Washington, D.C. - Part 2

After a cancelled flight and the ensuing airport adventures caused us to miss a day of our vacation, we tried to squeeze as much sight-seeing in as we could. So after an early dinner, we headed back to the National Mall and visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial.



Nineteen statues of combat troops are set in a field of juniper and blocks of granite, which represent the rough terrain of Korea. The effect is really quite eerie and somber.



From there we headed across the Mall to the solemn Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There were hundreds of roses lined up against the black granite, many with notes written on them. One said "Happy Father's Day Dad."



Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, which is massive. The huge throng of people inside were dwarfed by the tall ceilings and the 19 foot tall marble statue of Lincoln.



The Lincoln in the statue looks down in a stern way, as if he was annoyed by all the people carrying selfie sticks with them while visiting the Memorial.



Along the way to the National World War II Memorial, I passed this little family of ducks standing on the side of the Reflecting Pool. They didn't seem too concerned with people, and were probably used to the attention. This baby duck wobbled along the sidewalk before dropping back into the water.



The National World War II Memorial sits at the end of the Reflecting Pool, and is about halfway between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Along the walls leading into the memorial are several bas relief depictions of the war.



And then back along the Reflecting Pool, with the ducks floating through the Lincoln Memorial reflection.



It was starting to get dark as I headed back to the Lincoln Memorial, which was still packed with people. From a distance, the crowds of people moved across the marble like a horde of ants.



I wanted to get a shot of the Washington Monument being reflected in the Reflecting Pool. But I didn't have my tripod with me, so I sat the camera on the edge of the Pool, just a few inches from the water. A few ducks, which might have been the same ones I saw earlier, would occasionally float through the shot.



And one last shot of the Lincoln Memorial, which I was amazed turned out ok since it was hand-held.



It was a long day, but we would head out again the next day to see a few more sights (including one of the prettiest buildings in all of DC). Next post will be here shortly!

Washington, D.C. - Part 1

Last month, my wife and I took an inadvertent trip across the country.  It started out with what was supposed to be a quick flight to Washington DC (with a layover in Dallas) to start a week-long vacation.  But storms over DC closed the airport, and our flight was cancelled.  So instead of flying out, we got to spend the night in a hotel by the Dallas airport.  We tried to head out the next morning to DC, but all of the flights leaving Dallas were completely booked.  So the airline put us on a flight to Denver, and then another flight to DC.  So we flew a big circle, but eventually made it to DC (just a day later than we planned).

So the next day we headed out in the morning to do some sight-seeing, and headed to the National Mall, where I tried my hardest to refrain from making a lame joke about where the Gap or Old Navy was. Our first stop was the National Gallery of Art, a sprawling museum that stretches across two large buildings. It was one of the highlights of the trip in DC.

The architecture of the National Gallery of Art is grand, including the massive rotunda that was modeled after the Parthenon. The museum was actually designed by the same architect that did the Jefferson Memorial.



The museum is filled with some great pieces of art by some famous people like Monet, Rembrandt, van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci. There was even some photography on display (taking photos in the photography gallery, ironically, was forbidden).





The oldest building here, which opened in 1941, sits on the former site of an old train station. It was actually the site where President Garfield was shot in 1881. Although you would never know from strolling through the museum now. The galleries were were calm and quiet, even with a few noisy tourists walking through.



We saw a lot of people there who brought their own canvas and paints, trying to do their own version of some famous paintings.



But the majority of people were happy to take the easy way out with a quick cell phone picture. We were in DC for only a few days, but I quickly grew to despise anyone who was walking around with a selfie stick.



An underground concourse leads to the East Building, the home of the gallery’s modern art collection. The concourse is home to the Multiverse, a 200 foot long light sculpture that is made up of 41,000 LED lights.



The East Building opened in 1978, with a much more modern and geometric design than the neoclassical architecture of the gallery’s original West Building. The center of the East Building is dominated by a large atrium, with light pouring in from huge skylights.



After the National Gallery we walked over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This museum is the home to Star Spangled Banner, and other countless artifacts. But it was absolutely packed there, practically filled to the brim with some obnoxious school groups. Not to sound too much like an old person complaining (the teens these days!), but it was a little annoying to see people taking duckface selfies with the hat that Abraham Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated.

We didn’t stay there long, and I didn’t take many pictures. So instead here’s a shot of the National Gallery that I forgot to post above.



We walked back across the Mall towards the Washington Monument. It's kinda crazy visiting a city like Washington. The buildings and streets here are shown so often on the news, or as the background of a movie, that it feels slightly weird to finally see it all in person.



The Washington Monument is much taller than I thought it would be. At 554 feet, it's the tallest stone monument in the world and the world's tallest obelisk. When construction was finally completed, it was the tallest building in the world (the Eiffel Tower would steal that claim shortly after).



We weren't able to get tickets to visit the top of the tower, since those were booked months in advance. So I had to just walk around the base instead.



From there we walked past The Ellipse and went by the White House. This is the view of the southern facade, taken through the bars of the fence. Luckily no one tried to jump the fence that day.



Coming soon! Part 2, with visits to a few other memorials and monuments....

Cato Star Trails

A few weeks ago (I'm way behind on posting, my apologies to my two readers) I headed out to try to take star trail pictures at an old church in the small community of Cato, Arkansas. The conditions were great, it was perfectly clear outside without a trace of clouds.

I headed to Cato, which is actually located just north of Little Rock, on the Pulaski and Faulkner county line. Cato was once a thriving little town, and the church here was built way back in 1880. But the town declined sharply in 1940 when the Army bought all of the land surrounding Cato for Camp Robinson. The base cut off access to most of the town, and the population dropped. The church closed in 1962, but it is still maintained and is in good shape.

This shot is about an hour's worth of star trails above the church. There is also a lot of activity at the bottom of the shot, with little streaks of light from fireflies.

Nashville

The other weekend we traveled east again, in order to attend a friend's wedding in Nashville (congrats Mel and John!). And between wedding stuff and visiting with other friends, we managed to sneak in a few minutes for some sight-seeing. On Saturday we visited Centennial Park and the Parthenon. Built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, the Parthenon is a full-size replica of the original one in Athens. The Parthenon is the only building still standing from the Expo, and is now an art museum.

The park was packed with people, with it being a nice warm June day. But getting photos of the Parthenon was a bit difficult. There is some construction work going on around the building, so it's nearly impossible to get a shot of it without including construction fences or Port-o-Potties. So this is the view from under the columns on the side of the Parthenon, stretching off towards the distance.



The next day, before heading back home, we stopped at the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River. The bridge was built in 1909 and converted into a pedestrian bridge in 2003. It is usually busy with tourists since it connects the honky-tonk country music part of downtown Nashville to the football stadium across the river.



The bridge also provides a great view of downtown Nashville as well.

Two Rivers Bridge

A few times every year, the sun is positioned in a certain way so that it sets directly above Pinnacle Mountain. The best places to see this happen are on the pedestrian bridges over the Arkansas River, the Big Dam Bridge or the Two Rivers Bridge. So the other night I headed out to Two Rivers Park, and met up with Zack and John. The sun was just about to set above the flooded Arkansas River, which had caused parts of the park around the Big Dam Bridge to be closed.

From this angle, Pinnacle Mountain can look almost like a volcano (it's not!). And when the sun sets directly on top of it, it almost looks like it is erupting.



And a view of the bridge from Two Rivers Park, with the flooded river in the foreground.



We weren't the only ones at the bridge. A low cloud of bugs descended on the bridge, which if it happened in Egypt during biblical times might have been more worrisome. Maybe the flooded river displaced them, or maybe bugs usually flock over the bridge this time of year? But they were out in full force that night. I took a video just to show it, as the bugs looked more like snow.



The people walking on the bridge didn't seem to enjoy it, but the spiders probably did. There were a lot of webs built on the railings on the bridge, and the spiders must have enjoyed a feast that night.