From L.A. to the Big Apple: Exploring 2 major U.S. cities 2011-12

It was a year to stay in America and explore some major cities for a change. Thanksgiving week 2011 I went to L.A. to visit a good friend who I had met over in Scotland in grad school, and the following Spring I went down for a long weekend in New York City to visit a college friend.

If any of you have ever been to either city, you know it can’t get much more cosmopolitan! I usually prefer the countryside, but every once in a while it’s nice to visit a big city with their massive skyscrapers and many cultural fascinations.

In L.A., I stayed with my friend and she showed me around the metropolis going this way and that on the many freeways that connect the city sprawl. One of the better parts of being in a city is the variety of things to do and cultures to learn about. I arrived on a Friday night. On Saturday we went to one of my friend’s friend’s messianic synagogue for a service that was in both Hebrew and English. On Sunday, we went to my friend’s father’s church, where he spoke Spanish and had someone translate to English. Both services were very interesting to be a part of! I enjoy worshiping God with many types of believers within the Christian faith wherever I go:)

One of the places we checked out was the famed Santa Monica Pier. This was my 2^nd time at the Pacific Ocean, but unlike the 1^st time down in Costa Rica, this time the temps were much cooler! 

Santa Monica Pier

We also went through Hollywood and I saw the Hollywood sign…didn’t see what the big deal is, but some people enjoy such things;) 

Hollywood Sign in the distance

We also got to tour Sony Studios, which was pretty cool. I saw memorabilia and props for movies such as Men in Black, DaVinci Code, and Spiderman, and got to see the sets for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune:)

DaVinci Code memorabilia at Sony Studios

 

Imagining how nice it would be to win at Jeopardy!

On Sunday night, after having a nice Thanksgiving meal at one of the churches my friend frequented, we went up to the Griffith Observatory. It had some good views of the city lights at sunset! 

Griffith Observatory

 

Sunset over L.A.

We explored some of downtown L.A. as well, and went through Pasadena where the Rose Parade is held every New Year’s, Chinatown, and saw a place that showed the history of the native tribes who lived there and how to make adobe bricks.

Chinatown in Los Angeles

 

Making an Adobe brick

We then left L.A. behind for a day and went south towards San Diego to check out the Safari Park. An amazing place to see all kinds of animals! I like how they had plenty of room to roam around, instead of like most zoos where animals are in smaller cages. We saw giraffes, antelope, gazelles, rhinos,, lions, and more! 

San Diego Safari Park

 

Elephant

 

Giraffe

 

Lion

They also had part of a giant Sequoia tree and many types of plants, including bonsai.

Sequoia tree

 

Cool cactus

 

Bonsai Birch Forest

On Thursday, we paused our explorations to share a Thanksgiving meal and play some games with my friend’s family. Then on Friday we went to La Brea tar pits, the oldest known tar pits in the world! While there we saw the remains of several interesting creatures, such as, saber-tooth cats, dire wolves, golden eagles, giant ground sloths and mammoths! 

Saber-tooth Cat

 

Dire Wolf

 

Giant Ground Sloth

 

Mammoth

On my last full day, we went to watch the latest Muppet movie outside of Universal Studios. Definitely way more expensive than back home, but it was worth seeing :)

Entrance to Universal Studios

I then said goodbye to my friend and sunny California and headed back east to spend another New England winter.

Then, in early spring, I took the train down to the Big Apple for a long weekend to visit an old college friend and check out some of the sights. My 1^st night we walked the streets and saw Time Square and the Empire State building all lit up (which I had pictures of but can't seem to find them...).

On Saturday, my one full day there, I took the subway to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. My friend had to work so I was on my own. 

 

Catching the ferry

As I saw the Statue of Liberty get closer and closer, I imagined what it must have been like for those immigrants who came into the country for the first time to try for a better life. 

Statue of Liberty in the distance

 

Statue of Liberty up close

Over 12 million people entered America through Ellis Island from 1892 through 1924, and it became a museum back in the 1980s. 

Ellis Island

 

Registry Room on Ellis Island

 

Model of Ellis Island Facilities

I learned that there was also a point of entry over on the west coast called Angel Island, which was opened from 1910 through 1940.

Angel Island

That night, after my friend finished work, we took a walk in Central Park. It was peaceful at that time of night with not too many people around. We stopped at Belvedere Castle in the middle of the park, which looked cool at night.

Castle Belvedere in Central Park

Then we said our goodbyes and I took the train back home the following morning. Just a little taste of the Big Apple, but a fun weekend nevertheless.

Both trips within the U.S., one in the West and one in the East, were full of cultural and historical adventures, and I was glad I decided to explore a little more of my home country!

For more info on visiting L.A. go here.

For more info on visiting NYC, go here.

Happy traveling!

Rachael

#travel #losangeles #newyorkcity #america #culture #history

How to Use Clipping Mask and Gradient Tool in Photoshop

In this post, I will be giving step by step instructions on how to use a clip mask, gradient tool, and a little about layers in Photoshop. I have an older version (CS2), so some of the following may not be found in the exact same locations if you are using a newer version (or a Mac) ;)

First, here is my finished page (Bonus addition at end of post!):

 And here’s how I got there….


Step 1:

Open Photoshop. Go to File and select New:

A pop up screen will appear. I set the size to ‘Letter’, which is a normal paper size, but you can use whatever size page you want!

After choosing your size, resolution (the higher, the better), and Naming your masterpiece, hit OK. A blank canvas will now appear:

Step 2:

Select the Text tool (T) and draw a box however big you want it, choose your font style and size, and type your text:

Step 3:
Make a new layer. You can do this by going up to Layer at the top of the screen and selecting new:

This is where I put a picture to use as background color for my text.

Step 4:

Then, to make the picture in the beginning of this post, I used a photo that I had taken down in the Caribbean. Go to File--Place and select a picture:

The picture will be placed on the canvas like so:

I then scaled the image by dragging the edges out to make it big enough to cover my text, and use the colors I wanted within the picture. Since I only wanted this picture for the colors, it didn’t matter that it ended up being skewed:

Step 5:

With this new photo layer active, go up to Layer again and select Create Clipping Mask:

This will make it so only a portion of the photo will be displayed through the text:

Make sure the layers are in proper order, like this, or it won’t work:

(picture on top (which in this screenshot is the active layer), then the text layer, above the background)

Step 6 (optional):

Now, the picture above looks good as it is, but I decided to add a little more color to it by using the gradient tool. Click on the Background layer, so the gradient will be behind everything else.
Select the gradient tool, and choose your color(s). I used both a blue and green color to make my gradient (and also changed the Opacity to around half, because I found if I used 100% it didn’t look as good). Then, use the cursor to draw a line in the direction you want the gradient to go, this may take some experimenting! You can always go to Edit and Undo if you don’t like it:)

BONUS Step 7:
At first, I was happy with this. Then I got to thinking: “That photo is too good to hide!!”. So I added it back in above the text (by creating a new layer above all the other layers) :

I think it turned out pretty well!

Always make sure to save your work periodically!

Have fun!

Rachael

#Photoshop #clipmask #tutorial #creativity