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We witness an historical event yesterday. Tuesday, November 4th 2008. Election day in the United States.

As many fellow citizens were arriving to their polling place to deal with several important issues and cast their vote.
Many of them were carrying high hopes to elect a new leader. One who will bring relief to the working class and who have been hit hard in this slow economy.
There were some key events in this important election that was a turning point for the direction America is going to take.
 1st there was Hillary Clinton who took a shot at been the first woman who could become president of The United State. She was an excellent candidate and her fight opened the door to all women to aspire for the presidential seat.
2nd Many people thought they will never see in their lifetime a black man in the white house. The world was watching if America was going to decide by the color of the skin or race of the candidate or his qualification to lead this country.
3rd McCain a very popular candidate with a remarkable record of serving this country and with the election of Sarah Palin as a vice-president was a very tough couple to beat in this election.
4th The economy, with record braking, high gas prices, increase in price of all consumable goods, laid-off, the crash of the housing market, and the losing of value in their retirement accounts. Those are some of the problems that the low and middle class families have been enduring these pass years. The backbone of America can’t allow these problems to continue damaging many families, friends and fellow Americans without looking for practical solutions.
This was a very important election and the new president will face many challenges and difficult problems to resolve.
On January 20th 2009 the new elected president will take power and will have to immediately deal with the following subjects.

• Recession
• Create confidence in the US economy
• Find a solution for this war – preferable peaceful solutions
• Health care
• Ways to help homeowners avoid foreclosure - Create accountable measures for the Banking and Real Estate Market
• Cut down our dependency on oil and support alternative fuel technologies
• Better future for our children

All of issues are not easy to resolve, and required many sacrifices and tough choices but we hope that with our new leader we can all work and find solutions for the common good.
Great Sunny Beaches salute our new president, vice president and all the people who voted yesterday for a better America.

Solar Powered Ferris wheel is coming down in Santa Monica Pier.

The big wheel  keeps on turning, no more.

The Santa Monica Pier famous icon, the Pacific wheel will be dismantled, starting on May 5^th 2008. The 12 years old ferry wheel will be replaced by a newer version. The Ocean salt air and water took their toll on the ferry wheel which in normal in-land operation has a lifetime of up to 20 years.

During the day you can see the wheel from far away, standing 130 feet above ground, the 85 feet tall ferry wheel with 20 yellow and purple gondola shaped chairs witch was able to sit up to 6 riders per car. Was a irresistible attraction  

Every night the ferryswheel illuminated the pier with her all colorful synchronized and dancing lights, making the favorite background and backdrop for TV News and TV weather condition host.

The ferry wheel has made her appearance in about 300 movies, television shows and several commercials.

The new replacement is scheduled to be ready to open by Memorial Day weekend. The new state-of-the-art wheel will also be solar powered, and mechanical improved, and will be upgraded to a more energy efficient lights.

Info courtesy of GreatSunnyBeaches.com

In my previous post I was telling you about the Santa Monica carousel and the pictures looks nice but you was not able to see the carousel at close. So in this picture you can really appreciate the horses, the colors craftmanship and beautiful design of the horses and the complementary surrounding of lights and mirrors.

 In the second picture you can see the inside structure and doors design of the building and also you can have another view of the horses and a colorful chariot, notice the polished wooden floor, everything shine just like when it was new. The City of Santa Monica work very hard in mantaining and restoring this antique treasure so everybody can have unforgettables moments and enjoy and old time horsey ride.

Want to be a kid again ? Just come and let’s the good time roll.

Standing at the intersection of Ocean Ave and Colorado ave  you will find this sign. The entrance to the Santa Monica pier.

As soon as you come down from the entrance of the pier, you will turn to your left and you will see a National Historic Landmark “The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome” an open Byzantine-Moorish design building that house an all time treasure.

“The Santa Monica carousel” This rare and beautiful antique come with wooden horses, chariots, lights, brass poles and everything. And is beautifully restored that it shine and looks just like new.The wooden carousel was designed by Charles I.D. Looff. The carousel was build by German and Italian artisans in 1916.

This is a place where children and adults will love. The building is open to the public, with all kind of activities going on all the time, like birthday parties, charity fund-raisers, holiday celebrations and social gatherings.This place is a favorite for movies and TV productions too. Frequently you will find filming activities going on, which make it an attractive curiosity for tourist and locals as well.So when you come to visit Santa Monica make sure you stop at the Santa Monica carousel. It’s a beauty that has been waiting for generation to be enjoyed and admired by you.