Eastern Caribbean on the Norway 1989

In 1989 we went for our first Caribbean cruise, on the Norway, Norwegian Cruise Line’s flagship. The Norway was originally built as “The France”, and represented the pinnacle of cruise ship design. Too large to enter the Caribbean ports of call, we used “huge “tenders” to disembark on St. Martin and St. Thomas. We met two charming couples with whom we dined, and enjoyed all of the amenities of the ship. Particularly memorable are the lazy breakfasts on our private balcony.

SS Norway 1
Boarding.

SS Norway 2
Don’t we look relaxed?

SS Norway 3
The Alcorns, the Segars and the Malloys prepare to “put on the nosebag”.

SS Norway 4
Who knows? But it sold them another photograph.

SS Norway 5
Casual night.

SS Norway 6
Formal night.

SS Norway 9
Dancing to Jazz.

SS Norway 10
Dining “royally”. The highlight, as always, was “Hot, hot, , hot”.

St. Augustine 1983, 1997

Linda and I visited St. Augustine in 1983 after Epcot opened.

staug83l

staug83s
Backwards

St. Augustine 1997
And a return trip in the fall of 1997 when our wine group spent a long weekend at “The Whale’s Tail”, a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine. This cannon is mounted on one of the oldest structures in the United States.

Ponce DeLeon
In August 1998 we had a great time at the historic lighthouse at Ponce Inlet, about an hour drive from Orlando.

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.
Weaving in the Casbah of Rabat.
Francie’s first taste of mint tea.
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.
Spice merchant.
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.
Linda, Francie and Glenn at Volubilis.
The entrance to the “Medina”, or old city, in Fez.
Moroccan video arcade.
Inside the Medina. Hang onto your wallet.
Peeking at the tourists.
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.
Selling rugs in Fez.
Linda and Glenn Birket in front of another of the king’s palaces.
A colorful wall in the desert near Marrakech.
Charming Cobras in Marrakech.
Charming Francie in 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%2081
Campfire near Yosemite Falls 1981

dave%2081
Dave Barnett, 1981

linda88
Chris and Linda

open face 86
Phil 1986

ira 81
Ira 1981

noonan 81
John Noonan 1981

WEDI83
1983 — we missed 1982 because of Epcot

yosemite 831983

wedi85
1985

tuolumne group 86
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.

p_v14alp3jyxw0960_g
1988

p_v14alp3jyxw0690
1988

p_v14alp3jyxw0965
1988

p_v14alp3jyxw0967
Martin 1988

p_v14alp3jyxw0971_g1988

chris break dancing
Chris break dancing

WEDI 88 Epic
Linda, Glenn and Chris designing Epic Stunt Theater (Indiana Jones) at Yosemite Lodge, 1988. Work never stops.

wedi 1989
1989 at the Ahwahnee

WEDI 90 Group
1990

WEDI Dome 1990
1990

WEDI Yos XMAS 90
1990 Lina is pregnant

WEDI Shower 2 1990
1990  baby shower at Yosemite Lodge

WEDI Shower 1 1990
1990  baby shower at Yosemite Lodge

WEDI Baby Gift 90
1990  baby shower at Yosemite Lodge

p_v14alp3jyxw0825October 1, 1992 at Epcot for the 10th anniversary

p_v14alp3jyxw0818 1992 at our house

p_v14alp3jyxw08171992 at our house

WEDI l s 1994
1994

p_v14alp3jyxw10051994

p_v14alp3jyxw0743
1994

p_v14alp3jyxw0744 1994

p_v14alp3jyxw0795 1994

p_v14alp3jyxw0844 1994

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

WEDI Party GC 96
We had a really cool room called the Mary Coulter Library, with a huge porch that looked out over the canyon.

wedi alcatraz 1999
In 1999 the group went to San Francisco

cable car 1999
1999

rough water 1999
1999

Blue and Gold 1999
1999

wedi group awahnee 2000 2000, accommodations upgraded to the Ahwahnee

WEDI 2000
2000

vernal steve linda 2 2000 2000

glenn felicia 2000 2000, Glenn and Felisha

LindaSteve 20002000, 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 1979
Eniac or some other equally old computer at the Smithsonian.

 

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.

Ahwahnee 3-30-78 Automatic Human Jukebox   Vernal Steve  Vernal Linda St. Francis 3-25-78   Ahwahnee Porch Golden Gate Park Steve Too Much HoneymoonThe St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, March 25, 1978.

Honeymoon Myopia
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.

Champagne
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.

StFrancis1978-1
StFrancis1978-2
This postcard, with our room circled, was sent by Linda to her Grandmother McBride three days after our wedding.

Golden Gate Park Linda
Golden Gate Park.

Golden Gate Park Steve
Golden Gate Park.

Automatic Human Jukebox
One of the world’s great pan handling scams, “The Human Jukebox”.

Ahwahnee 3-30-78
The Ahwanee Hotel, Yosemite, March 30, 1978.

Ahwahnee Porch
Our room at the Ahwanee had a private porch the size of Rhode Island.

Vernal Linda
Top of Vernal Falls.

Vernal Steve
Top of Vernal Falls.

Too Much Honeymoon
Too much honeymoon.