Blog – Page 20 – Steve's Journal

St. Thomas 1983

With the stress of Epcot behind us, we took the opportunity to get away for a fourth anniversary trip to Charlotte Amalie in Saint Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. We flew down, and stayed on the back side of the island in a nice resort. One day we borrowed a car from the resort. That was exciting, because they drive on the left side of the road, but the use American cars. Very odd. Mostly we took cabs. They run on island time, so the driver stops and picks up friends as he drives you.

st thomas 83 2
The view from our villa at Point Pleasant.

stthomas83l
ditto

stthomas83b
This parrot attacked my camera lens at lunch!

stthomas83l2
Linda relaxing after the parrot incident.

stthomas83s
The wine shop in Charlotte Amalie.

stthomas83l3
ditto.

st thomas 83 1
Mmmm. Cruzan rum. $1.99 a bottle.

Morocco 1983

In 1983, with the frantic pace of Epcot’s opening behind us, we visited Morocco, on a Disney-sponsored tour. It was exotic, exciting, and tiring. A great experience, but it was nice to get home!

We were met at the Casablanca/Rabat Airport byour guide, who called himself “Missouri”. I think he assumed that none of us could pronounce his real name. He was probably right.

Francie Owen (Walt Disney World), Linda (Walt Disney Imagineering), Glenn (Birket Engineering), and I, touring the ruins in Rabat. This was the first day of our trip, and we had been awake for over 24 hours at this point.

A “Souk” or marketplace, in Meknes, on the way to Fez.

The dentist’s booth had a lot of clients. They let him keep the teeth.

One of my favorite pictures of Linda, outside one of the king’s many palaces, high in the Atlas Mountains.

Glenn, Francie, Linda and Steve, in the mountains.

Missouri, at the Roman ruins of Volubilis.

The entrance to the “Medina”, or old city, in Fez.

Inside the Medina. Hang onto your wallet.

The butcher. What he doesn’t use goes to….

The Tannery. What a memorable smell: animal hides and horse urine. Only half the tour group made it through.

Linda and Glenn Birket in front of another of the king’s palaces.

A colorful wall in the desert near Marrakech.

What?!! Pigeon again?!! The four of us soon split from the tour group at dinner times, and sought out the best French restaurant in each town.

Linda checks out the native mode of transportation in Marrakech.

Bryce, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon 1980

In December 1980 we took a driving trip throughout the western United States, visiting Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce, Lake Powell, and the Grand Canyon. Linda drove her faithful RX-3 station wagon, while I took photographs. We enjoyed the brisk weather, and the solitude afforded by the nearly empty National Parks.

Utah 1980
Linda’s venerable RX-3 Station Wagon, somewhere in Utah. This picture was taken shortly after we learned what “black ice” was, and we were probably stopped to change our underwear.

Not US89 1980
Yup. This is definitely NOT US-89.

Bryce 1980
Bryce Canyon. We stayed at a colorful place called “Ruby’s Inn”. I’ll never forget the mattress. We finally put it on the floor.

Lake Powell 1980
Lake Powell. It was like glass.

Col River Linda 1980
Sunbathing along the Colorado River. I suggested a bikini, but she was worried about snow.

Col River Steve 1980
This canyon gets much deeper, downstream.

GC Linda 1980
Grand Canyon. Linda held this tree up for a while…

GC Steve 1980
…then I took over.

gc 80
Dangerous to overlook this overlook.

GC Car 1980
We stayed at the El Tovar, and it snowed the night before we left. This was cute until we couldn’t get the car started.

Yosemite WEDI Trips 1980-2000

Shortly after joining WED (now Walt Disney Imagineering) Linda began organizing a nearly annual trip to Yosemite for the members of the Electronic Engineering department. The trip was soon dubbed The Return of the WEDI, and her organizing efforts dubbed Alcorn Tours (for which she received a commemorative plaque on the tenth anniversary). This tradition continued for two decades, and we also went a few other places along the way.

tentcabins1980
1980, the first of two years in the tent cabins at Camp Curry before we graduated to the Yosemite Lodge as people started to earn more money!

Yosemite 1980
1980

Campfire near Yosemite Falls 1981

Dave Barnett, 1981

linda88
Chris and Linda

Phil 1986

Ira 1981

John Noonan 1981

1983 — we missed 1982 because of Epcot

yosemite 83 1983

1985

For a change of pace, we went to Tuolumne meadows in 1986. Our trip was on the first weekend of the summer that it opened, and it was still cold. The tent cabin were nicer than at Camp Curry, and everyone had a great time in the high country.

1988

Martin 1988

1988

Chris break dancing

Linda, Glenn and Chris designing Epic Stunt Theater (Indiana Jones) at Yosemite Lodge, 1988. Work never stops.

1989 at the Ahwahnee

WEDI 90 Group
1990

WEDI Dome 1990
1990

1990 Lina is pregnant

1990 baby shower at Yosemite Lodge

October 1, 1992 at Epcot for the 10th anniversary

1992 at our house

1994

In 1996 we went to the Grand Canyon and stayed at the El Tovar.

We had a really cool room called the Mary Coulter Library, with a huge porch that looked out over the canyon.

In 1999 the group went to San Francisco

1999

2000, accommodations upgraded to the Ahwahnee

2000

2000, Glenn and Felisha

2000, cameras getting a lot smaller

San Diego 1979

In 1979 we also went to San Diego together for the first time, visiting the Zoo, SeaWorld, Old Town and Wild Animal Park. OK, so there are a lot of pictures of petting zoos here. We like em, OK?

SD Zoo Linda
San Diego Zoo.

SD Zoo Steve
San Diego Zoo.

SD Zoo 2 Linda
San Diego Zoo (non-permanent resident).

Vacation Village Linda
Vacation Village Resort, on an island in Mission Bay. We ended up at this lovely spot after checking into our motel and discovering it to be a dump. When we looked in the room’s phone book for a better place (you remember phone books, right?) the accommodations pages were almost worn out from all the previous guests who had the same idea!

Vacation Village Steve
Vacation Village Resort, on an island in Mission Bay.

SD Animal Park 1
San Diego Wild Animal Park.

SD Animal Park 2
San Diego Wild Animal Park.

SD Animal Park 3
San Diego Wild Animal Park. You’ve got to admit, he’s kinda cute. The deer’s OK, too.

SD Animal Park 4
San Diego Wild Animal Park.

SD Animal Park 5
San Diego Wild Animal Park.

SD Animal Park 6
San Diego Wild Animal Park.

So what did we learn from this post? Zoos are filled with wild animals that look just like goats.

Washington DC 1979

Capitol 1979
In April, 1979 we made our first trip to Washington, D.C. for a friend’s wedding.

Smithsonian 1979
The Smithsonian.

Air and Space 1979
Air and Space Museum.

Bubble Chamber 1979
Bubble Chamber at the Smithsonian.

Cyclotron 1979
Cyclotron at the Smithsonian.

Eniac or some other equally old computer at the Smithsonian.

First Anniversary in San Francisco 1979

On our first anniversary, March, 1979, we returned to the city of our honeymoon, San Francisco.

St. Francis 1 1979
Admiring the view from the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco.

St. Francis 2 1979
ditto

St. Francis 3 1979
ditto

Alcatrax 2 3-15-79
Alcatraz from near Fisherman’s Warf, same trip.

Alcatraz 1 3-25-79
ditto

Ghirardelli 1 1979 Ghirardelli Square, same trip.

Ghirardelli 3 1979
ditto

Ghirardelli 2 1979
ditto

Honeymoon 1978

Linda and I were married March 25, 1978. That night we flew to San Francisco and spent several days at the St. Francis hotel, then flew and drove to Yosemite for the rest of the week.

The St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, March 25, 1978.

We call this “Honeymoon Myopia”. In the rush to leave L.A., Linda forgot her glasses. After the long wedding day, her contact lenses were bothering her, so we went “sightseeing” the day after our wedding with me playing seeing-eye dog. Here she is on the Balclutha, peering at the informational plaque.

Balclutha Linda
Aboard the Balclutha.

Balclutha Steve
Well, at least she got the camera pointed in almost the right direction.

We never got around to the Champagne on our wedding night. This is the day after, and we’re about to polish it off while watching “The Wizard of Oz” on TV. Really.