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| Cody's Visit |
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Trip to NY Part 5
The last part of our trip was spent in Rochester. We visited with some friends of mine that I hadn't seen in years, as well as my piano teacher from Eastman, and I showed Jon a few of the places where I used to go with my parents, including Hamlin Beach, the Erie Canal, and Ontario Beach Park.
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| Rochester |
Trip to NY Part 4
After Letchworth and the pageant, we were off to Niagara Falls. We drove first to a town called Niagara on the Lake, where we rode the Whirlpool Jet Boat. The boat is specifically designed to go fast and crash through rapids (Class 5), getting you completely soaked. The Travel Channel filmed our run, which was cool. After the jet boat we ate lunch at The Buttery, a tavern in Niagara on the Lake that has delicious brie and jalapeno jelly.
While in Niagara Falls, we did the White Water Walk, which takes you down by the Niagara River to view its Class 6 rapids; Journey Behind the Falls, which allows you to get close to and behind a portion of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls; the Cave of the Winds tour, which has the "Hurricane Deck" that gets you to within 20 feet of the American Falls; and, of course, we visited Clifton Hill. We played mini-golf, toured Movieland Wax Museum (and it's "Nothing-To-Do-With-A-Wax-Museum" mini-haunted house section), rode the ferris wheel that was supposed to give us a good view of the falls (we rode it too late and only got to see pitch-black where the falls were located), played around in an arcade, and rode a motion simulator. All-in-all, we were successful by nights end at reverting back to ten year-olds. But it was a lot of fun.
While in Niagara Falls, we did the White Water Walk, which takes you down by the Niagara River to view its Class 6 rapids; Journey Behind the Falls, which allows you to get close to and behind a portion of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls; the Cave of the Winds tour, which has the "Hurricane Deck" that gets you to within 20 feet of the American Falls; and, of course, we visited Clifton Hill. We played mini-golf, toured Movieland Wax Museum (and it's "Nothing-To-Do-With-A-Wax-Museum" mini-haunted house section), rode the ferris wheel that was supposed to give us a good view of the falls (we rode it too late and only got to see pitch-black where the falls were located), played around in an arcade, and rode a motion simulator. All-in-all, we were successful by nights end at reverting back to ten year-olds. But it was a lot of fun.
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| Niagara Falls |
Trip to NY Part 3
After our couple of days at the Finger Lakes, we traveled to Letchworth State Park, the "Grand Canyon of the East." We spent a few hours at Letchworth, then headed to Palmyra to watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant, which is presented by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Despite it raining and protesters telling us we were going to go to Hell, it was an enjoyable evening.
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| Letchworth State Park |
Trip to NY Part 2
After our night in Pennsylvania, we drove up to the Finger Lakes area in New York, taking Route 15, which follows along the Susquehanna River. We camped for two nights in Watkins Glen State Park, located at Seneca Lake. We spent about half a day going through Watkins Glen, then drove around Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, and stopped in Ithaca before going back to our campsite.
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| Finger Lakes & Watkins Glen |
Trip to NY Part 1
Jon and I took a much needed week-long vacation and traveled to western NY. For our first day of the trip we stopped at Gettysburg National Park, and stayed the night at a bed and breakfast called The Pheasant Field Inn in Carlisle, PA. The main house of the bed and breakfast is around 200 years old and was a stop on the underground railroad. It is located in a beautiful area close to the national forest, and the owners serve a superb (and very fresh) breakfast.
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| Gettysburg + Bed & Breakfast |
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Manassas National Battlefield
We didn't go to downtown DC for the Fourth of July fireworks this year. It's too bad everyone who did go down got dumped on with rain and evacuated from the Mall area because of a tornado warning. At least the storm moved through early enough in the day to not cancel the fireworks.
We did go to Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia for the day, though. It was cloudy all day (not the best light for taking pictures) and really humid, but it was fun. We did the First Manassas Trail, which is a five mile loop that covers the first battle at Manassas. We spent most of the day at the battlefield, then went home.
We did go to Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia for the day, though. It was cloudy all day (not the best light for taking pictures) and really humid, but it was fun. We did the First Manassas Trail, which is a five mile loop that covers the first battle at Manassas. We spent most of the day at the battlefield, then went home.
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| Manassas National Battlefiel |
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Old Town Alexandria
Jon and I went down to Alexandria, VA just to get out of the house and take some photos. We walked by the Potomac and around the historic part of town. We ate at an excellent seafood restaurant that had very fresh fish that we would definitely recommend if we could remember the name.
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| Old Town Alexandria |
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sandy Spring
Jon and I drove out to a place called Sandy Spring in Maryland after doing some volunteer work at Greenbelt NP at the beginning of June. The spot where we stopped has one of the larget tulip poplars (also known as the kitty-face-leaf tree).
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| Sandy Spring |
Nestbox - Final Chapter
Well, our birds have flown the nest. Luckily, we got a couple pictures of them the day before they left. They were definitely getting crowded in there. Take a look.
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| Nestbox |
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Nestbox
It is the House Wren that we have in our nestbox, not the Carolina Wren. On Saturday, June 2nd, the eggs in the nest began hatching. Our resident wren now has a family of five. I've updated the nestbox section with pictures of the babies. Check it out below.
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| Nestbox |
Rolling Thunder
Tens of thousands of motorcyclists came to DC during Memorial Day weekend for the Rolling Thunder Event. Rolling Thunder's mission is to publicize POW-MIA issues and honor war veterans, and every Memorial Day weekend they ride through DC. According to the Washington Post, there was a record turn-out for the event this year, although, of course, no approximate number is provided.
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| Rolling Thunder |
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Assateague Island National Seashore
Assateague Island National Seashore, located on Maryland's eastern shore, was a pretty place, but not quite what we expected it to be. We backpacked 4 miles down the beach to a backcountry camping area where we originally planned to stay two nights, but ended up only staying one. Much of the 4 mile hike involved either hiking the soft sand on the far edge of the beach or navigating around fishermen's poles and vehicles parked on the beach. We were aware to expect vehicles, but had no idea at the time that they were actually allowed to park basically the entire length of the island (which extends about 15 miles), including the beach area in front of the backcountry camping spot. Just a kilometer down the beach from our camp was an RV camp. Some backcountry.
After our first night at the camp we decided to explore the bayside of the island where there was vegetation and more wildlife. We were able to spot some really neat birds, but never able to get close enough to get any good photographs of them. We did most of our exploring in tall grass since there weren't really any trails. The bugs on the bayside were incredibly obnoxious (particularly the mosquitoes), so our exploring didn't last too long. We got back to the campsite much earlier than we thought we would be back, and didn't really know what to do at that point. So, we got something to eat, packed up and left.
We were disappointed in the amount of vehicle recreation allowed on the beach. Considering that the area is a national park unit, I expected the environment to be treated better. Assateague Island may be a nice place to go for an afternoon or to camp out of a car, but we would not recommend it for backcountry camping unless you have someone with a car who can drop you off and pick you up at the "backcountry" camping area, or unless you go early in the year (before the bugs are out) and camp on the bayside of the island. It's not worth the work hiking the beach if you can't get into any real backcountry.
After our first night at the camp we decided to explore the bayside of the island where there was vegetation and more wildlife. We were able to spot some really neat birds, but never able to get close enough to get any good photographs of them. We did most of our exploring in tall grass since there weren't really any trails. The bugs on the bayside were incredibly obnoxious (particularly the mosquitoes), so our exploring didn't last too long. We got back to the campsite much earlier than we thought we would be back, and didn't really know what to do at that point. So, we got something to eat, packed up and left.
We were disappointed in the amount of vehicle recreation allowed on the beach. Considering that the area is a national park unit, I expected the environment to be treated better. Assateague Island may be a nice place to go for an afternoon or to camp out of a car, but we would not recommend it for backcountry camping unless you have someone with a car who can drop you off and pick you up at the "backcountry" camping area, or unless you go early in the year (before the bugs are out) and camp on the bayside of the island. It's not worth the work hiking the beach if you can't get into any real backcountry.
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| Assateague National Seashore |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Graduation
Pictures from our trip down to Charlottesville, VA for Jon's brother's graduation from Darden with an MBA degree.
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| Mike's Graduation |
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
The organization that I work for, the National Parks Conservation Association, held a volunteer event in celebration of Earth Day at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, which is located in NE DC. There were two teams of people who headed out to pick up trash, while a smaller team (consisting of my boss, her husband, a co-worker, myself, and Jon), worked at removing some invasic species in a small area near the visitor's center. It was a gorgeous warm and sunny day. It was nice to finally have some spring weather.
Our group ended the project a little early, so we took some time to walk out on a boardwalk in the park that led us out towards the Anacostia River. Nothing was flowering in the water, but the area was still pretty with budding trees. Of course, the shoreline of the river and the surrounding water in the area is completely lined with trash. Even though various volunteer teams have gone out there to clean up trash, and many more will go throughout the summer, it seems to be an endless project trying to get the area clean. It's really sad to see so much trash in such a beautiful place.
Even though it was such a beautiful day, there was hardly anyone at the gardens, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was hard to walk around in some areas without getting chased by a male Canadian goose protecting a nesting female. And there were more turtles in the area than we've ever seen before. From tiny little ones, to huge snapping turtles, they were all over. With the day being warm and sunny and there not being many people around, many of the turtles sat out of the water sunning themselves. A few of them let us get quite close to take pictures. Of course, we ended up taking pictures in the middle of the day, so the light is fairly harsh, but they came out well regardless. The day was a lot of fun and you can check out our pictures below.
Our group ended the project a little early, so we took some time to walk out on a boardwalk in the park that led us out towards the Anacostia River. Nothing was flowering in the water, but the area was still pretty with budding trees. Of course, the shoreline of the river and the surrounding water in the area is completely lined with trash. Even though various volunteer teams have gone out there to clean up trash, and many more will go throughout the summer, it seems to be an endless project trying to get the area clean. It's really sad to see so much trash in such a beautiful place.
Even though it was such a beautiful day, there was hardly anyone at the gardens, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was hard to walk around in some areas without getting chased by a male Canadian goose protecting a nesting female. And there were more turtles in the area than we've ever seen before. From tiny little ones, to huge snapping turtles, they were all over. With the day being warm and sunny and there not being many people around, many of the turtles sat out of the water sunning themselves. A few of them let us get quite close to take pictures. Of course, we ended up taking pictures in the middle of the day, so the light is fairly harsh, but they came out well regardless. The day was a lot of fun and you can check out our pictures below.
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| Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Japanese Festival
We traveled downtown for a Japanese Street Festival, which is part of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The Cherry Blossom Festival lasts a little more than two weeks and includes a variety of activities; the more popular ones include a kite festival, biking tours, river tours, photo safaris, fireworks, a parade, and the Japanese Street Festival. Due to this being the coldest April in about 40 years, the cherry blossoms, unfortunately, didn't stick around too long. They peaked during the first week of April, then pretty much disappeared.
The description of the Japanese Street Festival on the Cherry Blossom Festival site reads as follows: Presented by the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C, the Sakura Matsuri is the nation’s largest one day exhibition of Japanese culture and features over 30 vendors of Japanese and Asian cuisine; a Japanese beer garden; 25 exhibits of Japanese arts and crafts; 20 vendors of Japanese and Asian products; the new “J-POP Land” highlighting Japan’s modern youthful society; martial arts demonstrations; and live performances of both traditional and popular Japanese culture.
For being the "nation's largest one day exhibition of Japanese culture," we were a bit disappointed in the show. Most of the merchandise being sold by the vendors was either more cheap pop-culture than traditional Japanese, or so heavily branded it was hard to tell where the corporations ended and the culture began (my personal favorite thing was the white plastic kimono covered in the Target logo). There was a small stage featuring traditional Japanese performances, which were fairly entertaining and drew a decent crowd. The highlight was six dances performed by actual geishas from Japan. We watched some judo students perform, and listened to a contemporary Japanese band. We ate some chicken, rice, and lomein that could have been bought at any Panda Express for half the price that we paid, and then we left. Expecting to actually see a representation of both traditional and popular Japanese culture, we ended up walking around a big promotion event for Target, Southwest, Garnier, Starbucks, and 97.1 WASH-FM. Anyway, at least we came away with some good photos, which you can see by clicking below.
The description of the Japanese Street Festival on the Cherry Blossom Festival site reads as follows: Presented by the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C, the Sakura Matsuri is the nation’s largest one day exhibition of Japanese culture and features over 30 vendors of Japanese and Asian cuisine; a Japanese beer garden; 25 exhibits of Japanese arts and crafts; 20 vendors of Japanese and Asian products; the new “J-POP Land” highlighting Japan’s modern youthful society; martial arts demonstrations; and live performances of both traditional and popular Japanese culture.
For being the "nation's largest one day exhibition of Japanese culture," we were a bit disappointed in the show. Most of the merchandise being sold by the vendors was either more cheap pop-culture than traditional Japanese, or so heavily branded it was hard to tell where the corporations ended and the culture began (my personal favorite thing was the white plastic kimono covered in the Target logo). There was a small stage featuring traditional Japanese performances, which were fairly entertaining and drew a decent crowd. The highlight was six dances performed by actual geishas from Japan. We watched some judo students perform, and listened to a contemporary Japanese band. We ate some chicken, rice, and lomein that could have been bought at any Panda Express for half the price that we paid, and then we left. Expecting to actually see a representation of both traditional and popular Japanese culture, we ended up walking around a big promotion event for Target, Southwest, Garnier, Starbucks, and 97.1 WASH-FM. Anyway, at least we came away with some good photos, which you can see by clicking below.
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| Japanese Festival |
Sunday, April 08, 2007
DC Protest
United for Peace and Justice along with Code Pink organized a rally and march on the Mall in DC in January to protest the war in Iraq. It turned out to be a very pleasant day and hundreds of thousands of people showed up for the protest. Speakers at the rally included members of Congress, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, Reverend Jesse Jacskson, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Jane Fonda.
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| DC Protest |
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Blackwater Wildlife Refuge
We traveled to the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in January, which is located on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. There is a small loop you can drive that takes you through a small portion of the refuge, but you can also rent canoes or kayaks and see the refuge from the water.
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| Blackwater Wildlife Refuge |
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
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