PARIS,FRANCE; 2010

anticipating another FUN "visit" to my favorite "getaway" spot on the planet,,,,PARIS,FRANCE...from April 13-20,2010....."this time I will NOT run out of film just before the "baloon ride".......MERCI....AU REVOIR.....

paris,france;2009;cont'd

.......this is a pic of disneyland,paris,france;space mountain rollercoaster(better than at orlando,fla); one of many "good" rollercoasters in paris; another "favorite" is the Indiana Jones Doom ride(they told me to take my "glasses" off for this one); Aerosmith Rock & Roller rollercoaster with music is another favorite; newly installed TOWER OF TERROR is not too shabby also; this was my trip #6 here and they were ALL GOOD....you never see paris for the last time; anticipating my next "visit" soon...also on this trip was a 2 day red bus "narrated" tour of the city;a "trip" to the TOP of the eiffel tower; and last (but NOT least) an evening "up FRONT" with my bucket of champaigne at the CRAZY HORSE SALOON...c'est la vie...

navy bootcamp;1956

.....reflecting on my navy bootcamp training; my FAVORITE part was possibly the OCS part;where we were put into a "capsule" ,strapped into; and "shot" into the water,with _______seconds to "get out" of the capsule while in the water...FUN.....complete NAVAL training.....thank you; sincerely,TOP GUN,GANNON..

drag racing's "tree"

.....an interesting "addendum" to earlier related posts about my ;"recorfd" with this fabulous car,my 1959 "hand built" 1959 Pontiac tri-power; and having ONLY ONE loss in my class(DSA) in 2 years racing; back in 1961 the races were started by "flagmen"(except at Thompson,Ohio where I didn't quite "master" the automatic "tree"(new at that time), so I came in "second"; back to the "drawing board. FUN SPORT... I need to give THANKS to a very good friend, BOBBY HUGHES, who did TONS of work on my 1959 Pontiac in getting it ready for the races on Sunday. and enabling me to be REGIONAL CHAMPION (Penna, Ohio, and New York) in 1962 THANKS MR. BOBBY HUGHES; WE HAD FUN.

paris,france;2009

......this is just ONE of the "sights" to be "viewed" sept 16-22-09; "You NEVER see Paris for the last time"=...."read that somewhere"....

paris,france;2009

........anticipating my next "visit" to the "city of lights" from Sept 16-22.2009....should be FUN, as always....

navy bootcamp surprise;1956

they say it's a small world sometimes;unknown to me,while on my way on the navy bus to Bainbridge,Md, I discovered besides me there were 4 other future sailors also from Erie,Pa that I knew but didn't know they had the same "plans" of enlisting in the NAVY;Phil Clark'Mr. Bloom;jack Howell;myself; and one other that the name escapes me for now;happy birthday;will the navy barracks be able to control "us"??????FUN for 13 weeks; along with a lot of "hard" training from a bunch of gung-ho people;an unfortunate "accident" interupted our training when a bootcamp liberty accident killed 2 people and injured a third from my company;SAD; company comander,company clerk;and a third person; SAD; graduated company 13 weeks later on time;NAVY here we come.....

"Corvettes of Erie"...1959

belonged to several car clubs;"Wheels of Erie";"Corvettes of Erie" and the "Chessmen of Erie"; having tons of fun with all of them......noteably,in "Corvettes of Erie",I was the secretary of the club and really started to get into racing then with my 1957 "baby"; then in "Chessmen of Erie" I was also the secretary of the club participating in racing my 1959 "hand-built" "tri-power" Pontiac,winning many more trophies,and also turning in the class results of the day to the local newspaper; racing got into my blood, and was hard to retire from......

helicopter tour;las vegas,nevada

this was an 8 hour tour ,complete with a champaigne picnic lunch atop the Grand Canyon; and toured over Hoover Dam also;you would'nt beleive the "view" when the helicopter just "clears" the mountain top and "drops" back down; FANTASTIC thrill....vegas also has a rollercoaster named the "canyon blaster",,,,ALSO, FUN......vegas is a FUN city;but NOT to live there because of the extremes in the weather; local residents are not too much fun, either.....

karate;1967;erie,pa..

this was a very "stimulating" experience for me; there is NO better "conditioning" available;it builds strength ,confidence,and mental toughness; then you can do anything....

high school;1951-1955

Cathedral Prep School; was very exciting for me; having learned a very good education;received "honor cards" ; and having participated in cross country and wrestling("uncrowned" 95 lb champion); "long sad story,there"......received nice writeup in senior yearbook;THANKS; "Gary excells on the green,and on the mat,and in magic;Gary enjoys life in all its phases;Mr.Gannon,,,,,,,........followed by enlisting in the U.S.NAVY in 1956...followed by MANY YEARS,part time in gathering college credits at GANNON COLLEGE(now GANNON UNIVERSITY)A SCHOOL PROUDLY FOUNDED BY MY GREAT-UNCLE;the late ARCHBISHOP JOHN MARK GANNON;ERIE,PENNA;studying accounting,business,business law pschycology,art,music,etc and being ONE semester short of GRADUATING(MOM reminded me of THIS SEVERAL times;and rightly SO...actually ENJOYED college; but was taking on TOO many projects..

"boot camp";Bainbridge,Md;1956

"memorable experience"; biggest change in my life; my own mother did NOT recognize me at "graduation" just 13 weeks later; "picnicked" at Polly & Ed Hansen in NY.....and on to boot camp leave in Erie,Penna and then to US NAVAL AIR STATION IN JACKSONVILLE,FLORIDA; the "fun" BEGINS; boot camp training was "intense" and "complete" in all aspects of naval life,etc; training was "identical" to that of OCS training(complete with "underwater" capsule shoot); just like in "Officer And A Gentleman" with Richard Gere........interesting.....

drag racing

reflecting on my long and "storied" career in AHRA quarter-mile drag racing;racing in many classes and a lot of "stock"eliminator;and "little" eliminator;with my 3 "stock" cars;1957 Corvette;1959 "tri-power" Pontiac;and 1965 Corvette;with my "favorite" being my "hand-built" "tri-power" Pontiac; helping me win 42 trophies, in several fun-filled years at Presque Isle Timing Association in Wattsburg,Penna;with owners Buck Ackerman and Don Jensen...

Meditteranean Sea;1956-1958

of special note;U.S.NAVY;1957...was assigned "shore patrol" while in the Rock of Gibraltar(had own hotel room for 3 days); while serving aboard the USS F.D.ROOSEVELT(CVA-42),the 4th largest aircraft in the world at that time;visiting such places as France;Spain;Italy;Greece;Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu;and the Rock of Gibraltar......"swam with the sharks" in the Med Sea;drank wine in Barcelona,Spain;ate "pasta" in Italy;toured the "ruins" of Athens,Greece;rented bikes to "climb" the hills of Greece; and enjoyed the "can-can girls" of Paris; only disruption on the whole Med trip was a 38 day "general quarters" awaiting for my CDR H..M.SISK OPERATIONS DEPT to "declare" or NOT to "declare" WAR on Greece....it did NOT happen;so off to LIBERTY; WE WENT.....life is great.....c'est la vie.....YOU NEVER SEE PARIS FOR THE LAST TIME...the ONLY blemish on my U.S.NAVAL career was one disciplinary action("execs mast") because of a "fight" in the operations dept office with a co-worker I disliked IMMENSLY; WON the fight SO WAS AWARDED 30 days with NO LIBERTY (missed PALMA,SPAIN=my buddies tole me I didn't miss much)...was ALSO transferred into another division(X) on the ship...CHANGE OF SCENERY CAN BE GOOD...LIFE CAN BE A BITCH,,,, BUT FUN...

paris,france;1957

My first visit to paris,france was VERY INTERESTING being only 18 years old and a sailor in the U.S.NAVY; Eiffel Tower,ArcDeTriomphe,croissants,cremedebrulee,capucinos,Pigalle,etc.and that CRAZY HORSE SALOON. and MOULIN ROUGE ....c"est la vie.....

las vegas,nevada

I also lived in las vegas,nevada several times in the past several years doing a little gambling;some slots, and mostly my favorite,"million dollar" keno; 8 out of 10 is good;CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR;but as much fun as las vegas was,the weather was too "extreme"; and the local residents had no class,because they were all losing their "shirts" at gambling

paris,france;2008

Nov 5-12,2008:...trip #5 to "fun city"....one of my previous visits to Paris included a side trip to London,England by way of the Eurostar train under the English Channel...while in London,toured the city on the "Red Bus" all over London all day(even though it rained most of the day),stopping at many stops,narrated by a "bloke" that you would swear was Benny Hill himself,flirting with all the "girls" and cracking jokes.....