Return to Index for 1976

On this page, I am going to put those pictures that were either not connected with a particular trip or event, as well as those pictures that were connected with some trip or event for which a separate page was not created- either because the trip was very short or very few pictures were taken.

March

This month, on one of my many trips back to Chicago from San Francisco, I happened to take a couple of interesting pictures.

The Snow-Covered Rocky Mountains

The Rockies West of Denver, CO

In that same month, I happened to be in Chicago one Saturday when I took a picture out my bedroom window looking down to Eugenie Street on the north side of 1660 North LaSalle- the building I live in.

Like many people in Chicago, I just park my car on the street, and you can see it down there- the white Dodge Charger with the black top, the second in the pair of cars on this side of Eugenie. Most times, I can find a space not far away. Incidentally, here is about the same view, courtesy of Google Earth; this view was taken from orbit:

May

I have a penchant for surprising people, and one week in May I got the chance to do so.

During the first week in May, 1976, I was at the State Bank of Albany. While doing that installation, I went to see Dan Tworek, one of the Finance Officers I worked with in Korea six years ago, who lived out in the suburbs of the city.

I actually met Dan the very first day I was in-country, as the Finance Office was having a party at a lake near Camp Howze, where I was stationed.

That's Dan, in 1969, in a copy of one of the pictures from the album pages for that year. He is the dark-haired officer in fatigues standing at left, with the camera. The other American is Warrant Officer Jones, who was an aide to COL Fuentes, the Finance Officer when I arrived. The Korean in the foreground was one of the many civilian workers employed at Camp Howze.

I had kept a roster of the officer corps from the Finance Office, and where they lived in the States, and when I knew I was going to Albany, where Dan was supposed to be living, I looked him up in the phone book, and was pleased to find he was still listed. So after class one afternoon I called his house, and was lucky enough to have his wife answer. I explained who I was and that I wanted to come out and surprise Dan.

She was fine with that, and he was very much surprised. I ended up spending two or three hours at Dan's house, and I took the two pictures below:

Dan Tworek

Dan and His Family

September

One clear evening I tried for some good nighttime photos from my balcony. I can see right away that I am going to need to set up a tripod and hunt for the right combination of camera settings for a really good shot of the lights of downtown Chicago.

Here are two pictures of the way way the apartment's living room looked in September of 1976. both of the plants, incidentally, the one on the table and the large standing plant, are still alive. Unlike most of my plants, these two seem to be immune to any mistreatment I can give them.

This month, I made yet another trip out to San Francisco to work on the EEO System. These two views are from the plane on the way out. Already there is a little snow, but most Fall clouds.

Part of Lake Powell

Mountains and Clouds

One weekend, Greg and I went down the peninsula to the Great America amusement park. Run by Marriott Corp., they are parks with a flat admission charge, and the rides are free. We were like a couple of kids, finishing one ride and running to get in line to go again. The day was devoted to junk food and entertainment.

October

After completing an installation in Florida, I went back to San Francisco. As I said, I am becoming quite familiar with the city (and incidentally with the airline schedules to and from Chicago). One afternoon I went up onto Twin Peaks, about a mile south of where Greg lives, to get some pictures. I took two, to get the entire panorama, but now in 2019 I have the ability to put them together into a single panoramic image of the City of San Francisco:

At the end of the week, when I left to head back to Chicago, I took a taxi to the airport, and as we were heading south on the 101, I took the picture at left. It looks out towards the South Bay and you can see much of the airport in the center of the view.

Late in the month, I drove down to St. Louis to do some training there, and for the first time I was able to take the time to visit the Gateway Arch.

The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot monument located on the St. Louis riverfront. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch, the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere, and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, and officially dedicated to "the American people," the Arch, commonly referred to as "The Gateway to the West" is the centerpiece of Gateway Arch National Park and has become an internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis, as well as a popular tourist destination.

The Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947; construction began in 1963 and was completed by the end of 1965, although the monument didn't open to the public until 1967. It is located at the site of St. Louis's founding on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

In 1965, three million tourists were expected to visit the arch after completion; over 600,000 tourists visited the top of the arch in its first year open; a little over a year later the one-millionth person used the internal, inclined tram to reach the observation area. By this year, some 7 million people have ascended to the top. Two years ago, Gateway Arch was ranked fourth on a list of "most-visited man-made attractions".

I did not have time to actually take the inside tramway to the top; there was quite a line today when I visited, so I just wandered around the park at the base of the monument. I expect to be back in St. Louis again, and I will have to plan ahead and make time to get to the top.

Those are the miscellaneous pictures for this year.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

Return to Index for 1976