The Evening of the 4th of July

We had an early dinner downtown in Santa Barbara and decided (the 4 of us) would catch a 6:30 showing of Terminator Genisis. This is a really different alternate time Terminator which likely will pave the way for many "Alternate time" Terminators in the future, much like the Alternate time Star Trek with Chris Pine altered forever the time line course for Star Trek Movies on into the future. I suppose in this way they can keep these types of series going on forever using this type of device.

However, I really enjoyed the movie even though it is very unlike the others in some ways. It seemed very much like a transitional "Terminator" taking the movies in the future into a whole new area and way of looking at things which is possible because of advanced graphics and a more sophisticated audience that this tends to create over time.

When we got out of the movie we had planned to drive up to the mission to watch the fireworks from there. However, what we decided to do because of time constraints was a little different from that. My wife grew up from about age 12 in the Santa Barbara area and her Dad was a member of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and owned about a 45 foot Yacht, a sailing ship there in the 1970s and 1980s. So, she was navigating us around 4th of july traffic. We wound up getting stuck in traffic for about 30 seconds on the coast and so turned around and when the back streets to where we had a good view of the fireworks even though we had to temporarily park in the red somewhere but everyone else at this point (because of the traffic) was doing this to at this point. So, we likely saw about 3/4 or more of the really great fireworks show there in Santa Barbara. Where I live up north they have stopped doing fireworks because often there is fog this time of year too thick to see the fireworks especially at night. So, it was lovely to see a great fireworks display again. Another place I go periodically for a great fireworks show is over Lake Siskiyou next to the little City of Mt. Shasta along Interstate 5 some years. But, be ready these days for close to 100 degree or more temperatures there with Global Warming happening and up to about 115 degrees Fahrenheit in Redding these days as well.