.

There are seating areas all along the park. This area has some nice lounging chairs.

The lounging chairs are really cool. Some of them are on wheels that roll on the railroad track, although they were locked, so they can’t be moved by the general public.

The benches are nicely designed to look like they have just been lifted out of the ground material.

It even has a movie theater. There is a projector above the seating area on the left of this photo.

At one location, it has a great view of the Statue of Liberty.Zoomed-in photo.Cool street views.

There is public art along the park. This cool installation is on the side of a building and is called Broken Bridge II and is by El Anatsui.

Louisiana Welcome Station

Posted on January 4, 2013 by geek

My recent trip to Louisiana included stopping at the Louisiana welcome station on I-10 at the border with Texas. Like most parts of southern Louisiana, it sits near a swamp and wetlands. It has a nice little trail through part of this swamp, which if you have ever driven on I-10 is a welcome diversion. Below are some photos of my visit there.

Barataria Preserve

Posted on January 3, 2013 by geek

Barataria Preserve in southeastern Louisiana is part of Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve. It is a beautiful area that includes bayous, swamps, marshes, and forests. Below are some of my photos from a recent trip there.

Yellow rumped warbler

New Orleans Above Ground Cemetery

Posted on January 1, 2013 by geek

There is an old joke in New Orleans that you know you are from New Orleans when you worry about your late relatives coming to visit you when it floods. The joke of course being based on the fact that most cemeteries in New Orleans are above ground where human remains are buried in stone crypts and mausoleums. The water table is too high for remains to be buried six feet under. While some of the plots are rather simple, many of the crypts are quite beautiful and ornate. All of these photos were taken at Masonic Cemetery, where many of my relatives are buried. Some more information about and photos of Masonic Cemetery can be found here. Masonic Cemetery has some large tombs that hold numerous people related by professional or social organizations. Such as this large Masonic tomb, which has an usual staircase to its roof.

There is also a tomb for the Red River Pilots.

However most of the tombs are owned by families. They can be quite ornate.

They can also be more simple.

Some of the tombs list the family name on top.

Then list most or all of the family members buried inside.

Others list only the name of the family or of one person buried inside. The one below lists one person buried inside, A.F. Parmalee but the stone vase on top says “Mother”, so probably A.F. Parmalee’s wife is buried inside with him, and their children put the vase their to honor their mother.

Below are a few more photos from the cemetery.

Many of the graves have unintentional greenery.

Finally here is the cat that lives nearby somewhere and escorted me while I toured the cemetery. He was well fed with a collar, so presumably he has appointed himself as an unofficial comfort cat for you to mourn while he gets petted.

Flight from Las Vegas

Posted on December 5, 2012 by geek

The flight path between Las Vegas and southeastern airports such as Dallas passes over some really pretty terrain and landmarks. Flying into Las Vegas I was lucky enough to get some really good photos of the Grand Canyon. For several reasons, on the flight leaving Las Vegas, I did not as good photos of the Grand Canyon, but I did get a few interesting photos. Immediately after taking off, I got some neat photos of the Las Vegas Strip.

Then the Hoover Dam.

This is part of Lake Mead. I am fairly sure it is part of what is called the Grand Wash Bay.

Then a few photos of the Grand Canyon.

Finally this canyon that is east of the Grand Canyon, and I am not sure if it is technically part of the Grand Canyon.